Toadette's Story: Book 1

Chapter 6 - Preparation

Who would’ve guessed my life would come to this? Not only being hired to clean the feet of Her Highness, but also serving the feet of some foreign princess. Maybe I didn’t take all the best turns in life, but I didn’t deserve this treatment.

The only way to survive was by looking at the positives. After all, I was in a warm castle earning a buck. It beat fighting in alleys and wasting money on the inns.

“Hey, cutie.”

Dang, how long was I sitting on these stairs? A Toad wearing an oversized headlamp chewed loudly as he stuck his thick fingers in my face. It looked to be a half-eaten cookie in the shape of a Yoshi.

“Eat it already. You look starved,” he commented, pointing at my stomach.

Harsh, for sure. But the guy wasn’t wrong. My tongue quivered at the thought of his saliva being on this thing. However, the taste remained sweet.

Mmm… Vanilla on the outside yet soft and creamy on the inside.

The Toad pulled at my braids. “You’re the new girl, right?”

“Yes,” I huffed, tugging them back. Why were people so attracted to my braids?

“Neat. Then I caught you right before the princess deploys me.”

“And you are?”

He pushed up the stairs past me, lugging a heavy backpack.

“Her Highness’s daughter wants you in her room. Second floor, a pink door. If I survive our journey to Fahr Outpost, I’ll see you again, rookie.”

What a strange dude that was. Eh, it could’ve been worse. He could’ve been ugly and tried to chat me up. But whatever Her Highness’s daughter wanted better have been important. Was tickling me to the point of nearly pissing myself not enough fun for her?

Locating the brat’s room was an exercise in frustration. Each floor of this castle was as wide as two football fields combined. But with enough patience, I found the only pink door in a sea of blue ones.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

The door creaked open, and Her Highness’s daughter walked out with both arms folded. She had a pair of violet pyjamas draped over her body.

“About time. I felt like I was waiting for hours.”

“You probably were,” I mumbled.

Between the smell of strawberries and the bright pink walls, I couldn’t tell which overloaded my senses more. Avoiding the various objects on the floor was another exercise. Stickers, paintings and folded papers made up only half the clutter in this little girl’s room. Candy wrappers and clothes covered the second half.

Like a hyper acrobat, she hopped onto her bigger-than-needed bed. I was “greeted” by her forcing her feet in front of my face. Oh well, the best thing I could say was that they were spotless.

“You like experiments? I like experiments,” she giggled. “I wanna see you lick my feet until I’m sleeping.”

The quicker I handled this, the faster I’d be resting in my own bed.

Without resistance this time, I licked along the girl’s arch. No strong flavour came from her foot. Though, a bland taste was always better than a sickining one.

My tongue flapped around that area of the girl’s foot for a while. Eventually, she guided her big toe into my mouth.

“At least you’re not as crazy as your mom,” I tried to say while gargling on the rest of her toes.

The girl splayed her wet toes against my lips, clearly inviting me to lick between them. Without any dirt or an awful odour, my body began to tolerate this. Just a little bit.

She wiggled her toes. “Since you mentioned my mother, what’d she talk to you about?”

“Some Daisy lady coming tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow!?” The girl’s expression snapped from calm to panicked.

“Why’s that bad?” I asked, holding her foot in place as I continued to lick.

Sucking on her sole intermittently seemed to get her to breathe normally. The girl slumped against a pillow, eyes half-closed.

“It’s weird. She usually announces that a week early, but not a day.”

Hmm… I’d never seen this Princess Daisy woman physically. What if her feet were as tiny as this child? Wouldn’t that be something?

Or worse. If that lady’s feet were as gigantic as Her Highness’s, and they were as foul as she described, I’d be in for a new type of Hell.

“What’s she like?” I questioned. “Princess Daisy. Describe her for me.”

“Miss Daisy is awesome. For one thing, she LOVES me. I can’t think of a single time she’s ever not been nice. Now, when she’s with Mother, it’s a different story.”

Speaking of different, the girl flipped to the opposite position. Her soles faced the ceiling while her stomach cushioned her.

“Whenever they’re with each other, I can’t go a day without hearing them argue about something stupid.”

Ooh, a rift between friends? Interesting. Her Highness talked about Princess Daisy like she was a needy person. But this info wasn’t good enough for me. If Her Highness made some questionable comments about Toads, would the Sarasaland lady be kinder or an even bigger witch?

“So, where does that leave me?”

The girl yawned. “If you were human, she’d love you probably.”

She didn’t see my face, but I knew she could feel my frustration. I had to stop my nails from piercing into this girl’s delicate soles. Hell, my toes wanted to rip open my flats with the tension rising.

“S-Sorry, I didn’t mean it like—” The girl stammered like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“No, thank you,” I said as I kissed her foot. “I need all the warnings I can get. What do you know about her feet?”

Thanks to this girl’s feet, my cheeks were covered in my own saliva. With patience, she handed me all the details her little mind knew. She claimed that Princess Daisy’s feet were almost as big as Her Highness’s, if not larger. More alarmingly, she confirmed that this princess’s feet could work up a powerful odour if in sneakers specifically. She described it as the scent “taking you by surprise”.

“At least yours don’t stink,” I sighed.

“Catch me after I’ve been running all day, and you’ll… you’ll see…”

My tongue reaching her heel and lowering back to her scrunched toes signified the end of this foot licking. The girl purred like a kitty before soft breathing filled the warm room.

“Thanks for the info, kid.” I kissed both of her soles before covering them up.

When I got to the door, Penelope muttered one more thing out. “Compliment Miss Daisy a bunch, and she might go easy…”

In the shower, I practised the handful of compliments to throw this princess’s way.

“Hey, Princess. Your feet may smell like Stinky Herbs, but— That’s gonna get me killed.”

While the warm water soaked my sore soles, I brainstormed two ideas for managing the princess’s stinky feet. Plan A: I could hold my breath. All those years of diving underwater would finally pay off. Or flip the coin, and we get Plan B: I could breathe through my mouth the whole time. A bit harder, but not impossible.

“You’ve got this Toadette,” I said aloud.

Out of the shower with a white T-shirt and panties, I made an immediate beeline for my bed. There lay Minh T., conked out and in a spare pair of clothes I owned. If she hadn’t showered, she would’ve been sleeping on the carpeted floor like an animal.

The thing about Minh T. was that she did not sleep like an average person. Rather than having her head on the pillow side, she almost always grabbed two pillows and brought them to the other end. So, she was sleeping where my feet would go.

Likewise, I had to sleep with her feet in front of my face, on my pillows. Yes, I tried moving her. It was like attempting to move a Thwomp.

“Thanks a whole lot, friend,” I groaned before removing my glasses.

Yet, her feet were so distinct from any casual day. There was no grime, a fresh smell of soap, and they were a bit softer visually. With this princess arriving so unexpectedly, I needed all the practice I could get.

“I’m gonna regret this.”

Shrugging off the guilt, I wrapped my lips around Minh T.’s smallest toes. Slowly but surely, I sucked on my best friend. And just like Her Highness’s daughter, Minh T.’s feet had no flavour. Perfect.

The sides of her feet were next in line. The texture separating the sole and normal skin was difficult to put in words. Picture a smooth service with occasional rough parts. I got to work on her cold soles for a few extra seconds before my body dropped dead. Clearly, my brain wanted me to rest.

I’ve had enough experiences in the past like this. It’s better to get rest versus fighting to stay awake in these situations. So I cast the room in darkness and conked out to the rhythm of the soothing raindrops.