“Wake up little Winowna.” a voice calls gently. Gently patting her head, a hand pinches her nose. Getting up I find myself in my room. Regius is standing over me, holding my nose and the werewolf is also in the room with me. Regius teases me as I slowly stretch, “You're as oblivious in your sleep as you are awake.”

Rubbing my eyes, I try to retort, but all that comes out is muffled nonsense. Pawing at my mouth, I find a tail stuck in my mouth. Guiltily looking up at the werewolf, I spot tears in his eyes. Removing his tail from my mouth, I say, “I’m sorry, your fur is just very soft. I couldn’t resist.” Mustering my best authoritative tone, I then say, “Well? I apologized, you may leave now.” Not daring to look at the werewolf out of guilt, I wait for him to leave before looking up.

Jumping back, I push Regius away. His face was just a finger lengths apart when a looked up. “What are you doing? Don’t you know you should give people a meter of personal space when they wake up?” I grumpily mumble. Still smiling, he says, “you just look too cute when you're guilty.” Staring at him with trembling eyes, I softly ask, “Is it that obvious?” Smirking, He curtly answers, “Yes.”

The werewolf saw through me. Burying my head in my hands, I formulate my next plan. How can I get another pillow like that werewolf? Having had his share of the amusement, Regius coughs with a serious look on his face. “Due to a sudden incident, the mission was moved forward. I need to leave today.” Pausing, he scratches his head, “I was kind of hoping you would come with me. You know, if you don’t mind.”

“Yes!” I scream. This smelled like adventure and giant squids. All adventures always have a giant sea monster and the best is obviously the one with more tentacles. Wilbur had once said, ‘Tentacles are the best thing ever to be discovered. The sad thing is, the biggest and most abundantly endowed tentacled beasts are only found in heroic tales.’ I might not be a hero, but he is! Heroes always fight the tentacled beast!

Taken aback at my excitement, he stares. Pushing him out of my room, I say, “Get ready! I’ll be out soon.” Getting dressed in the more casual ballroom gowns available to me. I rip some of the frills and extra layers off, leaving just the bare minimum. Making sure no one is watching, I stuff the cloth scraps under my pillow. The dresses are expensive, They’re like two slime pillows each! If I save enough of the scraps, I might be able to buy another pillow.

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Checking my dress for malfunctions, I finally leave my room. Opening my door, I see the same three maids I saw last night waiting outside. Their many arms holding various supplies and containers. Taking one glance at me, the furthest one shakes her head while the other two pull me back into my room. Quickly replacing the dress I had on for a tight fitting and stretchy cloth, they start adding thin layers of powders and creams. “Wait, what is this. It isn’t even clothing. It looks like glorified body underwear!” I ask concerned. The attire left virtually nothing in ambiguity, the princess isn't supposed to wear clothes like this! Did Regius decide to disown me? I don’t mind not being his family, but he didn’t say I could keep my pillows.

Nodding in some kind of delusional understanding, one of the maids says, “The young lord is also wearing similar attire. It pertains to the mission. The destination seems to have many people dressed in similar costumes and the such. To blend in, both of you must adjust. Don’t worry Miss Winowna, you look stunning. Master should be unable to keep his eyes off of you now! Either way, you will feel better once you see master’s attire, it’s utterly ridiculous.”

Taking her word for it, I pose in front of the mirror a few more times. Admiring my new look, I decided that I should wear this stretchy dress again sometime. It’s much easier to move in when compared to the ballroom dresses. The only downside is it isn’t nice and puffy. Maybe I can look for pillows made of this material when we get to our destination.

Taking one last admiring glance at myself, I exit my room with the maids. Following them, I notice one of them breaks away and enters another room. It’s kind of scary how they seem to communicate without even making eye contact.

Entering Regius’s room, I gasp in awe. Most of his walls were decorated with gold-framed paintings and various artifacts, but what caught my attention is on an intricate chair by the window. It’s a spider-shaped pillow! It’s not a square or a rectangle. It’s an actual life-like spider. Running over, I hug it. Strangely, It seems to move initially. Staring at it I confirm that It wasn’t alive. I mean, it stared straight at me for a minute. Spiders also have to blink right? Looking around, I walk back to the two maids while hugging my new pillow, “Where’s Regius? I’m ready to go.”

Chuckling with a hand on her mouth, one of the maids points to the pillow I am hugging, “That’s him, mistress. His costume seems to allow him to transform into a spider.” Staring dubiously at the maid, I lift the spider pillow up and drop it. Panicking, the maid rushes to catch it but before she can, the pillow morphs into Regius. Wearing an all-black costume with white highlights occasionally streaking across, he watches me in amusement. Comparing my black outfit to his, I say, “Why don’t I get a mask?”

*****

“She seems to be obsessed with pillows. You’re the best bet is to bribe her with a custom made pillow.” one of the maids says. With a grunt, a green-furred werewolf grooms its tail.