Chapter 3 THE KING'S PERSONAL MAID

It was the next morning, and everyone expected to be at the King's Palace, standing at the entrance of the second palace, waiting for the guards in charge of taking us over there.

We set out to the other palace, which took about half an hour since we had to walk over there.

On getting there, we all had to write our names down, including our age and gender. Then we were directed to the slaves' quarters.

A few minutes later, an elderly-looking woman, clearly one of them, walked into the quarter, standing in front of us.

" Alright, listen up. I am Madam Despina, the head maid for this palace." She spoke fiercely and filled with confidence.

" From this moment on, you all belong to the king. Forget about your old lives; you lived an hour ago. Forget about whoever was your master. Know that you belong to the king and queen. Your only purpose here is to serve and please your master or the days of your lives."

" You all are privileged to serve such great masters as His Majesty, King Orpheus Selinofoto."

There it was again.

That word.

Why do they keep telling us that?

It was obvious how well they loved and respected their king; they didn't have to force us humans to like them. Not after everything they had done and were still doing to my kind.

They were monsters.

Nothing was going to change my thoughts about them.

I kept my face passive, looking at the new head maid, Madam Despina, as she spoke; this time it was about a rule we were meant to follow.

" I'm sure you are all aware of what would happen to you if any of the rules are broken. With no doubts, the punishment will be severe; you would wish for nothing but death. So think twice before breaking any." She says sternly, watching every one of us. Her face held no emotions.

" Number one, remember to keep your head down always. More importantly, in front of the king. Only raise your heads up when asked to. Number two, don't even think about escaping, ever. You won't get that far. Number three, there should be no act of disobedience or resistance against your master. These are the three major rules to survive here; do not forget them."

" The rest will be taken care of by Elvire; she is in charge after me. She is the one to meet if any issue you wish to discuss arises. Follow the guards, and they will take you to her." She looked around the room. " That's all for now."

We stayed in line, following the guards out into a corridor. We walked down the stairs, stopping in an open hall with a lady no more than five years older than me.

I couldn't help admiring how beautiful she looked; even with the maid gown, she stood with grace.

I give it to them; they do have great skins. Every female beast I have ever come across all have this glow in them.

" Okay everyone, listen up. There won't be much time to list out the remainder of the rules, so they would be pasted on the wall of the hallway for you all to go through." The lady spoke, her voice sounding so adorable. " You get the rest of the day off, giving you a chance to mingle with other maids and get your footing on how it works here. Make no mistake, you won't be getting any more free days after today."

Of course, we were nothing but slaves to them.

" You will each get your task before the end of the day. Your uniforms are already placed in your respective rooms. That's all; you are free to pick a room."

My room, just like the other palace, was small and plain with a tiny window by the side of the wall. But still, I had my space, which was more than enough.

I walked over to where my uniforms were placed. They looked more decent and in better shape than my previous one.

There wasn't anything too unique to see in the room as I decided to take a bit of rest. I climbed onto the bed, slowly closing my eyes. It was long after that I fell asleep.

When i came through again it was by a loud bang on my door, causing me to jump to my feet. I tidied up my hair and dress before opening the door to see the rest of the maids standing by their doors with their heads down.

I followed suit, not asking a question as I kept my head down.

"Heads up." Elvire said, standing by the far end of the hall, with her hands clapped to the back.

" I hope you guys had time to go through the rest of the list." She says, scanning through the hall. " Without wasting any more time, I'm going to call out your name, as well as your task. Is that clear?"

" Yes, ma'am?" We all chorused together.

" Good, let's get right into it." She unfolds the paper in her hands. " Bailey Norman." A young lady, not less than twenty-five, raised her hand. " Kitchen duties."

" Josiane Stuart." Just like the first lady, a petite girl my age raised her hand. " Garden duties."

I stopped paying attention to the list of names being called until I heard my name, and my head shot up.

" Micaela Whitlock"

I raised my hand, trying my best not to shake even though I was falling miserably.

" Personal servant to King Orpheus Selinofoto."

" What......" I whispered, a look of horror on my face.

" You are to serve the king as a personal servant." Elvire says, giving me a pointed glare.

I stood frozen, my hands clenched tightly to my clothes as Elvire carried on with the names like she hadn't just assigned me to death herself.

" I suggest you get as much rest as possible today because tomorrow you resume back to work. From 5am in the morning to 9pm. Remember, tardiness won't be allowed; you will be punished if you are even a second late." Elvire's warning rang through the hall.

She gave us one last look before leaving the hall. As she left, the hall was filled with silence. I could feel eyes on me, the glance of sympathy being thrown my way from both old and new maids.

