"Thank you"
She thanked him after she was stable and then put some space between them.
"My pleasure, my name is Jared and I am a new palace worker, I was just trying to find my way when the Mister John asked me to come find you here.....
Well he said you should show me around as he has other matters to attend to, sorry for the trouble"
Leila studied him for a while, her blue eyes searching his for a hint of lie.
When she couldn't find any she relaxed a bit.
"It's fine, let's go".
And the she led the way and started showing him all the areas she was familiar with on the lower grounds of the palace.
She then stood in front of a small but sturdy staircase that extended very high.
"This leads to the higher grounds where the distinguished royals reside.
You do not want to ever go there unless you are promoted to serve there, and especially without John's permission or else you'll get in big trouble "
He eyes were strange when she said the last part, she felt a shiver run down her spine as she remembered the numbing yet stinging pain from that day.
But she didn't let it show on her face.
"Thank you miss Leila for showing me around, I'll be very careful and I'll come to you if I need anything since I'm new here, hope you won't mind".
He said with a small smile.
He didn't know the rumours about her being ugly, of course he thought it was weird for her to cover her face like that, but she had very pretty eyes and hair.
In fact he didn't mind her skin colour and found it fascinating. So he thought he could be friends with her and get to know her better.
Leila didn't understand why he was being nice, she wasn't used to it so it was quite awkward for her.
She knew he didn't know the rumours but ...
' isn't my skin colour enough for him to think that I'm weird and he should stay away?'
She felt truly uncomfortable.....
She stayed silent for a while, weighing her thoughts.
"I won't mind, if it's something I can help you with then I'll be glad to help".
This was the first time she was being not so cold to someone other than her mother and she didn't like it very much....
In her 17 years, she was only given hatred by those she knew, which honestly were only palace servants, all she had to give was coldness, no warmth.
But someone other than her mother being nice to her stirred something within her, it made her uncomfortable.
It was like trying a foreign snack that was bittersweet and she didn't know if she wanted more of it or not.
"Okay then, I'll leave you. I....still have some work to do".
She said curtly and didn't wait for his reply before walking away.