Chapter 4

Aurora woke up in the morning and she did the same routine that she always did but this time she added extra measures and steps to it and made sure she was dressed to perfection.

She was starting her new work today so nothing could go wrong, she would make sure of it. She got on her bicycle and was on her way to the palace.

When she got to the palace gates she showed her badge and was let in, she went and parked her bicycle in its usual spot and went into the servant's quarters kitchen.

She headed straight to the front to get her cup of tea and roll, she said her name and she was ticked off role call.

She scanned the room and saw that Lucy was already waiving at her to come over, she made her way through the tables and she could hear blatant gossip about how she had bribed to get the position that she was in.

The irony of all this is that they failed to say it to her face, so they whispered it amongst themselves in low tones but loud enough for her to hear it.

She ignored them all and didn't react so they wouldn't get the satisfaction that they were hoping for, when Aurora made it to her friends she sat down.

"You are quite the topic for today." Agnes was the first to say to her.

"I know, I just walked through the line of fire."

"Magret was the one that started it all, I don't even know how she found out," Lucy added.

"She is always the first one to know most things, makes one wonder if she is always listening in other people's conversations?" Ida added,

"You know she adds on to the story, she loves to add salt, but just not a pinch the whole bucket." Said Evelyn.

They all burst out laughing,

"Don't mind them Aurora you will do amazing," Agnes added after.

"Thank you guys, I can always count on you ladies no matter what."

And Aurora was truly grateful for them, she could not ask for a better bunch of friends than them and she would not change anything about them.

They finished drinking their tea and they all had their duties to carry out, so they dispensed to them. Aurora went to the laundry room to fetch the clothes that she had sent out for washing the previous day.

She got there and found them doing the finishing touches to them, she waited. When they were down she carried the laundry to the room that she would be cleaning.

When she got inside the chambers, it was empty but the mess that was inside was shocking. Clothes were strewn everywhere,

The bedsheets were on the floor, they were dirty dishes, whoever slept in here was definitely a dirty slob.

She rolled up her sleeves, turned the hourglass, and started to get to work. This time she had a few minutes to spare, but she was happy with the result.

She carried out the dirty dishes and laundry, she decided to first head to the laundry room and dropped off the clothes.

Then she went to the kitchen and placed the dirty dishes in the sink.

"Aurora, I see you have some time to spare could you help with the dirty dishes?" The head of the kitchen asked.

Aurora could not refuse her and that would be a sign of disrespect, "Of course."

"Thank you, darling."

Aurora went back to the sink and started to help out with the dishes and it was a long grueling task. How many plates, pots, and cutlery did they use?

When she was done it was time for lunch and she headed to the kitchen in the servant's quarters, she took her meal and went to her friends.

"You look beat," Barbara remarked.

"I thought your workload would lessen?" Evelyn added.

"It did but I was asked to help out in the kitchen."

"Lucky you, did you taste any delicacies?" Agnes asked.

"It's not the way you think, I was on cleaning duty."

"That sucks Aurora, you should have refused." This time it was Ida.

"I couldn't, it was the head of the kitchen that asked, so I had to comply."

"It is bad that we have to comply with rules of the palace, but it is worse than we have to also comply with the higher-ups here, if we don't we get punished for it in many ways," Ella added.

"True, no one wants to be in their bad books which suck for us," Agnes remarked.

Lunch was finished and it was time for tea, she went to the kitchen and collected the tea-pot, and snacks for her chambers that she was serving.

Aurora walked carefully as she did not want to spill anything on her plate, and Madam would be disappointed in her.

When she finally got to the chambers, the door was closed but she could hear voices inside, she wondered what she should do?

Should she come back later? No, she had to knock as she would not want to walk in a situation that is bad.

Aurora balanced the tray in one hand and she knocked softly, there was no answer so she decided to knock louder this time.

"Come in." The voice boomed from the inside of the room.

Aurora carefully opened the door, and leaned in with her back so that it would not close, she had to put her back into it as the door was very heavy.

With that out of the way, she walked towards the two gentlemen who were now staring at her so intently.

She should not crack under pressure, she needed to get used to it as she would be doing this very often.

"Your afternoon tea My Lord's."

She placed the tray carefully in front of them. When she was done with her head bowed, "I shall take my leave."

"Wait." The one-man called out.

Aurora wondered if she had done something wrong? Her heart hammered in her chest, she did not want to already mess this up on her second day.

"Yes, My Lord."

"Look up." The man carried on,

Aurora did just that and she clutched her hands to together to keep her from shaking non-stop. With her head raised, she still averted their gazes.

"Are you new?" The man asked.

"No, My Lord."

"You may look at me when you answer, your name?"

She looked at him timidly, and she must say he was truly a royal, such a beautiful chiseled face, semi-long black hair, and deep brown eyes.

He was truly favored by the gods and she must say Apollo himself,

"Aurora My Lord."

"Aurora." He said testing out her name and she liked the way it rolled off his tongue,

"So you are the one that is taking over the other maids' duties?"

"Yes, My Lord."

"I think I bumped into you yesterday and you seemed to run away from me."

"I apologize, my Lord, I must not have heard you."

"I was pretty loud don't you think?"

"I must have made a mistake as I thought you were talking to someone else."

"Why would I yell at them to wait when he is in front of me?"

Aurora felt her cheeks reddening, was he the type to hold grudges for so long, just over her not answering yesterday?

She did not know what to say,

"I apologize My Lord."

"Stop playing with the poor girl Caspian she looks terrified."

"Is it bad just to play with her a little Douglas?"