Chapter 24

Hours had passed by with the two girls in the kitchen, now making different dishes and salads. Earlier when the head cook had given them an hour to finish with the vegetables, they had been joyous that they finished in less than an hour when Mr Jack came to check on them...not knowing that more stressful work was awaiting them.

Mr. Jack had given them different types of meals to prepare while he assisted in some and left the rest for them. They finally finished the assignment and heaved a sigh of relief as they leaned back on the kitchen wall and stared at each other.

In Melina's case, it looked like she had just come back from a battle and was sweating profusely after running away when her team lost. She used to think that cooking was not all that hard and that people posted to that duty were very lucky... But today, she understood that no one was easy. From morning to this evening period, she hadn't even sat down for a second and her injured head, as well as her hands and leg, was aching.

However, Berlin who had even done most of the major job while pitying her because of her condition gave a calm aura as she leaned back on the kitchen wall while looking at Melina. She gave a slight smile that would scare anyone who saw her right now.

Melina looked at the girl in utter disbelief. No one could convince her that this girl wasn't a lunatic unless she was up to something else.

"You're not tired?" She asked in bewilderment as she gazed at the girl who still wore her calm smile.

"Why should I be? It was a great experience..." She paused for a moment and turned to peep at Melina who looked suspicious before completing her statement, "...as usual."

"When did you become a maid in the castle, Berlin?" She asked the girl again but then again, someone suddenly interrupted by opening the door. It was the same head cook.

"Ms. Carlos has summoned all the maids to the hall." He went straight to the point and closed the door. Melina sent a glare at Berlin before exiting the kitchen and Berlin who did not mind the action simply smiled and arranged the salads as well as the dishes they made in a preservable way so they wouldn't get spoilt before morning before she also made her way to the hall.

They got to the hall where Ms. Carlos was standing alongside the head cook. One would think the man was gentle until he spoke, Melina thought in her head as she sent a subtle glare at the man.

"Take it easy, Mel. You might wound him with those glares." She heard Berlin beside her chuckle as she whispered.

Of course, she would know she glared at him even though she tried to suppress it, Melina uttered to herself. She was sure everything was off about this girl.

"Are you both done with your work?!" Came the hoarse words from Ms Carlos, the head cook as she approached the two of them with a bag of similar clothes, interrupting their silent discussion with themselves.

"Yes, Ms. Carlos," Berlin replied and Melina nodded in agreement.

"Good. Now take these dresses. This Is a dress that is usually worn by maids in ceremonies like this. It's so that you don't look half hazard with your outworn uniforms which some of you don't even take care of." She said then paused to look at Melina, who now felt embarrassed.

If only she had not forgotten her dress with the prince, she would never wear anyone else's uniform. She could tell already from the way Ms Carlos sniffed her that the dress was smelling bad...especially with the amount of work she had done today. Sweat was all over her body which made it more evident why she smelt horrible right now.

"Anyways...you will have to wear this dress tomorrow. That's how people will know you are the ones serving. And I want you to make sure that the way I have given it to you is the way you will bring it back. Anything contrary and I will make sure to teach you a lesson." She concluded her statement and went to the other maidservants, saying the same thing.

Melina and Berlin looked at the dress folded neatly in a transparent pack. Not thinking too much about it, they held the dress till they were dismissed and sent to their rooms.

Melina strode down the hallway feeling slightly dizzy as she climbed the staircase of the building. Her head had started to ache again and she wasn't even ready to sleep yet. She still wanted to look for a way to get her old uniform from the Prince and arrange the room Nikita had left tattered before going to bed. She reached her room and opened the door to see the room the way it had been since.

'Laugh. Of course, it would remain that way unless she now had a fairy in her room doing all her work.'

She went to the wardrobe to get the first aid box and clean her wound before she would clean the room and when she was done, she forced herself up to tidy the room. Her back and waist ached from the long standing she had done in the kitchen but she didn't have a choice. She couldn't sleep in this type of environment.

