Valerie walked into the castle, past two guards who gave her a slight nod. Once she was in the castle, a short chubby man with blonde hair came up to her and said "You must be the new maid, please follow me to your room".
Valerie followed the man without a word. She took in every detail of the castle. She didn't know why she didn't pay attention to the detail of the castle when she was younger.
The butler lead her into a huge room with a balcony, a vanity on the side of the bed, and a nicely sized bathroom.
"I'm sorry sir but I think-" Valerie turned around to see no one behind her "you've got the wrong room..?"
Since the butler had already left without making sure she was alright, she started to unpack.
By the time she finished settling into her new room, it was dark. She was hungry but she knew she'd already missed dinner, so she went to bed hungry.
She was on the carriage all day so she didn't eat anything other than breakfast, and she hadn't thought to make herself some lunch for the journey to the castle.
The next morning she was woken up by the sound of rushed footsteps, it was before she had to start working, but since she was already awake she figured she might as well get ready for work.
Then she went to the dresser near the bathroom to find the maid uniform that had been in there yesterday.
It took her 40 minutes to figure out how to put the headpiece on, so she was glad she woke up early.
She headed straight to the kitchen out of nature, because she was so hungry. When she entered, there were only a few maids in the kitchen preparing breakfast for the King and Queen, and the person in charge of making sure work was done in the kitchen.
The lady pointed to Valerie then pointed to the mop. Valerie went to get the mop so that she could start cleaning the floors.
She bumped into someone who had flour in their hands.
"Ow!" said the lady as she pulled herself off the ground, now covered in flour.
"That's coming out of your paycheck Mary!" said the lady who had told Valerie to mop the floors.
"Mary?!" said Valerie in shock as she tried to help pick up the bag, dropping it spilling the rest of the flour.
"Yes, that's my name! Now clean this up clumsy fool!" Mary said angrily, she was saving up to get a house, while still in-dept which made it hard. Now $15 dollars would be cut from her check, which was a fourth of what she was able to save.
"Mary, it's me, Valerie," Valerie said while going to get the broom to sweep up what she could.
"Valerie who invited me to her school ball, Valerie?" Valerie nodded her head "Why are you here? As a maid I mean."
"My husband's family shop closed down, and this is the best way to make money for my family. His highness sent me a letter."
"Isn't his grace the sweetest?" Mary said with a lovesick look in her eyes.
"Mm, someone has a crush on the King." Valerie teased Mary, and her face turned beet red.
"I do not!" Mary yelled, which got them kicked out of the kitchen and sent to the garden to work.
"Hey, sorry about the flour. I'll give what I owe you."
"Oh it's fine, it's only $15."
"That's a lot for flour!"
"You know the royals have to have the very best."
Malphus heard the girls talk as they passed his study, he decided to take a break to great the girls. Who was he kidding? The only reason he was leaving his study was to see Valerie.
He stepped out of his study and the girls turned around. Both their eyes lit up.
"Good morning ladies, where are you off to?" Asked the King as he pulled both the girls' hands up right before his mouth, and gently kissed them making a smacking sound while looking Valerie in the eyes.
The gesture made both girls blush a little before answering his question.
"We were just going to the garden to pull weeds and trim bushes" Mary answered the King, and Valerie nodded her head.
"Why, that isn't anything two beautiful ladies as yourselves should be doing. Why don't you come join me in my study, it gets lonely all on my own."
They both nodded their heads to his grace's question, and Mary was first to enter his study. Though she had been excused from being late to work, she'd never joined him in his study. Which had her thinking why he invited her today, and why he invited her along with someone else.
Maybe he was actually lonely, or he wanted to see his old friend. She didn't know what the cause of this was, but she thought this was a great chance to become the new Queen.