CHAPTER 040: Your Sole Duty

By hunch, she covered her mouth with the sleeve of her nightwear when she felt her lungs tingly and throbbing. Her stomach felt as if a large hand was clutching, just squeezing it into the wreckage.

"...f— it hurts." She said under her breath.

Yanarym inhaled sharply and exhaled deeply and momentarily did not move for a second. Her expression was showing she was in so much pain just by coughing.

She stared at the sleeve where she coughed and saw the stain of blood on it. She had been coughing blood for the past few days. It was because she consumed a different kind of poison. She was not terminally ill, or at least she would like to believe that she was healthy.

Guide-sama: "Your internal organs—"

"Don't say a thing." Yanarym knew what Guide-sama was about to say.

Her internal organs were on the verge of disintegrating.

She could feel it.

However, she had this gut feeling that she was not dying because of the poison. On the contrary, she felt she was getting stouter. It was just her percentage of poison intake increasing each day.

Of course, Guide-sama, who was able to examine the condition of her organs and body in general, was seeing the situation differently from her perspective. But, sometimes, science was not always the answer. She would trust her instinct on this matter.

She folded her sleeve to hide the red stains.

'The dirty clothes are piling up. I need to do laundry or throw them away… I'm running out of coins, so I guess laundry is cheaper.'

Guide-sama: "Are you trying to kill yourself or are you trying to become the king?"

"Did we just not finish this conversation, Guide-sama? Why do we keep tackling the same thing?"

Guide-sama: "You were rude to the Queen too. Why are you attacking head-on when you know you are in a weak state? How do you plan to be alive if she decides to murder you so suddenly?"

"Eriela can't kill me now. She'll become very suspicious if I suddenly died after those people saw me alive and well. Also, I was exercising my personality alteration; didn't I tell you? Don't tell me you want to see me being bullied by those wicked beauties?"

Guide-sama: "That would be a good show to witness; knocking some sense into you."

"What? You're so mean. You want to see them hurt me. I feel betrayed Guide-sama."

Guide-sama: "Yanarym after being with you for this long I have learned that you cannot be bullied unless you wanted to. In addition, you won't cry for a cause. The exchange of your tears was not cheap things."

"You're making me sound like a bad person."

Guide-sama: "When did you become good?"

"Okay, you can shut up now."

Yanarym rolled her eyes.

"Greetings to the moon of Menotalis! May the sun of Seerian bless you, first Princess, Princess Yanarym!" Aliah exclaimed as she entered the first princess boudoir.

After assisting Queen Eriela, Princess Jasmine, and Princess Liezel to the threshold of the Adamas Palace, she went running back to the chamber room of the first princess.

This time she held her head down and kept her eyes on the floor as she entered. After knocking three times she entered the room and said her greeting. She had to do things right. This time! For the first princess!

"Oh, you're back," Yanarym lifted her gaze to look at the new maidservant.

'Wait, she's not just a maid. She's a noble with the lowest status. So, she belonged to the category of the maid of honors? Doesn't the nobility wear a luxurious dress with ornaments instead of the maid's cosplay? I should probably read the book regarding the operation in this kingdom's servants.'

"Listen, Ali," Yanarym said.

"Yes, Your Highness?"

"You saw the state of the palace?"

Aliah quickly glanced at the corner of the boudoir to recall the state of the palace.

She saw what the state of the palace was. She heard no one would go with the first princess for such a long time because she tended to dismiss the servants that were assigned to her. It was no surprise to Aliah that everything was in such disarray.

However, Aliah made a vow to herself that the first princess would not dismiss her. Aliah wanted to become her aide and would do her best to be a hand for the first Princess. Especially hearing that she would be back in high society.

"Yes, Your Highness. I will clean the palace at once."

"No, no, wait, Ali," Yanarym said to lower Aliah's enthusiasm.

How could she clean the entire palace just by being motivated?

"I APOLOGIZE YOUR HIGHNESS! Please punish me for not letting you finish your order!"

For the past years of isolation, the Original was managing everything herself in this castle. She never literally took a step outside. So, most of the facilities she used were not that disordered. The bathroom and the kitchen were all not so tidy but it was in a good condition, someone was cleaning those chambers.

The Original did not see who was it and it was not mentioned in the plot. It seemed like an unknown ally that was in power was re-stocking the kitchen storage and keeping the bathroom neat for her. Yanarym was enjoying the hot bath every two days and she saw that the water would be clean each time and the boiler was continuously working for ten years.

Since Guide-sama could not access people's minds who were not part of the main characters at all.

Yanarym had no idea who was taking care of the Original all this time but that meant she had someone. All she had to do was pull that, someone, out in the shadows and help her in real time.

Keeping that in mind, the palace was still looking horrendous and haunted. The kitchen where she did not have time to cook, and the bathroom were the usable rooms here. The person who helped her didn't want to show themself, so that meant the one who prepared the kitchen and bathroom could not enter her room, so no one was cleaning her room.

Aliah was not one of the variables Yanarym was expecting to enter in this game.

Aliah's first task as her maid… would be…

"You don't have to clean my room or my palace," Yanarym said. "Your sole duty is to feed me when I'm hungry."