After a few minutes, she cleaned up the room and removed all the unwanted things, placing them in their respective positions. Then she went to the bathroom and took a shower, cleaning herself of the mess she had been through that day before she changed into her night clothes.

Thank goodness they had a different cloth to wear tomorrow...else she wasn't sure she would have been able to bear the smell of Nikita's dress, she thought as she scanned the dress with a scrunched nose.

No further talking, it reeked of odour!

Melina sighed.

She would need to also get her dress back but she wasn't sure she could do it tonight considering how tired she was. The room was hot since there was no ventilation so she proceeded to open the windows.

However, as she opened it, she was blessed with a sight she had never seen before. Since her room was on a high floor and above in the storey buildings, she could see the kingdom from where she stood- the different houses as well as the castle gates...somewhere she had never even gone near before.

She opened the windows wider again and pushed her head out to get a better view of the place. She saw her usual spot of going to hide and peeked at where the gates of the palace were again. She observed how secure the place was which would make it hard for anyone to even leave or enter the castle without any permission. She looked outside the gates and saw bodyguards, standing with their swords and what looked like a wide dog beside them. She still saw people she assumed to be living close to the castle walking around...both men and women, either leaving or reaching their houses.

This discovery was mesmerizing as well as shocking as she had never even since such a thing before in her life. How did she miss all these when she was precisely staying here? Or was she dreaming? She couldn't believe her eyes. This was too surreal to be true.

Finally recovering from her trance, she watched the scenery in front of her, noticing things that she could never have imagined to exist. The sleep that had been lurking in her eyes a while ago no longer lingered there and she just continued to examine her discovery for hours which felt like minutes until someone's voice distracted her.

"If people from all the 12 districts arrive tomorrow and we still find no clue, what will be your next plan, Lee?" It was Matthew speaking and she could hear their footsteps as they approached the underground dungeon.

"I am not sure but I know they might be at least one clue. This might not be where we find out about the incident but I am certain we'll get a hint. Just trust the process." Leon replied to him and patted his back, assuring him but he abruptly stopped the next moment, causing Prince Leon to question his sudden halt.

"Lee. If we don't find a clue tomorrow, you know the consequences right?" He said and looked at him when he nodded.

"I do. The people have not forgotten she was the person in the King's room that day even though they don't talk about it. I will make sure nothing happens to her. Just keep calm and follow the plan." He said before the guard who had seen them coming that way opened up the iron bar encircling the dungeon and Matthew entered the space first.

Melina, who had heard everything that they said was confused but didn't want to think much about it since her head still hurt. However, as she waited for the Prince to enter the dungeon as well, her hand slipped a can that fell off the window straight to the ground where Leon stood, alerting both the guard and him.

Seeing this, she immediately retreated and hid just below the window to conceal her presence. Leon turned to the direction where the can had fallen and looked up at where it presumably came from.

"That's a maidservant room, your highness." Came the explanation from the bodyguard.

"Is it, now?" he asked more to himself than the guard before facing his attention there, obviously not satisfied.

If that had happened, it simply meant that someone was either trying to eavesdrop on their conversation or stalking them. He wanted to go and see who it was when Matthew stopped him.

"Lee, are you not coming down?" He said and Leon realized that he had wasted time up here so he nodded to Matthew and then to the guard to keep the place safe before entering.

After a while, when Melina was certain that the prince was gone and she might not get caught, she slowly stood up and brought her hand to cover the windows, not wanting more trouble for herself. Maybe tomorrow she can continue admiring her findings.

Without thinking further, she went to sleep on the bed in the room, for the first time since she came here. The bed could size exclusively two people while one would lay on a mattress so since she was an outcast to them, she would sleep on the light mattress on the floor anytime she managed to sleep in the room.

After trying to meditate on what the two men meant and why they would even go to the dungeon when there was a bigger ceremony the next day, she slept...not knowing someone was watching her.