"Porn."
Kneeling down like this at the back of the treasury, she felt like she was going through some bizarre ritual. Golden curls framed her heart shaped face - curls she brushed away as she shifted the dress underneath her so that it wasn't catching on her heels. "This is porn." she said. "I assume that's some kind of sex equipment over there?"
The head maid shrugged. "Yes," she said. "Collected from the ruins of the old world, found in various places. Your great grandfather's legacy was uniting the human people. Your grandmother's was finding peace with fairy kind. Your parents' was their exploration. Their unearthing of the thing called 'the internet'."
"This?" Holly asked, pointing at the stacks below them. "From the internet?"
Mel smiled, leaning on her cane. "It's funny." she said. "Entire lives were chronicled on there. It's full of touching stories, strange films and pictures, but more than anything else... Filth."
"So the historical 'internet' records that mother and father released to the world..."
"Were less than half complete. This is the rest of it. Hidden away down here. Naughtily frank depictions of... love between... well, beyond that point, it's hard to be sure of anything. The records that were released onto the arkanet - our "internet", I guess you could say - contained much less of this indecency. They made our ancestors look like us; pious, and well educated. And not..."
"...Not completely sex obsessed?" Princess Holly finished.
"Exactly."
"Oh..."
"And now that you are..." - the head maid glanced at the smudged piece of paper in her hand for a moment - "...a certain age," she floundered, "It's time you were made aware. In your mother's absence, you are effectively
running
the kingdom, after all."
"I'm nineteen." Holly told her, with only a touch of venom. "But thank you for bringing this to my attention, I think."
"I've stacked them up, ready for you." Mel advised.
"I should give you a raise," Holly mused.
Mel chucked. "Well, in the meantime, you should watch them. You might learn something."
"I've had a think about that raise," Holly started in a dangerous voice, but stopped when she realised Mel was leaving. "Wait, you actually want me to...?"
"But of course." Mel said, with a flourish. "You are a sensual and sexual little thing after all, are you not? And if not, what was that celebration of womanhood Camis walked in on last night?"
Immediately, Holly was on her feet, her face heating up the room. "I did
not
ask for your advice on that!" she yelped, shaking her fists. "What I do is
my
business!"
Mel looked at her for a long time.
Finally, she asked, "Are you lonely, Holly?"
"What...?" Holly asked, after a moment. "N-no... I mean... I turn down the suitors, don't I?"
"Why do you turn down the suitors, Holly? You have an extremely ravishing body, according to all the world's standards. Why not share it? Why not... give-"
"I'll never share it." Holly snapped. "It's
mine
."
A moment of silence swept over the room as the princess's effective catch phrase was cast out again.
"And I'll thank you to stop treating me like a child in the body of an adult." Holly added bitterly. "That is, if you want to keep the position your sisters fought so hard for you to have."
Mel froze. "I went too far," she said quickly. "I'm sorry. I just thought-"
"It's fine." Holly assured her. "Go."
Silence.
Mel turned back towards the door, then, after a moment, turned back. "Princess, if you ever need-"
"
Go
!" A half-dressed Holly interrupted.
Only when Holly heard the door close did she begin to let down her panties. It was a little effort - her round, generous rump rarely, if ever, let anything past without a short but passionate fight - but she was used to that by now. She held them for a moment - they were a little damp, but that was probably just the apprehension. She had no idea what she was going to find, after all.
For a moment, she idly played with the release on her bra, then decided against removing the thing. Her sensitive globes were happily seated, after all. There was no need to strain herself.
"Nobody can get in except me." She muttered. "Well, Mel can. But Mel's not coming back." She hung her panties on a nearby light fitting. "Sensual, hmm?" she mused. "That woman reckons she knows me well, for some 30 year old who's only been here for a year."
Tiptoeing down the cold metal staircase, she felt like a naughty child. A little girl going to find herself forbidden gifts in the darkness. Holly hated cold floors. Most of the palace floors were heated, but the treasury's wasn't.
"Perhaps I should have put my sandals back on. Oh well. Let's see..."
She looked over the stacks, checking each one. "Beastiality?" she questioned. "No. There's a reason that's illegal now, you naughty humans. And look here-" - she chuckled - "Scat? I don't know and I don't want to. If I haven't heard of it it's bad-"
Lesbians.
The disk she chose cast out the typical still as she picked it up, the set of screenshots competing in the air - tempting her. They showed a dark haired, haughty looking princess tied up while a witch of some kind...
...had...
...her way...