(From Ella's Perspective)
I was surprised by the guard's saying. Why did he say that? Was it because I did not have a perfect body like her? Or was it because they felt pity towards me? Either way, I was fine.
"Very confident! She does that all the time, you know. That's why."
I looked at the person who said it. It was the boy. He was about my age and had the same slender build like mine. He was about four inches taller than me. He had pale skin with several red spots, possibly caused by mosquito bites, and dirty blonde hair that looked as if it had not been washed in three days. He had baby blue eyes, reminding me of the clear sky with white clouds. He looked nervous, almost as much as I was, but perhaps I was not showing it much, at least I thought so.
"I'm Jed Weeks. I'm new here," he said.
"I'm E... Leora Edrei," I said offering him a smile.
"You new too?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Huge place, isn't it?"
I looked around. Yes, it was huge, more than huge. The pathway leading to the front door of the castle had a garden on both sides. There were a lot of trees there. A blue rose plant peeked my attention. Two blue roses were blossomed, like two kyanites, shimmering brightly. I saw a gardener planting the trees with a pale look on his face, but I could see the love in his eyes for the plants as if they were his children.
There was a statue in the middle of the pathway. It was of an Orgade. I hated it a lot. Especially the wings. They looked very disgusting. I tried to envision what Leandro's monster statue would look like. The place would look handsome and so would the statue.
"Do you know what's the door made of?" Jed asked and I noticed we had already reached the front door. It was enormous, with curving motifs strewed about.
"Oak," I said as I looked at the door. In the middle, there was a round handle. It was enormous, almost as big as my two palms. The door was spread open. I heard Edrich muttering that they opened it in the morning and closed it at nine at night after all the servants leave the palace, perhaps as new information to us.
We walked inside the castle. It was beautiful. Everywhere all I could see was costly furniture, fabrics, and breathtaking portraits.
"Miera, you will meet the king's father now. He's in his room right now. After I tell the others about their job, I'll take you to him," Edrich stated, and the redhead girl nodded. She looked very enthusiastic. She had a yellowish complexion that went on perfectly with her red hair. She had full lips and a very curvy body, all that a man usually asked for in a woman.
"As for you, Rosaire, you'll meet the king. I'll take you to him as well," he said. The other girl nodded. She had jet black hair that shone as the light fell on it through the window. Her hair was very thick and long. She had light brown skin and her facial structure looked a lot like an Indian woman. Her eyes were dark brown, not as dark as Leandro's though.
"Leora and Jed, come with me and you two ladies wait here," Edrich said.
We followed him as he led us to an empty room. The room was not so big but full of valuable artifacts. There was a narrow window at the corner from where a big mango tree could easily be seen.
"Every morning, Leora, your job is to clean the rooms, all of the rooms in the castle. Especially the king and his father's rooms. After they leave, of course. There should be no dust left behind. And Jed will do the same. No one alone can clean all the rooms in the castle. There are thirty-two bedrooms, forty-five bathrooms in the castle. It will take a long time to finish. You will have your lunch here with other servants at one. You will get one hour break for that. Then you have to get back to work again. The king leaves his room at seven. You should clean his room after that, but very quickly and perfectly. The king does not like seeing his room disorganized," Edrich explained.
I was glad that Jed and I would be working together. He seemed to be a good person. Perhaps we could be friends and we could even chat while we worked.
"What about the king's father? When does he leave?" I asked.
"Er... he doesn't. He stays in his room whenever he wants and does his own thing. You can't mind that. You need to clean the room and then leave," he said.
"You said I don't have to meet the king or his father," I whispered to him.
"I tried all I could. You just have to manage that," he said. "I appointed the boy to work with you for that as well."
"Shall we start now?" Jed asked.
"It's already seven. The king has left already. You can start with his room," Edrich said.
He showed us the king's room and his father's room and told us other important things that we needed to know about.
We went to the king's room. It smelled very odd. The bedsheet was halfway up the bed, there were pillows all about, and there was also a white spot on the bed. Anyone with a brain would know what happened here.
"It's disgusting," I muttered under my breath.
"Yeah. See how life is? We got to clean a room after he fucked one or probably more women," Jed said, his tone eliciting the same annoyance as mine.
"Let's get to work then. Have you done things like this before?" I asked.
"No. Have you?"
"No. We'll figure out. Come on."
It was very uncomfortable to pull the bed sheet off. Especially because of the smell. I felt as if I could gag at any moment.
"Hey, Leora, you know, we need to get to know each other, especially if we are doing this kind of disgusting thing together. We need to be friends and talk a lot, so we will feel like we are just spending a fun time," he said.
"Okay. I'm okay with the idea. So, why are you here? For the money, right?" I asked.
"Yeah. Well, I'm basically homeless. Mother threw me out," he said, sighing.
"Why?" I asked, surprised.
"Well, my father left my mother when she was pregnant with me. And he never came back. Mother thinks it's my fault. She thinks I'm a burden. She hates me a lot. She threw me out of the house and now I need money to get food and find a place to live," he said, clear sadness in his voice.
My Dad also left Mom when she was pregnant with me. Mom hated me for that. She blamed me for everything. So I could understand his situation. But Mom did not throw me out of the house which was probably because the world I was in was the modern world and it would spread on the internet if she did something like that.
"So do you have a place to live?" I asked.
"Edrich let me live with him, but he said that I have to buy my own food. I'm grateful to him, you know."
"Yeah. He has given me this job too and I'm in great need of it. He is a good guy," I said.
"Yeah. So you here for money as well?"
"Kind of."
We had already cleaned the bed and covered it with a fresh sheet. We did not even realize we had done it as we were talking. He was right. It would be fun to do these disgusting things only if we could talk.
"God, the smell... it's too deep," I said and we both burst out laughing. I realized that he was as inexperienced at this as I.
"Gosh, I'm a virgin. I am ashamed of being naked in front of anyone. I don't think I'll ever be able to have sex," he said.
"I don't know how I feel about being naked in front of someone. But I haven't done it as well."
After we were done with the king's room, it was time for the king's father's room. Hopefully, he was not there. But there was a naked girl on the bed, wearing her dress. She did not mind being naked in front of us as we walked in.
Jed turned scarlet and looked down at his feet. I felt a bit uncomfortable as well. "I have never seen you two here," the girl said. She was perhaps one or two years older than me and had brown hair which was a bit darker than mine.
"We're new here," I said.
"Oh, then listen to one thing. You might want to clean this room very quickly. Or you might turn into prey. Yes, I'm talking to you, girl."