Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Ahh... What is life?

I felt dejected and helpless, but in a completely different way than I had in my previous life.

If I were an average little girl, the incident would have scarred me, remaining a lifelong trauma that prevented me from being able to look at water ever again.

I desperately wanted to gather all the gold as I could and get outta there as soon as possible.

Just as I thought, Plan B seems more fitting than Plan C for a multitude of reasons. How the hell am I supposed to charm that wicked psychopath? Wow, I can’t believe I ever even thought that was possible.

I’ll be able to get out of this palace in the end, won’t I?

Come to think of it, I’ve lost two of my pretties to Claude. That ruthless jerk! He may have told me to come and reclaim my treasures, but I’m not stupid! I’m not going to voluntarily crawl into the demon’s lair.

“Hannah,” I said.

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t find the motivation to live. So I decided to take advantage of the greatest perk that life offered me—the only thing that could pull me out of my darkest hour.

“Gimme choco.”

Hannah looked at me with bewilderment while I held out my hand, as if demanding payment in chocolate. But I was in no mood to act cute. My heart was black from devastation and weariness.

“Choco.”

“I-I’m sorry, Your Highness. Ms. Lilian said...”

“I wanna eat choco.”

Despite my pleas, Hannah did not give in easily. It seemed that Lily had given her a strict warning.

Well, my sugar intake had increased from the uncharacteristically sweet cakes that Claude had been serving me, so I could understand where she was coming from.

Sigh. Then I have no other choice.

I pulled my last resort, my special move, on Hannah.

“Hannah, Athy wanna eat choco!”

Hannah’s face began to soften subtly.

Take that! My twinkly puppy eyes!

“B-but Your Highness.”

*Twinkle, twinkle.*

“I really mustn’t, Your Highness! I’m sorry!”

But Hannah didn’t cough up anything in the end. In fact, the temptation was so hard to bear that she rushed from the room, her skirt fluttering in the wind.

Wait, wait! Where are you going? My chocolate! What about my chocolate?!

“Hannah!”

I can’t believe it. Hannah was able to resist my twinkly puppy eyes!

My cuteness seemed to have gone south due to recent high stress levels.

Argh, I’m so angry. You think I won’t be able to get some without you?

I snuck past the maids into the kitchen. I had lived in this palace for five years, so I was well aware of when the kitchen would be unoccupied by maids.

I also know where they hide the chocolates and candy!

I crept quietly into the kitchen. I was fully aware how childish I was being, but I just couldn’t bring myself to abandon the intense desire for chocolate. I mean, in my past life, they had been luxuries out of my reach!

More often than not, I’d had only one meal a day, and it had not been unusual for that meal to have been expired convenience-store kimbap that would barely satiate my hunger.

But then I found myself with access to those delectables! Even dreaming about them had been a luxury back then.

So yes, I will have my chocolate!

My eyes widened as I silently examined my surroundings. Just as I had expected, there was no one present. Thrilled, I ran over to the shelf that held the chocolates.

“Where are you going, Ces?”

“Hold on. I think I might have left the lid off the pot.”

Gasp!

Startled by the sudden sound by the door, I quickly hid myself.

Ces, the somewhat cool maid, entered the kitchen.

“I knew it. The pot was left open.”

Hmm. Do I really need to steal the chocolate at this point? Should I just ask for it now? Maybe it’s meant to be that we’re here at the same time!

“Uh...”

“Ack! A bug!”

I was just about to call out to Ces when she let out a sharp cry.

*Slam! Splat!*

A moment later, what appeared beneath the heel of her shoe was the miserable sight of a smashed cockroach.

“How dare a dirty bug set foot in here.”

I broke out in a cold sweat in response to her chilling voice.

“I should tell Ms. Lilian that we need to start the palace deep-cleaning sooner. The fact that a cockroach is roaming about the palace where the princess is staying is unforgivable.”

Ah, you are the Exterminator Extraordinaire, Ces! That godly kick of your heel! A bug-catching master!

“Did you hear something just now?”

I didn’t feel that I should step out at that moment.

Of course, Ces would never treat me like that cockroach, but seeing the crushed bug carcass on the floor made me feel a little... well... It felt like she would probably scold me and tell Lily instead of giving me chocolate.

So I remained as silent as a dead mouse.

Ces looked confused for a moment, wondering if she had heard wrong, then left the kitchen.

Only then did I peek out from behind the shelf where I was hiding.

Oof. It’s a real challenge trying to get some chocolate these days.

I glanced toward the door, then reached out once again toward the chocolates on the shelf. Suddenly, I heard a small sound from my side.

Huh? I tensed my entire body, wondering if someone had come in again. I turned my head toward the sound, but no one was there. For a moment, nothing but silence hung in the air.

What was that? Am I hearing things? But I swear I heard something move.

I was so confused. In that moment, the maids’ endless chatter about a “kitchen ghost” flashed through my mind.

“Oh my god.”

Because of my near-drowning incident, I had dreamt of a water ghost the previous night. I focused on its hair, hanging like long strands of seaweed, as it dragged me by my feet.

This made whatever was happening in the kitchen feel even more hair-raising.

