Life as a Palace Maid

**Back to the Present**

“Let me out of here! Please! Open the door!” I screamed loudly as I banged on the closed door with both of my fists. 

If no one is out there, then I’m going to scream until someone turns up. I need to find out where I am and why I was brought here. They can’t just keep me locked up in here, right?

I was scared and to get over that fear, all I could think of was yelling and banging on the door. If I didn’t do this, maybe I would have an emotional breakdown. 

“Why are you shouting in the middle of the night? Shut up and go to sleep. You’re annoying all of us!” a woman yelled back at me. 

There’s someone out there on the other side of this door. I felt more relieved more than anything that I wasn’t the only one here in this place. According to what the woman just said, there should be many people here. 

“Please let me out. Can you please unlock the door?” I said loudly to make sure that she could hear me through the closed door. 

“Don’t you think you’re the louder one, Claudia?” another woman said teasingly. 

“Hush everyone, Madame Cassandra is here…” another woman voice said with warning. 

Madame Cassandra?

“Step aside. It’s late and I have no idea why you are not yet in your rooms…” a stern and authoritative voice said, and I assumed that it was the voice of Madame Cassandra. 

I stood in front of my door as I heard clinking sounds of metal hitting against metal. Suddenly, the handle of the door started to turn at the same time that I heard sounds of the lock being unlocked on the other side. When the door slowly opened, I came face to face with a woman dressed in a long sleeve black dress. Her grey hair was tied back into a neat bun on the top of her head and her expression told me that she wasn’t here to play. 

The woman who looked to be in her fifties stood proudly in front of me with a tray of food in her hands. So, this is Madame Cassandra. 

“I see that you’ve regained consciousness. I’ve brought you your dinner…” the madame stated. 

“Umm…where am I?” I asked in a small voice. 

Instead of replying to my question, Madame Cassandra walked past me and into the room before placing the tray onto the table. 

“The maids’ quarters as part of the royal palace in the royal castle of the Kingdom of Lacovia,” Madame Cassandra replied coldly. 

The Kingdom of Locovia. 

I’ve heard of the Kingdom of Locovia before from my studies. However, I didn’t know much about this Kingdom apart from the fact that it is an extremely wealthy kingdom located on an isolated island with its own traditions. 

“Is this some kind of mistake? I mean, why am I here?” I asked desperately.

A sickening feeling boiled up in my stomach and my chest started to feel tight. Panic and fear crept up on me and threatened to swallow me whole. 

“Did the anesthesia rob you of your memories or are you simply just clueless? You were sold, my dear girl, and the prince of this castle was the one who bought you,” the woman replied emotionlessly. 

Events from the auction came back to me so vividly that it made me feel dizzy and sick. So, all of that wasn’t just some nightmare. It really happened? 

“I need to get back to the orphanage!” I cried as I felt tears sting the back of my eyes. 

“No, you don’t. Don’t you get it by now? They sold you. They decided to sell you in exchange for money, and that is why you are here now. This is also why there is nowhere and no one for you to return to. This place, this castle, is your new home now,” the old woman said as she implored with her eyes for me to understand. 

“No…it can’t be…” I murmured in pure disbelief. 

“The sooner that you accept the facts, the better it will be for you. Work starts at 6AM sharp tomorrow morning. Your uniform is in that closet over there. Get dressed and line up with the other girls at 6AM sharp tomorrow morning. Is that clear?” Madame Cassandra commanded before raising a brow at me. 

Work starts tomorrow…

“…Yes,” I mumbled although I was still very much confused. 

“Good girl. You should go to sleep. I brought you some dinner in case you are hungry. It seems you haven’t eaten anything since you arrived here. Don’t worry too much for now. Everything will be clearer when the sun rises,” the woman said and for the first time since we met, she smiled a little at me. 

“Ok…” I murmured softly. 

Everything was far from being ‘ok’ but I just didn’t know what else to say. Everything will become clearer when morning arrives according to what she just said. 

“This is the key to your room. Be sure to lock the door when you are in here at all times. Although your door is unlocked now, I strongly advise you not to try running away. If you’re caught, and you will be even before you make it through the front door of this building, you will be tortured in ways that you can’t even imagine…and then killed…” she advised before smiling at me. 

I gulped in terror as her words sank in. There is no escaping from this, huh?

It was a challenge, but I managed to move my head enough to nod slightly at her words. She pressed her lips in a thin line and nodded once at me. 

“As a maid, the command of your master is absolute. You must follow your master’s command to the letter without question. Please keep that in mind,” the Madame said sternly. 

Without another word, Madame Cassandra left the room and closed the door firmly behind her. Hungry and exhausted, I ended up eating all the food that she brought for me. It tasted more than decent compared to the food that we had at the orphanage. For the first time in a long time, I got to taste fresh fruits. Perhaps life here won’t be so bad, after all. At least, I now had a job…whatever it was…

When I laid back down onto the bed, my eyelids immediately felt heavy, and it didn’t take long for sleep to take over me. That night, I slept without dreams for the first time in a very long time. 

--To be continued…