Chapter 6

• I startled with a scream logged in my throat which I let lose, sweat was pooled over my forehead and I just was touching my body to really confirm that I was indeed alive. I looked around and saw that I was in my room. I inhaled and exhaled heavily and I was so glad that it was a dream and I am still alive, I mean why would I have that kind of a nightmare to begin with.
• “Are you alright?” I turned my head to the right to see the head maid of the kitchen Jesse who actually turned out to be my roommate. I guessed she must have gotten up after she heard my scream, I felt a bit of guilt gawking in my stomach because she was a light sleeper and she rushed to me.
• “Are you okay Alice?” She asked with a concerned look on her face.
• “Oh yes…I just had a very scary nightmare. Thanks for asking, I also apologize for waking you up.” I replied to her with a strained smile on my face. She said nothing and looked at me just to confirm if what I said was true or not.
• “You can go to sleep now Jesse.” I assured her and placed a palm on her shoulder, I saw that she was not fully awake and she was already dozing off near me and since it is just the two of us in this room which I heard from the maids that it is extremely lucky to first be living with one of the head maid and to also be just the two of us in a room.
• She nodded her head and went back to her space, I let out a soft giggle because it was like she just fell into her bed and just like that she was already in dreamland.
• I must really be afraid of meeting the prince yet could it be helped, I am after all a maid and I still one day have to tend to the royals in the palace. I stood up and went to the bathing chambers to get started with my days. I looked at my roommate and saw that her side of the room was already tided up.
• She after all is a morning person and she was also a clean person, I remembered the first week I came here, it took a while getting used to her and how she is. I was just so happy that I was not cold out sleeping on a hard floor anymore.
• I made sure I worked in the palace diligently as the days went by. I was grateful to the king and his wife for giving me this job and I will try my best to do the works given to me and also to find ways to avoid the prince.
• I had seen him only twice after the unfortunate first encounter and I had decided to maintain a safe distance so as to protect myself from any evil or revenge plan that he might have toward me, the fact that he could get away with it because he is the prince also added more coal to the already raging fear in me.
• Earlier the previous day, Meredith the head maid had instructed me to dust the chairs in the palace hall as the King was expecting some visitors.
• The maids all woke up early as usual and took turns in bathing. They dressed up in their uniform which is a navy blue gown above the ankle level a little. The men are dressed up in short-sleeved shirts with pants.
• Each maid’s chambers in all the quarters in the palace have their own uniform. For the king’s quarters, their uniform is green in color, the maids in the queen’s chambers uniform is pink while those in Prince Edward’s quarters are red.
• I looked at the colors and felt a hint of happiness that I was not in Prince Edward’s quarter, not that I do not like it but it would be absolutely impossible to avoid him farther.
• I also realized that there is one more quarter which has always been empty since I arrived at the palace. The quarter’s uniform color is a silver color which just happened to be one of the color I might have taken a fancy into.
• From the look of things, I guessed those are the quarter that belonged to the first and crown prince of the kingdom, I remembered Jesse telling me that he also was always on business trips, and that was the only prince I ever knew because he sometimes represents the King and the posters also in the kingdom.
• If not for the fact that I met The Prince Edward in the marketplace how am I to know that there is another, but I am praying in my heart everyday so that he would not turn out to be the more refined version of what the second prince is. If that were to be the case, then my days in the palace would round up with one-word Misery.
• As I straightened my garment with my hands to get the dust off after bending to get the chairs cleaned, my eyes met that of a maid across the room named Isle, she returned my gaze glaring at me and without being told I just knew these would be one of the few who loved making the new maid’s life a living hell.
• I am guessing Isle is going to be another nemesis of mine in this palace for a long time, I rolled my eyes and sighed softly just add another annoying person to the list of people to avoid if necessary. But if she crossed the boundaries then I will stand against her, after all the instructor loves discipline and that is the head maid I met with Meredith for the first time.
• I learned later that every head maid report to her because she is the instructor and what she commands goes in the world of the maids, her name is Madam Teresa and her hellish training was enough torture anyone to be strong-minded.
• I strengthen my back and looked at Isle with a smirk playing on my face, she glared then scoffed and looked away.
