As I learned the moment I got to look around my room: they do not. Near my bed was a large wooden bucket, a chamber pot. Not too exited about that prospect, I allowed my thoughts to wonder.

The journey from the kitchen was rather uneventful. We moved through a few hallways on the bottom floor, as my guide explained to me, most of keep's staff lived there, including the maids. It was a very simple arrangement and I imagined it must get really cold and damp in their quarters.

On the second floor were the chambers for the key personnel and guests of the keep. It was much tidier than the floor below, it even had potted flowers arranged on the walls, to lighten up the dark stone walls if just a little. Usually, I was told, all the rooms would be taken as the lordlings would flock to the court, however right now only two people were residing here. One of them being myself - as princess's personal cuisiner, I apparently deserved my own private chambers.

The other room on this floor was occupied by Kelbert, the overgrown, terrifying captain of the King's guard. The thought of being the only one on the whole floor with this man sent a shiver down my spine. He didn't seem to be the friendliest guy to begin with and on top of that he seemed to have a personal grudge against the princess, her guard and by extension, me.

On the third floor, right above us, were the premier quarters. Right now the princess was the only one staying there, with her attendants and personal guard occupying the outside chambers, for her safety and comfort.

Once the maid, whose name I had trouble remembering, showed me to my bedroom, she lit up a spare candle, handed it to me and after saying "Good night" left me. The room itself was as simple as they come. Cold, stone black walls, a frigid furnace in the corner and a bed opposing it. At the end of it was a chamber pot, as well as a large chest for my personal belongings.

Realizing full well that my rushing thoughts, a hard bed and cold walls will keep me awake for a while I still lied down on the bunk, without even taking off my clothes. I tucked in under the chilly sheets and waited for the sleep to take me.

Before I could ponder the question of what has become of my life I dozed off. It wasn't a pleasant sleep, I kept waking up and dozing off again every few minutes, being haunted by feverish nightmares, dreaming of soldiers coming to get me and guillotines.

After a few hours I decided I can't take this anymore and jumped from the bed. I pushed the wooden blinders open wondering what time it was, just to see it was still dark outside. It was that time of the night where it was either sunrise or few minutes before it, depending on who you ask. It wasn't so dark that I couldn't see the buildings outside, but the sun wasn't peeking over the horizon either.

I contemplated what to do with my chamber pot for a while, but soon decided to leave it be for now and escaped from my room. Before opening the door, however, I put my ear to it and listened carefully. Once I made sure Kelbert wasn't outside, I cracked the door open and went outside. Now that I thought about it, no matter how restless was my sleep, I didn't hear a single sound from my neighbor all night. That was a little odd, but I shoved the thought aside, only too happy not to meet the man in question.

It took me less time than I had expected to find the exit. Once I reached the yard I stood there for a moment, not really sure what I wanted to do next. I inhaled the cold, early morning air deep into my lungs. It was so clean, like I had never felt before. Thinking back to it, air this clean was simply impossible in the world I came from, and subconsciously it was one of the reasons I accepted this whole unlikely scenario as a reality.

"That's bollox..."

"No, I tell you the truth. They say he threw it into boiling oil."

"And how is that good? Such a waste of good meat!"

"That's what they say. But listen to this..."

As I was minding my own business I couldn't help but overhear two soldiers casually chatting. Or it would probably be more appropriate to say "gossiping". And apparently, they were talking about me. Either too absorbed in their conversation to notice, or simply because they had no idea who I was, they continued talking.

"They also say he is such a fool, he didn't even know it was oil and thought it was water!"

"A complete moron, then?"

"Exactly. The worst was, it actually tasted good and he took it as if he intended for it to happen all along, just to grab all the credit..."

So that what it was, the general consensus? Just an idiot who lucked out and invented deep frying? Too tired to actually care I smile to myself and moved on.

The sun was about ready to peek from under the horizon and the town was waking up with it. Stable boys were running around, preparing the horses for the early riders and feeding the hounds. Soldiers on the walls changed as well, as their shift came to an end, they happily headed towards barracks, where they will sit in the dining hall, eat a bowl or two of porridge, drink a pint of ale before going to catch up on their sleep.

The gates of the keep were closed and not wanting any unnecessary attention I steered clear from them. I could only assume the townspeople outside of the keep were waking up and preparing for the day ahead as well.

I wanted to try and climb up the wall of the keep, but before I could I heard someone calling for me. When I turned around to look who it was, I saw a maid running towards me in small steps. She had shoulder-length black hair and yesterday proved to be very shy and awkward. Of the four names that were thrown at me last night by the maids, I remember only one, Cait, and was pretty sure it belonged to this girl.

A sudden memory popped into my head. What I was going to do now was actually so stupid, the last time I did it was probably in middle school. And yet somehow, then and there, it seemed like a good idea.

"Aili!"

"Where is Cait?" I asked playfully, putting the palms of my hands on top of my eyes, trying my best not to blush like an idiot.

"I'm right here!"

SUCCESS! To think that something this silly would actually work! I was now on a real hot streak, one down, three to go.

The problem there, however, was that I had no idea where to start. I barely remembered what one of them looked like, I had no clue what any of theirs names could be. Isabella, maybe?

"Oh there you are," I haven't felt this embarrassed in a long time. "Good morning."

"Oh, good morning," she still looked a bit weirded out, but was only too happy to shake it off.

"So did you see Isabella today?"

"Who's Isabella?"

Well, fuck. You win some, you lose some.

"Oh it's just a nickname I came up with."

"That's... Funny."

Seeing as I didn't find it that funny and by the looks of it, neither did Cait, it was about time to wrap my little experiment up.

"So why were you looking for me?"

"That's right. I've been sent to tell you, the princess will be leaving for the capital immediately. We are to prepare and pack within an hour."

"That's fine, I don't really have anything to pack."

The look that Cait gave me after that, it will likely haunt me for the rest of my life. I imagined it was probably the same look you give someone who just told you they prefer to drink milk straight from the udder.

"You still have to prepare the food for the princess's journey."

"Oh, that."

And so I was successfully persuaded that my nickname in 'The Fool' was well deserved.