Beauty of Thebes

Chapter 3: Poisonous Scent

Eutostea woke up in the morning; she slept soundly and woke up feeling refreshed. She felt weird –– having a bizarre night, or maybe a dream that she could not quite pinpoint and point her finger to.

Or maybe she did…

Eutostea glanced around with blank eyes and was surprised by the wide open window that looked ready to welcome a guest in. That and she slept naked… her favorite dress lying at a distance.

When she reached out to her side, she noticed a dent on the mattress, a trace of someone, not her, lying down…

She quickly got to her feet and moved. If the maidservant we’re to find out the condition of her room, rumors would surely spread. And she did not want that. She hurriedly leveled the sunken side of the mattress and put on the dress that laid on the floor.

“You’re up.”

The door opened, timed by the chiming bells.

No one had any inkling interest in the open window, merely searching every inch of the bed.

Eutostea watched them nervously, eyes squinting.

“What’s wrong? Did you lose anything?”

“No, Princess. Did you turn around a lot last night? The bed is in a mess.”

“Then clean it up. It’s your job.”

“Yes, Princess.”

Three or four people changed the sheets to a new one and arranged the bedding diligently.

Eutostea left the room to wash her face, but upon forgetting something, she returned to her quarters and instructed the servants.

“The window latch came off. Fix it again.”

The servants exchanged suspicious glances at her orders.

Eutostea frowned and waited for an answer.

They nodded.

Satisfied, she walked back to the public bath, a place she and her two other sisters shared.

Clear water pulled up by the waterway filled the circular bathtub, filling up the tub like spring.

Eutostea was the first to arrive. She took off her clothes and thought of her sisters.

They’d be in bed right now.

Procrastinating.

Eutostea looked in front of the bronze mirror to find any sort of suspicious markings or traces, but there was none to be found. Her stomach did not feel full and bloated and there was no pain in her groin.

Something was odd.

She had probably lost her virginity last night, but however, her body had changed when the blaring moon blighted the sky. Her dream was so vivid. Was she a pervert dreaming of Apollo? She did not know.

Eutostea shook her head and hurried to take a bath, soaking her body with lukewarm water.

In time, her sisters made their appearance..

“Did anyone hear a knock on a window last night?”

It was the voice of Princess Askitea.

“I didn’t hear anything. I was too tired.”

Said the second princess, Hersia.

“How can you sleep like that? What if someone barged into your room unknowingly? That’s dangerous. Anyways, I heard it for sure. I heard a window rattle. If the maidservants weren’t watching me like an eagle, I’d have opened the window and check it out right away.”

“Would a God need to knock on a window when entering a woman’s bedroom?”

“But I really did hear it…”

Askitea said with a sigh.

“If it was Almighty Zeus, he’d have laughed and break through the window, smashing it without care. The person who knocked on a window last night might’ve been a little boy or a petty thief.”

Eutostea, who was listening, shrugged.

‘Sister, maybe his name was Apollo.’

Birds roam the day and rats flock in the night. Eutostea prayed to Artemis in her heart to forgive her of her first carnal sin. She was frustrated too… no longer a virgin.

The other two princesses finally dipped into the bath. Hersia and Askitea diligently applied olive oil to soften their hair, further accentuating a strange scent that flowed from somewhere.

“What’s that smell?”

Hersia said.

“It smells good. Did you change the oil?”

Askitea asked.

They began to search for the source of the scent, searching every corner, until, finally, their eyes fell on one side of the room. It was Eutostea, half immersed in the bath.

“I can’t believe it.”

“Dears gods.”

The two sisters looked at each other and nodded in understanding.

How could the youngest sister obtain a sweet fragrance? She never cared much for beauty and decor. Forget even looking at distilled water or perfumes. That was not her thing.

Askitea and Hersia analyzed Eutostea’s hair and neck respectively. Her bodily fragrance was like honey and heaven and reminded them of an evening primrose. They’ve gone through numerous fragrance, but never did they smell a scent like this.

It was heaven!

“Was she struck with poison? That should be it…”

Though that was far from the truth, and Askitea could not think of other reasonings why her younger sister smelled good. Even Hersia agreed to her foolish reasoning..

And the first thing they needed to do was to neutralize the scent of the poison.

“I hear that if you pour wine, it’ll neutralize it.”

Askitea walked to a cabinet next to the massage table and grabbed a jar of wine.

“Our dear sister is very unlucky… to have gotten poison… we need to quickly neutralize it and put some barley tree essence thereafter to soothe the skin better.”

Askitea muttered.

The two sisters joined forces to pour wine over Eutostea’s head.

Eutostea suddenly woke up from her stupor and anger rose like lava.

“Are you crazy?!”

Eutostea burst out in roaring anger, her naked body exposed. She chased after her foolish sisters.

Askitea threw the jar away and quickly escaped.

Hersia slipped and landed on a maidservant.

Five minutes later, both were caught in Eutostea’s hand.

While the maidservants cleaned the bath, the other two sisters explained their reasoning for pouring wine on her.

Their reasoning and excuse was to try and neutralize the poison Eutostea was inflicted with without making it seem absurd otherwise, it would seem like they were asking to be beaten to death.