Chapter 7

In the cold rain early in the morning, a young girl tiptoed from the backyard in a quarter to the front of the castle....while constantly looking back to make sure no one saw her.

After a while, where she was now in front of the castle without getting caught, she heaved a deep breath of relief and looked up to see the rain pouring....it's cold touch on her skin made her want to lay there till the rain stopped. She stretched out her hands to the rain and spinned round continuously until she heard a voice that startled her.

"Melina!!!" It was the Chief maid. She saw her through the rain and knew she was definitely done for!

"A-aunt Carlos" she stuttered.

"What are you doing here?!" Thundered the voice of Ms. Carlos through the rain. "I thought I have warned you many times not to wander about in the castle and just do your work! So what are you doing here?!" She continued.

Melina wanted to be swallowed by the ground this moment because she knew what was coming for her. Ms. Carlos walked through the rain that now wet her clothes to Melina and when she stood in front of the shaking Melina, she pulled her ears hard.

"Ouch.....Aunt Carlos please..." Melina pleaded, struggling to remove the pulling hand on her ears.

Carlos harshly drew her from the rain while pulling her ears hard. Considering the floor of the castle was slippery because of the rain, Melina tried hard to not fall. When they got into the head quarters, where other trainee maids could be seen, Ms. Carlos roughly threw Melina on the floor, causing her to wince in pain.

"How many times have I warned you not to ever try this again? How many times?!!!" Ms. Carlos voice thundered in the room...all the other young maids in the room were extremely scared as they moved back. They were always scared of Ms. Carlos because of the authoritarian attitude she displayed.

"I'm sorry, Aunt Carlos. Please, it wasn't intentional." Melina begged but knew it was pointless.

"What if the Queen or any other royal saw you standing there and playing in front of the castle when you hadn't even done any of the work you were given? What do you think will happen to me and your trainer? Tell me!"

"I promise I won't do it again, please" Melina pleaded still. But Ms. Carlos wasn't ready to hear any of it. Without listening to further explanations which the young girl was giving, Ms. Carlos angrily walked to a corner of the room where she pulled out a long whip which was usually used for the girls. Melina's face turned completely pale at the sight of the whip again and she immediately started moving back but still got whipped from behind where the pain coursed through her back and she screamed in pain. As she was about to go for another stroke, someone interrupted.

"Ms. Carlos!" Paloma entered the room with wide eyes as she rushed to the little girl who was assigned to her years ago. "What happened?" She asked to no one in particular while trying to soothe Melina with the pain she was feeling right now.

"Oh...thank your stars your trainer is here, Melina else God knows that I would have put some marks on you today." She spoke to Melina and then turned to Paloma.

"I wonder if you're really doing your job, Paloma. Because she has literally no attitude of a common maid and acts like she owns this castle!" Ms. Carlos shouted at Paloma which Paloma ignored blatantly and just focused on the crying girl. She helped Melina up from the floor and briefly stared at the other girls in the room,who just silently watched in horror before leaving. When she got into the room, she dropped Melina on the bed and went to get ointments for her back.

Without having to tell her, Melina unstrapped her gown, baring her back for Paloma to see. The mark caused by the whip had already turned red, making it easier for Paloma to trace the injury. She slowly applied the ointment on her back while hearing  Melina occasionally wince.

"Mel" she called with tenderness.

"Yes, aunt Paloma." She answered.

"I've told you many times to never cross Ms. Carlos, haven't I?" She asked the girl who remained silent, still pondering over what she did as she lay on the bed before she finally spoke.

"What's wrong with enjoying nature?" Paloma just stared at her before shaking her head.

"It's not supposed to be like that, Mel. There is definitely nothing wrong with enjoying nature but you know fully well that this is the Castle and it carries strict rules my dear. Considering you're just a maid who is still even a trainee...have you ever thought of what the royals will do to you if they found out? Or maybe even me?" Paloma tried make her understand.

This was the royal palace and it carried strict rules everyone in it must obey. Being just a maid, she needed to be careful with her actions since she could easily be punished but Paloma knew Melina would still do the same thing.

There was something about the girl...