Page 5 of Maid for the Alien Prince

“The person in the front room. The person you were talking to.”

Dad tightened up once more, his shoulders tensing. “Oh. A… workmate.”

A workmate?

If it was anyone under his command—which was the entire staff at the summer palace, including all maids, mechanics, and everyone else required to run such a large place—he would have referred to them as ‘staff.’

And that meant this someone was either at his level or more senior. Or someone completely new.

I couldn’t take it any longer and didn’t want to keep tiptoeing around the issue. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it.” It wasn’t a question. “Tell me what the problem is. I can see you’re worried about something. It does us good to talk about our problems.”

I was reflecting his own advice back onto him. After Mom died from her illness, Dad had to become both mother and father to me, a job he was well suited for.

As the Head of the Palace Household, he had to be dominant and in charge, which fulfilled the male role of the father, as well as understanding and caring of his staff’s needs, which fulfilled the motherly part of the equation.

He had become everything to me, my entire world, and to see him like this… It made me very, very sad.

“It’s not something you need to worry yourself with,” he said, raising his cup to take another sip of coffee. “It’s my problem. I’ll figure it out.”

I placed my hand on his knee. “A problem is never just about one person, remember? Your problems are mine, and mine are yours.” I smiled comfortingly at him.

His shoulders relaxed a little before he shook his head. “You are young. You don’t need to concern yourself with the trials of old men.”

“Does it have anything to do with the palace?” I asked.

Dad tensed once more and I realized I had hit a nerve. Before I left, there had been a ton of trouble at the palace due to the new Prince moving in.

The new Prince’s behavior was… unusual.

It was hardly a secret. The entire town knew about it. The young Prince used the summer palace as a meeting place for parties, games, and orgies. At least, that was what the rumors described.

I was always too embarrassed to ask Dad the truth as it seemed so remote from my life. But something had bothered Dad ever since the new Prince had taken up residence.

Dad’s life had always been about order and control. But there was no controlling the new Prince.

Dad shook his head and rubbed his nose with the back of his hands. He clutched them close like a life preserver on a strong and stormy sea. There were tears in his eyes and he couldn’t bring himself to look at me.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought I would get away with it… I thought because the others had managed it… But I didn’t… I couldn’t… Oh. Please, Camila. Forgive me.”

Okay. Now I was really worried.

My father had always been a rock in my life, and it never occurred to me that he had to deal with messy everyday emotions, fears, or concerns. Even when Mom died, he seemed to take it in his stride, penting up his feelings like pegging a sheet to a washing line.

But that was a childish way to think.

Of course he had hurt during those years, and with me being so young at the time, he never had anyone to turn to for help. He must be in very serious trouble if he was reacting this way now.

“What is it?” I said. “I’m sure we can fix it, whatever it is.”

I leaned over and squeezed his knee comfortingly, but he didn’t seem to feel it.

“I’ve done something,” he said. “I’ve done something wrong, terribly wrong…”

Now the tears were streaming down his wrinkled cheeks. He covered his face, placing his delicate hands over his eyes to try to prevent me from seeing him cry.

I took the cup of coffee out of his hands as it threatened to spill over with his body shaking the way it was. I placed it on the coffee table and immediately crawled into his lap, bracing my weight on the chair’s armrests.

I wrapped my arms around his head, cuddling him close, gently rocking him back and forth, and making soft shushing noises. We had formed this hugging motion dozens of times over the years whenever I had been in trouble or worried about something.

---