4. A tough one

"Here in the palace, you have to obey some rules. I guess when it comes to you, you'll have to obey a lot of rules." The woman said, walking through a corridor.

"Let me start by saying, always obey whatever the higher-ups in the palace tells you to do, and that also include me." Said the woman, stopping a little to intimidate the girl with her eyes. The head maid knew that the girl was a tough one, but she didn't have any choice than to accept her, moreover she won't last in the castle, she's definitely going to do something wrong.

"And also try to give a little smile while working, your face looks too serious." The woman said walking forward again.

Don't talk when you're not asked to talk, and I think you can follow that. When you're asked a question, give a polite answer and not an offensive one. The woman said, looking back at her.

They finally got to a building, where the woman pushed the door open.

"This is the maid's quarters, it's where all the maids of the higher-ups in the palace sleep and get ready for their work." The woman said before she was greeted by some maids in the room.

"Good evening ma'am." The maids said their greetings and bowed their heads as soon as they saw the head maid.

"Good evening. This is Eve, she's a new maid in the palace. She's going to go through some practice till I assign her whom she's going to be serving." The woman said to the other maids.

"Are you all done with your work today." The woman asked them.

"Yes ma'am." The maids answered in unison.

"Ok. One last rule before I go. We have different Chambers in the castle, you must only care for the person you're serving, don't go to another person's chamber. You must not serve or be concerned about anyone you're not serving, if you don't want to get into trouble." "I hope you understand?" The woman asked.

"Answer me when I ask you a question girl." The woman said when she noticed that Eve was just looking at her without answering her question.

"I understand." She said glaring at the woman.

"Hmm. Your bed is right over there, all maids are to wake by 4 in the morning. See you tomorrow no I meant evening." The woman said before leaving.

Eve only closed her eyes sighed in frustration after the woman left. She opened her eyes only to be greeted by different eyes staring at her.

"Hi! my name is Elizabeth but you can call me Liz." A girl said standing in front of her. " I guess your name is Eve. Right?" The girl asked with curiosity.

"The head maid just told you. Didn't she?" Eve said, moving to where her bed was, she sat down and felt the bed with her hands.

"Yeah.. my bed is next to you. You can ask me if you need anything." The girl said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Eve didn't say a word to the girl, she just stare at her in silence till the girl left her alone. She could feel the other maids looking at her but she doesn't care.

"I can't believe I'll be sleeping on this kind of bed. Just focus Eve, this is a small thing, you've passed through things more than this." She kept telling herself in a low voice.

It finally became dark, a lot of maids has come to the quarters after their work. They all left for their dining room to have their dinner.

"Ain't you going to have dinner?" Liz asked, seeing that she won't even move from her bed.

Eve looked at her for some time before replying. "I'm not hungry."

You only get to eat dinner as a maid in the castle, meaning that you can only eat tomorrow's night. she explained, looking at the girl who has covered her head with a blanket. Noticing that she won't reply her, she left her and went to the dining room.

In the dining room, the maids sat down and start to eat their food, before the head maid remembered the new girl.

"Where is the new girl? Didn't you inform about the dinner?" The head maid asked looking at the other maids in the room for an answer.

"I told her. she said she was not hungry." The girl Liz, replied looking back at the woman.

"She is not hungry?" The woman said laughing and repeating the word again as if to stick the word to her brain.

"Do we have a new girl?" A girl named Helen asked looking at the woman. She's the head's maid assistant and a maid to the queen, she also sometimes follow the head maid to serve the king.

"Yes. A new maid to the king, can you believe that?" she said smiling. "She was brought here by Mr Travis to be a maid to the king."

"Slave to the king? Does he think it's easy? How can he bring a random girl and asked her to be the king's maid?" Helen asked getting irritated.

"Just eat your food Helen, we will have to do it, we don't have a choice." The woman said before continuing to eat her food. The girl could only sulk and continue eating her food.

After eating, they all went to bed to get enough rest for the next day.

The next morning.

Early in the morning, the maids are already awake before the head maid comes to scold them for waking up late. The head maid walks in to check on them, she was about going before she noticed a particular someone still sleeping on her bed.

"Wake her up." She said to the maids standing behind her. The maids took some water and poured it on her face. Immediately she opened her eyes to see who has come to disturb her sleep.

"Welcome back." The head maid said sacarstically. "Why are you still sleeping at this time of the day? Don't you know you have to get ready for today's task?" The woman asked yelling at the girl who only stand there without moving.

She stared at her for a little while before asking."Tell me, how exactly do you want to be the king's maid with this stupid attitude of yours?

Seeing that she won't say a word, she got really angry and said. "I give you only ten minutes to get ready and meet me outside."

She was tired of Eve's rudeness but because of a particular reason, she kept keeping up with her attitude because her hands are tied.