“You,” the shrill voice of an old Noble woman pierced her ears. Then a bony finger pointed at Madoka. Her companions also glared at her, barely hiding their judgmental stares behind their fans. Being called upon was a fate worse than death to some, but since Madoka worked in the middle section of the Palace primarily it was better than most servants. A Middle Maid like her had it better than the Lower Maids, but it was every maid’s goal to join the Upper Maids in the Royal sections of the Palace who had untold privileges. She still knew only bad things were going to happen to her since the Noble locked eyes with her. She bowed respectfully and dared not count the wrinkles marring her captor’s ugly face. “Just look at how ugly you are!”

The amused murmurs spread across the woman’s friends. Madoka knew she was right. She was a Commoner, hardly anything to look at, but yet sometimes men like this woman’s husband eyed her. This caused some crowds of Noblewomen to thrash her in jealousy. Why was that…?

“I heard they pick these things from the streets of conquered places. Unsightly,” the noble droned on. “Just look at her red hair, ugly purple eyes, and yet she’s as plump as a sow! This kingdom is wonderfully generous, wouldn’t you say?”

She laughed with her friends. Madoka had not eaten anything in two days, so she knew the Noble woman and the seventeen wrinkles on her forehead were wrong about her weight. Plus, she actually wished she was big as a sow and healthy so she could lift heavier stuff.

“Which pigs are the best looking?” One of her friends mocked her. “The ones grown here or perhaps Warring? This one looks like she’s from Tabruula, though. Ugh, I didn’t know King Fiara’s conquests have reached that far.”

Madoka stood as still as a statue, while awaiting for the old crones to eventually run out of insults and hopefully leave her alone. In a couple years if she survives this ordeal, she could probably work with the Upper Maids. Truth is, she did not remember who she was before they picked her up off the streets. Her parents were probably villagers who worked in a township so she presumed she was just an undesired girl and sold off. Boys were the better gender in all classes of people here and capable of a much larger role in the Kingdom. As a girl, all she remembered was scrounging the roadsides for anything she could eat and avoiding other undesired children.

“Ugh, it’s so gross to look at, I can’t even bare to look at it!” The wrinkled lady finally got bored of her.

“Shall we get a guard to get rid of it? It probably does not understand us anyways!”

Things were taking a bad turn here for her, Madoka started to sweat. If she were to run away now, they would beat her. If a soldier comes and they complained, she would be dead. If the Head Maid finds out she was being scolded instead of working she would be sent back to the Lower Maids to do laundry for a year again. That would be the worst outcome. What should she do? Kind gods! Footsteps thumped from behind her towards the ladies. Another plump lady with a face that was shaped like a fat hen’s clucked her way into the conversation, not like it was one she belonged to in the first place.

“Lady Stella!”

The other women suddenly disregarded her presence, so Madoka had to calculate exactly when to slip away. Lady Stella, the new invader, simply acknowledged the fawning ladies by raising her beak-like nose and seemed to indulge herself in their compliments for the moment. One of them plugged her nose and waved the maid away dismissively, so she rounded the corner in a flash. It was not like the statues and tables were cleaned all the way, but there were certain dirty and ugly Nobles making that whole section of the hallway foul.

Madoka breathed a heavy sigh of relief. She had her head and hands, so she could always revisit and clean that part of the hall again after the flock of hens leave. She suddenly found herself all alone. The light trickled in and interplayed with the gloomy dark sections between windows as she faced the intersecting hallway, which was now completely empty. What… was she cleaning this floor for anyways? It could be days, no, weeks before anyone comes through this hall. The only reason those women were here was because of the Prince, His Highness. She held up her hands, which were calloused beyond any Commoner’s hands and infinitely more thick than the dainty Noblewomens’ palms, as she wondered why she was even bothering to clean here. She could slack off by hiding from the Head Maid like the other Middle Maids. Hopelessness settled on her like guilt. A lot of other slaves were outside and she had never even seen the kingdom before. So why did she think she had the right to complain?

“I heard the Princess took sympathy for a beast-man,” the voices came from the corner. A few judgmental giggles suddenly broke out amongst the women. “A Cherish-man was brought in as a prisoner to the courts, and the stupid girl actually approached it! If we were to speak of such unpleasantness, let it be His Highness’s sister-witch.”

“Haha, a Royal of peculiar tastes, no doubt!”

“I hear she’s unbearably ugly, her Father cannot get her married at all,” a third cackled. “Maybe a flea-infested beast belongs to her anyways!”

Anger suddenly rose in Madoka’s heart, threatening to blow out of her ears in steam. Say whatever insults they want to say to her, but insulting Her Highness? That was a crime and heresy! She clenched her fists, somehow mustering her courage as if she could stand up against those foolish ladies. The gossiping and giggling trailed off as soon as the maid stormed back around the corner, punctuated by a door shutting. She was utterly alone again, standing at the corner bend between hallways. Feeling foolish once again, Madoka resigned herself and started cleaning. Who gave her the right to be courageous?

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Another far more grand set of doors opened and the glittering sight of a blue dress sparkled in the light across from her. Instantly, Madoka knew exactly who was about to step out into the hallway. She was the one who stuffed her in that dress earlier today. Her Highness stumbled out as if she was in a daze, instantly alerting Madoka.

“Guh,” Princess Fiara blurted out. Guh…? As if on cue, the Royal girl repeated herself even louder. “Guh! I have finally escaped the clutches of my Father and Brother! For that reason, I’m out!”

The troublesome princess attempted to flee, but Madoka’s arm was quicker. She seized the girl without much effort and spun Her Highness around to face her.