The maids cleared out of the hall, going back to their respective rooms. I, on the other hand, remained rooted in my spot.

Numbness filled me up; my mind and body refused to cooperate with me. I swore I could hear my heart beating fast; I'm surprised it was still intact.

Struggling to move my legs, going back to my room. I fell to the bed; a lone tear fell from my eye.

I guess I will be seeing my family soon.

♤♤♤♤

The sound of banging on my door was what woke me up again the next morning. Getting out of bed, I cringed when my feet touched the cold floor. I opened the door, spotting a petite girl tasked to work at the garden. She had a smile on her face, sticking her hand out for me to take as she introduced herself.

" Hi, I'm Josiane. It's a pleasure to meet you."

" Hi, I'm..."

" Micaela, I know. Honestly, everyone does." Josiane winced, giving me a pitiful look. " You're the girl chosen as the king's personal maid."

Not knowing what to say, I opt to say nothing, not at all shocked by her information.

" It's best if you get ready. Lady Elvire will be here any moment from now." Josiane said, ushering me back in.

I closed the door, changing out of the clothes I had on into a freshly washed uniform. Washing my face with water by the side, I tied my hair into a ponytail and then quickly opened the door, following Josiane out of the servant quarters to the hall. We were first addressed by Madam Despina.

" Good morning, ladies, I see you are all cleaned up." Elvire says, giving us a pointed look.

Once again, she was looking flawless. Her hair matted to the back, her face radiant and glowing.

" Breakfast is at 6:00am, lunch is at 1:00pm and dinner is at 8:00pm. Miss any, and you will have to wait until the next time for a meal."

" For the maids working as personal servants, I expect you not to be seen or heard. Especially if you are the King's personal servant." She continued, giving me a look. When she said the latter. I could have sworn I saw her grit her teeth. " There would be no chit-chat among the maid during working hours. Work as fast as you can to meet the time frame, and if you successfully manage to execute your duties on time, you are expected to spend the rest of your time in your personal room until it's your meal time."

"Know that you will be punished according to your offence. Tardiness, death. Steal, death. Any form of disobedience and death. Remember, you are nothing more than a slave brought over here to serve the king."

" With that being said, I expect to have no reason to come down here to speak to any of you. You are all dismissed; follow the guard at the door, and he will lead you to the kitchen."

We all lined up, following the guys out of the hall to the kitchen where the other maids were. Walking over to the tray of food, picking a plate of porridge. I stood at the far end of the kitchen with Josiane beside me as we ate our breakfast.

" I wished they would serve us more decent food than this. How do they expect us to get the appropriate nutrition if the only thing they give us is porridge, stoned bread and an extremely disgusting tea?" Josiane whispers, looking down at the plate of porridge in her arms in absolute repulsion.

I nod, agreeing with her, focusing myself to swallow the tasteless porridge.

The both of us kept on eating when Elvire walked in, whispering something into the ear of the chief cook before walking out.

" Heavens, Elvire can be so superficial and fake." Josiane said out of the sudden, her face turned sour.

"Why...? I thought she looked friendly." I questioned, mystified at why she would say that.

" Come on, don't be fooled. She is anything but nice. The only reason Elvire is being nice." She says, using her fingers to emphasise the word 'nice'. " It is because she doesn't see any of us as a threat to her position as the King's personal whore."

" Wow, you must really hate her."

" I have worked here at the King's Palace since I was six. I had a best friend, Marie. She was the former maid to the king."

" What happened to her?" I asked, taking the last bite of my porridge.

" What do you think?" Josiane counters back. " Look, Micaela, I'm not trying to scare you. You work for the king now, which means that Elvire is going to have an eye on you. She might act all charming and friendly to you, but be careful; don't forget she is like them. A beast." The warning was evident in her voice.

A beast, I had no idea she wasn't human. The beast had a unique feature; mostly it was the colour of their eyes that gave them away, but Elvire looked more human. Deciding not to stick my nose into something that has nothing to do with me, I took the last bite of my porridge.

Nodding my head, I walked over to the sink to do my dishes, waving Josiane goodbye, then walked out of the kitchen with her words still ringing in my heart.

Like Elvire had suggested, it would be best if I worked as fast as I can, trying not to be seen nor heard.

After climbing the seventh staircase, my breath came so rapidly that I had to force myself to breathe slower through my mouth. I got to the King's quarter, which was a full hall with no one but him in it.

I guess it's true what they said about the king liking his privacy. Rumours flew about how the King hated being seen and how a few privileged people got to see what he really looks like.