STICKING TO THE RULES

The sound of banging on my door was what woke me up the next morning. Getting out of bed, I cringed when my feet touched the cold floor.

Opening the door, I saw the 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 opted 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 then quickly opened the door, following Josiane out of the servant quarters to the hall where we had first been addressed by madam Despina.

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

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

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

“ For the maids working as a personal servant, 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 says 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 emphasize the word ‘nice.’ “ It is because she doesn’t see any of us as a threat to her position as the King’s personnel 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 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. Rumour flew about how the King hated being seen and how a few privileged people got to see what he really looks like.