11| Someone Schemed To Destroy Her

“The heater has been broken for a week,” I said slowly, letting my words sink into their heads. “Even when I first came to the palace, I realized it was faulty and practically useless. And I don’t know for sure, but I would expect the Head Maid of the royal palace to have firm control of all the equipment and household tools used by members of the royal family.”

I tilted my head, faking disappointment as my eyes stared right into her. “But this… this is quite horrible. Head Maid Smite… you’re not slacking off, are you?”

The maids gasped softly and I knew they understood what I meant. I wasn’t just complaining, My words were actually sugar-coated poison. I hadn’t accused her directly. I had insinuated that she was incompetent. In a castle ruled by a tyrant Alpha king, such an implication was no small matter. If word spread that Smite flaunted her power yet couldn’t even maintain basic order in the palace, it wouldn’t just look like she was being negligent, It would look like she was undermining the King’s authority. And wasn’t undermining the King the same as begging for death?

Color drained from Smite’s face. “You can’t say that!” she stammered, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief. “That wasn’t— that isn’t what’s happening! I didn’t know the situation at Your Highness’s palace was so… so bad.” She started stuttering trying hard to defend herself, her voice rising as she grew more desperate. “I—I was going to send a maintenance man later today. Your Highness, you barged in here without notice, this is… this is bullying!”

The other servants shifted uncomfortably. Some exchanged glances. Others pressed their lips together not knowing what to say.

Smite wasn’t a fool, she wouldn’t have become Head Maid at her age if she were. She was cunning and cruel. But I was beginning to realize… I was too.

I took a slow step closer, about to say more when a thought hit me. For someone as deranged as the King, wasn’t it possible that he already knew everything happening within the palace? Which meant spies. Everywhere. Watching and listening. And one of them could be standing in this room.

I froze mid-thought, inhaling deeply, my mind racing. What was my game plan now?

If I got angry more and I screamed or threatened, my problems would vanish for the moment but my reputation would be worse than it already is. I’d be no better than the unstable “jinx” who slapped the Head Maid.

No. I had to be smarter than that.

How could I remind them I was not to be messed with, while still looking like the victim.

Ah. I knew exactly what to do.

I threw my hands over my face and broke into tears.

Everyone froze. Poppy gasped, rushing to my side immediately. “Your Highness! Are you okay?” she whispered, clutching my hand like I was about to faint.

The other maids stared in shock, even Smite looked startled, as if she couldn’t understand how I could be crying after I had just slapped her mercilessly.

“I’m so angry at myself!” I sobbed, my voice cracking as I shook my head violently. “So angry at the state of things! I—I had to punish you, Head Maid Smite, only because I was terrified His Majesty would punish you himself.”

Everyone looked so confused.

“What?” one maid whispered. “Why would His Majesty—”

I cut her off before she could finish. “The heater is one thing, but when I was sick and bedridden after passing the Trial. Nobody thought to bring me coals for my fireplace. After His Majesty personally instructed the royal doctor to treat me, what if I had died from the cold instead?!” My voice cracked again as I cleaned my tears with my sleeve. “How would you explain that to His Majesty then?”

Smite didn’t even know what to say, and I didn’t let her have the chance to.

“You don’t know how cold it was!” I cried, clutching Poppy like I would crumble. “You don’t know the shame of having my poor maid beg scraps from the kitchen just to make sure I don’t freeze to death at night. I have never done anything for you to treat me this way. Do you not count me as part of the royal family?”.

The maids lowered their eyes in shame. Others glanced nervously at Smite, who could only stammer, “Y-Your Highness, I—”

But no excuse would save her now but that didn’t mean she didn’t try.

“Your highness. It’s not like that. Supplies are delivered weekly, if your highness didn’t receive them it must have been a mistake.”

“A mistake?” I sniffled. “How strange. The same mistake happened when I needed clean clothes. Or when I asked for warm ones. Or when my maid went to you for food for me to recover and was told, ‘What does it matter? She might not survive anyway.’”

Smite’s face flushed red. “T-That was taken out of context! I never said—”

“Are you calling my maid a liar?” I cut in.

Smite’s mouth opened and closed like a fish struggling for air.

And I wasn’t finished. “Head Maid Smite, my slap wasn’t to make you feel horrible, I was trying to help you. Tell me this, when Head Maid Smite ignores the King’s concubine, is she not ignoring the King himself? When she limits food, is she not letting the King’s household crumble? When she gossips about his concubines and allows her staff to laugh at them, is she not mocking the King’s authority?”

Smite paled. “Your Highness, I— I would never mock his Majesty! Don't twist my words.”

I tilted my head, letting a thin, cold smile fall on my lips. “Oh? Then if they are not your words, whose words are they? Are you admitting someone told you to do all these things to me? That you’re carrying out another person’s orders?”

At first, I thought I was bluffing. I only said those words to shove her into a corner, and paint her as disloyal before her staff. But then, her eyes widened with so much guilt. It made me pause.

Ah, so all the laughter, the mockery, the neglect. It wasn’t random pettiness. Someone was pulling strings.

But who ? I’d just arrived. Who could already hate me enough to orchestrate this, to want me broken before I even settled down?

It couldn’t be Coralie, she was still at the Moon Fang pack, and she had no power here. It couldn’t be my father either.

Then who?

A shiver ran down my spine and I swallowed hard, trying to not let my fear show on my face.

Someone inside these walls wanted to destroy me. Someone who had the power to use Head Maid Smite like a pawn.

My situation wasn’t just bad, it was far, far worse than I’d imagined.