02: Find a way to figure things out.

"Madam, your bath is prepared. Since you have no lady-in-waiting yet, please allow us, servants, to help you while you bathe."

"Thank you for taking care of me, but one person is more than enough, and the rest should go back to what you were doing. I'll call you if I need an extra hand," Aileen replied, wearing her sweet smile.

"It is an honor to serve you, our dearest queen," The three servants replied in chorus. It was as if they had memorized every speech they had to say. Then, they bowed their heads to the queen before leaving the bedchamber.

"Come this way, our dearest queen,” says lady Athena.

Aileen followed lady Athena as they made their way to the extravagant lavatory. Everything in the palace looks expensive, if not made with gold, more or less made with diamonds. She still can't believe that this world truly exists. She only read it in the script way back when she used to film historical dramas, but now she's living a luxurious life in the real palace, not a rented old palace.

She smells a pleasing fragrance of flowers all over the corner of the lavatory, which is twice the lavatory she had back in her home. She soaked in the tub made of pure gold, and it has always been satisfying for her.

Back then, in her world, Aileen did not have much time to relax because her schedule was packed with shooting, commercials, and guesting for tv shows and sitcoms. "Being this relaxed might be the only advantage I had after coming to this place," she openly muttered, forgetting the presence of her maid.

"What do you mean, madam?" says the lady in the maid uniform, but soon zipped her mouth and apologized for asking the queen's thoughts. 

"Why do you have to apologize for trying to question me? It's not like you disrespect me by trying to converse with me."

"The law is strict. It was a practice in this land not to talk back. We, servants, are not allowed to open a conversation with a royalty unless we were asked to inform them. We can only be friends with a noble, but not in a royal family."

"What the f*ck is that twisted law?" Aileen placed her palm on her forehead upon realizing that she was still unfamiliar with the laws and customs of this world. Though, she learned the ranking in this world, whereas; Nobles are those from Baron/Baroness to Marquise, and Aristocrats are those ranked from Viscount to Duke/Duchess . Lastly, the royalty consists of the king/queen, princess /prince, and emperor/empress.

"Anyway, please make this quick. It's about time to withdraw from the tub," she uttered in a polite manner.

"As you wish, madam."

After her bath, the servant helped Aileen get dressed. She asked for simple flowy clothes in order to avoid standing out in the crowd. She thought that it was a good thing that she did not appear in public for the whole two months, so no one had an idea what their queen really looked like. She needed to look like a commoner for her to stroll without hustle.

Speaking of her look, she’s now standing in front of a whole body-sized mirror, ornamented with rubies on its curve. She can’t believe that this Szcheriziel lady looks identical to her features, except for her eyes and hair. The owner of the body Aileen had possessed was a blonde lady with ashen eyes. Aileen in her world has black hair, and so do her eye colors. Nonetheless, these ladies both own an hourglass body, and both are five and four inches in height.

~knock~knock~

Everyone momentarily stopped with the intervention of someone knocking on the door. Then, one of the ladies serving the queen went to the threshold to open the door.

"Greetings Madam,” says a guy closer to the queen's age. The guy bowed his head before telling what he ought to tell, to inform the queen that… “the carriage is ready. Also, your marquise was waiting outside. Please bring one maid with you in pursuit of the king’s order.”

"Where is his excellency, by the way?" Aileen asked as she headed to the door.

"Madam, his excellency went outside with his secretary." The queen nodded and soon went to the carriage. 

In the middle of their journey to the town, the madam sinks into her thoughts as too much speculation surfaces in her mind, such as;

'If he's truly under a spell, then there could be a time that it would weary. And, if the magic has no control over that bloodlust king... I'm dead meat.'

She tried to pick up the fragment of memory where the king and her first met...

.... It all started to feel real for Aileen when she bled from a subtle scratch on her neck as Viishaunt pointed his sword at her. The lady yelled to spare her life because she wanted to live, then a circle thing appeared.  

Then the lady found herself and the guy in the middle of a circle with letters inscribed on it. There were letters around the two layers of the circles, however, she has no idea where on earth such language belongs to. The circle made a huge white barrier, trapping the two inside. Then, a flash of lightning followed, which landed on the king's heart, and it was as if the king was targeted.

The weird thing she could not understand was why it seemed no one had noticed the strange magic aside from her. The hand of the clock seemed to die out of energy, freezing everyone in time, thus it's not surprising to see how much confusion was written on all of the marquises' faces. Especially, when their king insisted on bringing Aileen himself to his palace and decided to make the lady his only queen...

Aileen heaved a heavy breath after recalling what happened before she became the madam. And, another sigh escaped from her before whispering her word to the wind. She said, "I need to find out whatever that shitty circle thingy and that lightning. Since I'm on it, I also need to find out the mystery of my arrival here. Also, to unleash how to go back to my world.

"This is gonna' be tiresome, but what can I do? I need to sort things out," she added in a voice that only she could hear.