“No running in the halls,” Madoka scolded, but quickly added a Royal greeting halfheartedly. “Your Highness.”

“GUH,” Fiara shouted again. Kind gods, Madoka realized this day was not hers to clean.

Everything today seemed off. From the moment the meeting with the Head Maid to receive her share of work, to getting insulted by random Noble wives, and now her day’s journey led her to this guh-spouting princess. It simply seemed like the world was against her, taking twice the effort to even lift a feather duster. Her grip unconsciously tightened on the Princess’s shoulder. Madoka would kill to get her peace from mundane working and mindlessness back.

“That’s not going to be a thing you’re going to say,” she sighed. Surprisingly, Princess Fiara seemed to be glancing her way. Feeling self-conscious and on the verge to give up, Madoka released the princess and intended on the girl’s quick dash to get a small break while leisurely walking after her. Instead of escaping, Fiara seemed to be watching her with a strange expression on her fair face. Was that worry? “Is there something wrong, Your Highness?”

“Come,” Fiara finally said after awhile, never taking her beautiful eyes off of her.

Madoka sensed her day was about to get more complicated, but she had no choice. She felt like she was going to be led into a man’s room alone again, but then the girl started up the stairs towards her room. Fiara stopped right before her chamber’s towering door and Madoka instinctively shined the doorknob in order to pull it open for Her Highness. As the door groaned in protest from her hand, she strangely related to its plight as she bowed.

“Get in here,” Fiara said seriously. This sudden mood shift made her tense. Why was everything about this girl so unpredictable? A finger pointing at something drew her attention from her despair. It was aimed at a cushioned chair. “Sit.”

“Y-Your Highness, I’m a servant, I can’t—“

“Sit,” Fiara commanded her.

Madoka hesitated, though the cushioned seat called to her bottom. She knew not to defy the Royal before her and make her repeat the command again, though it was blasphemous to sit. Tentatively, she nervously smoothed out her uniform and finally sat down. Despite the comfort enveloping her, she started to shake from the nerves. Princess Fiara ignored her frazzled mood and instead simply sat down opposite from her while never taking an eye off of the maid.

“What a day, right?” She finally broke the silence, kicking her feet and falling into a slump. “I swear, if I have to talk to another pompous noble with a stick up their ass I’m going to L to the lose it!”

Madoka was too stunned to speak at the moment or even reprimand her for cursing, forgetting everything that happened to her today. The princess once again, ignored this and continued to speak her mind as if she was some kind of advisor.

“This time, it’s Chelise,” she pounded the armrest with a tiny fist. “Why do I care about some tiny nation to the south of us? Ohhhh, but I do like their little fuzzy tails and soft looking fur. No, Audrey, Elise, they’re people. Real people. I had to remind Father that perhaps instead of enslaving them we could just leave them alone.”

Who is Audrey? Madoka’s thoughts were inadvertently dragged along with her, whether she wanted it or not.

“There was this hoo hah blah blah, the nation of savages were picking at straws near our borders,” she went on, mostly to herself. “I tell them, hey, maybe instead of focusing on the tiny nation we should set up alliances with both Warring and Chelise so Tabruula and Esmeralda would think twice on fighting us. Plus, Cherish weaponry and their niche resources are hard to come by. It’s not oil, but it’s too valuable to fight over… They’d rather burn it than give it up. That one Cherish guy said, no, declared that himself. With the two nations backing, we’d stand a chance, but if we crush the small nation our armies would lose face to Warring and we’ll be left completely in history… Oh, but the people there are so fluffy! Animal people, Madoka, real beast thingies!”

Princess Fiara swooned then alternated back into a fuss, as if she found those Cherish people adorable. Perhaps, her kind of people would always look down upon other people. The look on Her Highness’s fair face seemed more like admiration or wonder instead of the usual arrogance. The mention of her name drew her attention out of her thoughts. Madoka was compared to those people awhile ago, as if she was nothing but dirt. Were they also meant to be dirt? Why? The room was quiet before she knew it.

“You seem… paler than usual,” Fiara suddenly said. “Bad day?”

“I-It’s nothing,” Madoka blurted. “Please, don’t concern yourself over me, Your Highness.”

Princess Fiara furrowed her brows, then continued to kick her feet lazily in silence. Madoka wanted to get back to work. Anywhere, but here. Yet the Royal did not release her. She caught a glimpse at the girl, who seemed like she was lost in her own thoughts. The atmosphere seemed too heavy for her supposedly thick hands to shatter by themselves. Should she leave? Madoka had no idea what to do and suddenly felt awkward, thinking that maybe the Noble women berating her meager appearance was more preferable. Her Highness was studying her, but what for? Madoka’s brain was as blank as an empty scroll.

“Oh, right,” Princess Fiara suddenly remembered she existed. “You— you can go now. Wait. No, nevermind. If the Head Maid gets on your case again, I’ll shut them the hell up, okay? I’m the boss, here. So.”

What is hell? Madoka wondered. She was a bit dazed, but quickly scurried out of the Princess’s large room. The following days seemed less bad for some reason. The Nobles seemed to be wary of her, quickly sidestepping and hardly giving her or the other Middle Maids a glance. Some lower ranked Nobles even politely bowed and dodged their presence. Madoka had no complaints about the recent changes. Not even her Head Maid bothered with her, but the only strange thing was her new duty. She kept having to be brought into Her Highness’s chamber and sit for an hour to listen to her complaints. This too, seemed to ease her bad days and spirits somehow.