• “And that is how you treat your haters, always smile and it annoys them the most.” I whispered to myself, I grew up in the street and if I was not able to stand for myself then who will. I went to the kitchen and got a bowl of water with napkins dusting the sofas, one after the other. I turned my head when I heard footsteps coming from the staircase side and my instinct took over as I ran to hide behind one of the sofas immediately I saw those shoes, knowing it could only have belonged to the prince.
• Prince Edward took slower steps as he placed his foot on the last staircase. I knew he turned to look at one of the sofas and furrowed his burrows at whatever he was looking at, then briefly I met his eye before looking away but I could swear that I saw him putting on a smile before leaving the hall. I sighed heavily and came out of where I was hiding.
• “For how long will I continue to hide from him?” I thought and felt like a coward for avoiding the prince, I mean he also should have forgiven me. He should forgive her since his parents have already done that and had already given me the position in the palace. Yet there is this nagging part of me that knows that he just would not no matter what.
• I mean I have seen quiet a lot of them in the street and the eye that sparkle for revenge when they are wrong or those who feel some sense of entitlement and this one has the right power to back up his arrogant attitude, I hurried and finish up the duty given to me so I will take a well-deserved rest.
• I walked back to my room, still thinking of the situation in which I find myself in, if anyone where to know or be granted access to my thoughts then they would probably think I am getting addicted to him and as much as I would rather get away from the situation I find myself in I know that I needed this to be able to survive in the world.
• I passed some maids who are also on their way to get somethings done, I know that there are places in this palace which I do not know and different paths that are not meant to be discovered, I may be new here but those summers spent in the street and trying to survive had taught me some hard learnt lesson and I really would not consider myself to be the same lady who left the four walls of the orphanage.
• I knew that my works for the day just started but I forgot to bring in my headband because I was in a hurry and I know that if one of the head maids sees me then I would not have a way to escape discipline. It had been told to us different times and times without count that we should always be on our full uniform.
• I got to my room and opened the door I was shocked to find someone by my side of the bed, I sighed as today has already been too stressful for me and this is just adding to the frustration which I was feeling. I know I do not have the right to get mad but still that was my privacy in which she is invading.
• “Who are you, please?” I asked politely, trying to suppress the subtle rising anger.
• “A maid?” She answered in a saucy manner.
• “I can see that, I meant what are you doing in my space.” I asked again this time not managing to suppress the bite in my voice.
• “Head Lady Meredith will tell you everything”, the maid said, without even looking at me, oh she was so lucky we are in the palace or else I will be already charged with the murder and the torture of a stupid lady who thinks she is very smart.
• I stomped out of the room in my anger, I mean why the heck would there be a new girl in my chambers staying confidently in my space also. The annoyance in which she told me to ask the head maid made me so annoyed and angry beyond measure.
• Yet with everything that has happened why was she there I could not help but wonder why there is a new girl in their chambers when the palace is already full and why her bed is all the beds in the chambers. If they were to tell me that there would be a new roommate then I would actually be able to adapt to that but it looked like they are chasing me out of the room, was I in trouble or did I do something that this was the punishment that was been given.
• I reached Meredith’s room and knocked, I waited for the permission but none came. I knocked again just to make sure that I did not miss her when I was coming here yet no reply. I was about opening the door when I heard a faint wait
• I tried staying calm but I just could not and I was pacing back and forth the door before I heard her speak again.
• “Come in now Alice”. She said, I opened the door to see her stacked behind piles of workload and with just a glance it was obviously the schedules of the maids in her care, she looked up at me and I saw a pity smile across her lips.
• “I think I know why you are here judging by the expression on your face” Meredith said, noticing the frown and confusion decorating my face.
• “Definitely. May I know why a new maid is in my room and on my bed, might I also add that she was unpacking her things?” I asked in an annoyed tone, despite regardless of the fact that I knew I was talking to my senior, I still was not in the right mindset to tone down my attitude.
• “Calm down Alice. It is not my decision but one from the head maid Madam Teresa, you are not fired nor is it a punishment of any sort. You have been replaced”. Instantly she let out a short laugh probably from the puzzled expression not knowing what she meant by her words to me, and from her laugh it shows that it was clearly showing on my face
• “Pardon?”, I questioned with the confused expression still evident and what came as an answer made me loss all my ability to speak and all I could do was gasp for air.
• "The prince has ordered you to be transferred to his quarters"