I had brushed off the ghost stories as a false rumor inspired by what Claude had done, but now that I was faced with the situation, the rumor hit me differently.

The dead-silent kitchen hadn’t been maintained very well, and even the ceiling lights were blinking, adding to the spookiness. I had snuck into the kitchen behind Lily’s back to steal chocolate every now and then, but the kitchen had never felt so bleak.

Come to think of it, this place does look like it would house at least a few ghosts...

Suddenly, my back broke out in a cold sweat. It felt as if a ghost might appear and grab my shoulders at any moment.

“Your Highness!”

*Woosh!*

Just like right now...!

“Aaaahh!” I was so startled, I let out a horrifying scream.

It’s a ghost! A ghost has grabbed me by the shoulders! Has a Ruby Palace maid killed by Claude returned as an evil spirit to get me?! Or has the water ghost from my dreams last night come to chase me down?!

“Oh my goodness, Your Highness! I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you!”

The person behind me turned out to be Lily. She seemed to be just as startled when she saw how petrified I was.

“Your Highness, I’m sorry, but you must come outside at once.”

Lily seemed to have something urgent going on, because she picked me up before getting the chance to properly comfort me.

Ack!

I had been caught sneaking into the kitchen! And my hand still clutched the few chocolates I had grabbed from a basket on the shelf.

Hm. I really do have quick hands, don’t I? Oh, I mean...

I snuck the chocolate into my sleeves so that Lily couldn’t see them. Lily apparently had no idea that I had stolen chocolate from the kitchen.

Just how urgent was her demand that I go outside? I was just about to find out.

“We are greatly honored to serve you, Princess Athanasia.”

When I saw all of the maids bowing toward me while I was still in Lily’s arms, I froze.

How many are there? One, two, three, four, five… I began counting the maids lined up in front of me, but I soon gave up.

Are these maids going to serve me from now on?

I felt as though I was in a scene from a drama, one that I had briefly seen out of the corner of my eye while working at a barbeque joint in my past life.

The scene from the romantic comedy-drama had been such a stark contrast from a life of scrubbing down greasy grills that I hadn’t even been jealous. I had just burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

The drama had been centered around the female lead’s romantic life as the daughter of a chaebol (a large conglomerate, typically owned and controlled by a single family dynasty). It had been quite the sensation at the time.

But in my eyes, it had been so unrealistic that it felt completely childish. I remembered one scene in particular—one in which the female lead had returned home from a shopping trip, and all the workers at her mansion had lined up to greet her.

“His Majesty has tasked me to serve as your interim guard starting today, Your Highness.”

Felix walked toward me and bent down on one knee to bow. Meanwhile, I was busy feeling dumbfounded.

Are you toying with me, Claude?

The man was truly an unpredictable jerk. When I realized that truth, a dejected laugh spilled out of me.

Not long ago, Claude had chastised me without hesitation, in a voice completely devoid of warmth and care—while I had been completely soaked in water and shivering from the cold.

Yet today, he had graciously assigned a fleet of personal maids and a guard to take care of me at my palace.

Moreover, Felix was someone who Claude had always kept by his side. I wondered about the underlying meaning behind temporarily lending someone like him to my care.

Gasp! He didn’t send him to teach me to swim like he mentioned at the lake, did he?!

“We are so grateful for His Majesty’s generosity, but we couldn’t possibly accept your service, Sir Robane...”

Lily seemed just as bewildered as I was. It appeared that she hadn’t heard anything about the servants prior to their arrival.

Felix looked at me with a soft smile. “Whatever the case, His Majesty has surely sent me because he cares so deeply for Her Highness.”

I felt the back of my neck stiffen at Felix’s words.

Now, look here, Mr. Knight. You yourself just said “whatever the case,” didn’t you?!

“Care deeply for me”? My ass. Like anyone would believe that. It would sound more believable if you said Claude sent you to surveil me and slice my head off my body whenever he has a change of heart.

“I-I see.”

See? Even Lily is stuttering because this is so ridiculous!

“Yes. His Majesty is still deliberating over whom he’d like to assign as the princess’s official guard, so it’s unlikely that I’ll be here for long.”

Felix smiled at me as he spoke. “I look forward to serving you from this day forth, Your Highness.”

So, just like that, Claude’s knight Felix suspiciously became my temporary knight.

***

It turned out, Claude personally assigning palace staff to me wasn’t a good thing.

It wasn’t that he had sent additional helping hands to the maids already in my palace. In fact, he replaced them. Meaning, all the maids I had worked so hard to charm were now gone from my palace.

I learned of this devastating fact the very same evening the new maids came to my palace.

No matter how much I whined and threw tantrums about wanting to see my maids, Lily only gave me a conflicted look. From what I was told, my maids had already left and been immediately assigned to another palace.

I was extremely upset when I heard that.

Claude hadn’t had any interest in me when the maids were busy stealing gems throughout the Ruby Palace, but now he was replacing my maids as he pleased.

It didn’t make me happy one bit. And even though I knew it had been on imperial order, I was still disappointed that the maids had left the Ruby Palace without even saying goodbye.

I know in my mind that I shouldn’t be this upset, but sometimes the human heart just can’t be helped, can it?