Chapter 58: Monster

I went into the room set aside for me to rest. For some reason, I hadn’t been able to sleep properly for the past three days, so my mood had been at rock bottom the whole time; whenever I closed my eyes, I’d have this strange dream, to the point where I’d become afraid of sleeping, which left me mentally and physically exhausted!

Anyway, I sat in a chair by the window, listlessly watching the open courtyard below where the soldiers were moving about. I don’t know if this is their usual state or if they’re on edge because of the visit from two of the Grand Duke’s sons, but they seem wonderfully disciplined.

I yawned as I watched them. I heard the red-haired puppy asking for permission from behind the door, or something of the sort, but my eyelids felt incredibly heavy... and I don’t remember anything else after that

.

.

.

____________

Liya Soren, the daughter of a travelling dancer,

her mother used to tour with her troupe throughout the Empire. She was such a famous dancer that she once performed at a ball held at the main Castle of the Grand Duchy of Dravarius.

But in a brutal world like this one, beauty itself is a curse—indeed, the worst of curses, especially for commoners...

A nobleman fell in love with her, but his wife hounded her and sought to kill her. And so mother and daughter ended up in the lands of Korvekar, where her mother abandoned her at the age of six to the Soren Orphanage Foundation -SOF-, run by the Korvekar family.

She said she would return one day to take her back, but she never did. And so Liya grew up at the Soren Orphanage, side by side with the other children. Although it cannot be said that her life was particularly difficult for an immigrant orphan like her, it was not an easy one for a child either

The Soren Foundation taught the children from a young age how to look after themselves and to bear the consequences of their choices and decisions; that is why Liya thought it was unfair to call this Orphanage Foundation, a military institution... Once Liya had grown up and understood enough about the world, this is what she thought of the SOF.

But she was not ungrateful; and she also understood the logic behind the SOF’s work. Rather than simply feeding the children for a few years and then throwing them out onto the streets to fend for themselves, they educated, trained and taught the children about the world, so that even when they left the institution at the age of fifteen, they would not end up as beggars or corpses in the back alleys.

As for her, she was an ambitious girl, and also a daughter who longed for her mother, but she was not foolish enough to believe she could take on the nobility alone as a mere weak orphan girl; the teachers at Soren had already made that clear to the children: the easiest path to hell and the most gruesome death is to get involved with the nobility without strong backing behind you.

So when she turned fifteen, she presented herself to the Knights of Korvekar. Unfortunately, however, she failed to utilise her domain and proved useless, even when the venerable Lord Radmir himself tried to help her after hearing of her situation. But she was a complete failure, and so she wept bitterly that night when she was rejected from joining the Korvekar apprentices Knights.

So, rather than leaving Snezhin Castle, she decided to join as a maid. She hadn’t really intended to hatch any grand conspiracy; all she wanted was to get close to one of the family’s masters or ladies and try to secure some of their support in her search for her mother, or to accumulate enough achievements and privileges to fulfil her wish.

But to her surprise, when she joined the official maids after her promotion from trainee maid, she learnt of a dedicated office that assisted servants and maids with their personal affairs. So she submitted a request to search for her mother, but the news she received a year later caused her world to come crashing down completely: it appeared that her mother had taken her own life after leaving her at the SOF.

Consequently, she was going through the worst days of her life, particularly as the news coincided with her becoming an official third-class maid, which allowed her access inside the castle and escape from the hellish labour in the baths

This left her in an unenviable position, as she could not even grieve properly; working as a third-class maid inside the castle meant her schedule was packed from before sunrise until midnight, and she had barely six hours to sleep. Nor could she be as careless in her actions as she had been before, for fear of offending someone who could wipe her out with a single word.

But before she had even adjusted to the work of a third-class maid, for some reason she caught the eye of the fourth young master of the Korvekar main family, and suddenly found herself joining the first young master’s retinue and promoted to a second-class maid. Yet before she could adjust once more, she was transferred again—this time to the army

.

.

.

Is she complaining?... Well, not really. Within weeks, she had achieved what maids here had been dreaming of for decades. In the castle, she met maids who had been doing the same job for decades; there was a grandmother – a fourth-class maid who had been washing the clothes of the Knights for about a decade and a half; and there was another elderly second-class maid whose job was to mop the floor in front of the throne room, a task she had been performing for three decades

However, within two to three years, she had progressed from an apprentice maid to a third-class maid; then she was suddenly promoted to a second-class maid in the service of the first young master. But before she could even start work, the first young master left, leaving his servants without a job; they were therefore reassigned to wherever there was a shortage of staff

As a second-class maid, even though it happened in a strange and haphazard manner, she was given the responsibility of assisting and supervising some of the third-class maids near the maids’ quarters and the southern section of the castle. However, she barely managed this for a week before she was once again transferred to serve under the fourth young master in the logistics department of the army he commanded, where she was promoted to a first-class maid!!

And from her very first night in her new role, she ended up being promoted to become a Special- Rank maid, responsible for the young masters’s comfort, after his personal valet left his side for some reason at the first rest stop on that very first night.

After entering the fortress of Černograd, she carried out her duties with the assistance of the escort knight Sir Nikandr, then went about preparing comfortable clothes and toiletries to help the young master settle in.

She greeted Sir Nikander, who was standing by the door, and then called out respectfully

’Young master, this is Liya. ask for permission to enter.’

However, there was no reply, and after she had called out three times, Sir Nikandr entered – one of the rules of escort and service is to ensure the master’s safety;

therefore, when the master does not reply, and provided he has not left any prior instructions, the personal servant or the escort knight is entitled to enter the room to ensure the master’s safety, So Sir Nikandr stood correctly before the door and then asked for permission

"Young master, this is Nikandr. I ask the young master if all is well."

"...."

"Please excuse my impertinence, but if I receive no confirmation that the young master is safe, I shall open the door."

". .."

When he received no reply once again, Sir Nikandr drew his weapon—a double-edged blade—and tucked it behind his back; with his other hand, he opened the door and entered, with Liya following behind him at a slower pace

They found the young master asleep in a chair by the window, but strangely, the atmosphere in the room seemed stifling and gloomy, and even the light of the setting sun seemed to be shunning the room.

Therefore, given all the strange phenomena and powers in the world, it is best not to underestimate anything suspicious.

Sir Nikandr therefore signalled to Liya to remain outside the door and be ready to set off the alarm, whilst he advanced cautiously until he stood before the young master, Alexander. He found him fast asleep, but his face was as pale as a corpse; were it not for his chest rising and falling gently, Nikandr would have been overcome with panic by now.

After hesitating for a moment between retreating and moving forward, Nikandr knelt before Alexander and placed his weapon on the ground beside him

The strange atmosphere in the room did not reassure him, so he took the risk of trying to wake Alexander, even though he knew he might end up with every piece of furniture in the room smashed against his head, given the young master’s volatile mood over the past two days.

"Young master..."

"..."

"Young... mas... te..."

His words trailed off as Alexander calmly opened his eyes, gazing at him with a dead, cold stare. A shiver ran down Nikandr’s spine as he quickly bowed his head

For some reason, he could not even bear the pressure of looking into those eyes; a cold sweat broke out on his back, and for some reason the room felt even more gloomy and dark, as if it were the lair of a predatory monster.