Estelle stayed in bed to avoid suspicion. In the morning hours, she heard a sound of knocking in the distance. Soon, the door of her room was also knocked. She went towards the door and opened it to walk outside. But the hallway was empty except for open doors and Rosalia!

'The witch of chambers - Rosalia Amaryll'

Estelle frowned and hid herself behind the open door. As far as she recalled from the novel, there were seven trainee maids along with the mentor maid, Rosalia. She peeked from behind the door and saw Rosalia knocking on the last door.

There was no mirror in the room. So Estelle could not fix her looks. She rested her hands below the stomach and waited for Rosalia to cross the hallway again.

This time, the mentor was followed by her apprentices. Estelle also joined the line and headed outside.

The maids went around the living quarters. At the back was the bathhouse and further down the path was another wooden building.

Rosalia stopped and looked back. All the maids bowed one by one. Estelle also quickly lowered her head.

"Where is Isabelle?" Rosalia's stern voice sounded.

'She was sleeping with me but I didn't notice her wake up. What should I do now?' Estelle frowned and wondered if she should say anything. But she kept quiet until Rosalia called out her name.

"Arnacia, where is Isabelle?"

"She was here a moment ago. I failed to notice her leave," Estelle respectfully said after thinking about it.

Hearing this confused the maid behind Estelle. She was also wondering why Isabelle was not in front of her today. She couldn't be more sure because Isabelle's white hair always attracted her gaze.

"Go find her at once," Rosalia commanded.

Estelle left the line of maids and headed inside the living quarters. 'I will have to be more careful. I am supposed to be Isabelle's lover. Not noticing that Isabelle was still sleeping broke my character.'

All the doors were flung open except for three. 'Total 9 door,' Estelle counted and peaked inside the open doors one by one.

Every room had the same layout. A bed, a small table at its side with a lamp. A cupboard in a corner and a window opposite to the door. But her own room was different.

Two beds were joined, with two tables on either side. There was no explanation about rooms in the novel, let the only room why two maids were allowed to sleep together.

"Isabelle, my love, wake up," Estelle called out.

She smiled wryly and repeated the sentence again. When Isabelle didn't wake up, Estelle slowly lifted the blanket. Seeing the pale face of Isabelle with white wisps of hair flowing along made her sigh.

'King Nicolas described her as breathtakingly beautiful. Seeing her face now, she really is.' Estelle looked at Isabelle's face and sighed again. It was more charming than she imagined it to be. 'I hope my face will be alluring enough.'

"Isabelle, my angel," Estelle couldn't help but smile.

The dialogs of Arnacia in the story were just too cheesy. Just by saying these sluggish lines, she had had failed to be like the character again.

Estelle shook her head and tried again. She gently put away the wisps of hair from Isabelle's face. Doing this made Isabelle's face shiver a little. 'She looks too good for a maid.'

"Wake up," Estelle shook Isabelle.

But perhaps the sleep was too deep.

'She is like a sleeping princess who refuses to wake up.' Estelle mused in her head. But the next thought made her smile wryly again. 'Do I have to kiss her now?'

Slowly, the amusing thought turned into dread!

No matter how much Estelle shook Isabelle, the latter refused to wake up.

'Don't tell me this is a secret plot of the novel.' The more she thought about it, the more sense it made. Why were two maids allowed to sleep together but the others were not?

'A little kiss will do.' Estelle closed her eyes and hastened her face close to Isabelle's. Just as their lips touched, she moved back. The beautiful pale face turned a little.

'I was over thinking, the kiss doesn't work.' Estelle's face was flushed red. 'Stupid me.' She walked out of the room and headed towards the kitchen.

'The two joint rooms at the front must be the kitchen where all maids practice cooking.' She opened the door and quickly collected a glass of water.

Splash!

The water was thrown on Isabelle's face, but no response.

'This response was milder than the touch, even milder than the kiss!' Estelle let out a sound of annoyance and wiped the beautiful face with her apron. Seeing the gray eyebrows were still wet, she swiped at them with her fingers.

Surprisingly, Isabelle shuddered again.

'God No!' Estelle touched Isabelle's face again. It shivered a little. 'No!' She wanted to cry, but no tears came out. 'It's already late. The witch might get suspicious. Why won't she wake up?'

Estelle moved her lips close to Isabelle again. Before the two would touch, she closed her eyes. This time, she stayed in the position a few more moments. Then quickly jumped back and wiped her lips.

Isabelle's eyelids fluttered.

'Finally,' Estelle breathed a sigh of relief. But to her horror, the eyes did not open. She fell down on her knees and punched lightly on the bed. 'But I already kissed her.' Estelle had her face buried in the bed now.

'The prince kisses the princess, and she wakes up, but for how long does that cursed prince kiss?

'Don't tell me he smooched the sleeping princess!'

Estelle repetitively slammed her head on the bed. But something needed to be done. She got up and squeezed Isabelle's chins with one hand.

'I will only do this one time. No way you can deeply kiss a sleeping girl without holding her mouth like this… unless you are a pervert!'

Estelle saw Isabelle's white teeth in between the pink. The girl's face still looked beautiful.

'But she's a girl….' Estelle felt like she would have barfed if it wasn't someone as pure as Isabelle. But still, she wished she had not seen the teeth.

Estelle closed her eyes and moved her head closer in Isabelle's direction. She paused in between and continued after taking a deep breath.

Instead of pressing her lips, this time she opened her mouth a little and advanced. The two lips touched together and a different kind of warmth invaded Estelle's lips. No wonder why she held the state for two seconds without complaining. When she was about to pull her head up, a thought entered her mind and she pressed on for longer.

Cough. Cough.

Estelle pushed herself back and wiped her lips with the back of her hands. The taste of Isabelle still lingered her mouth, and she coughed once more. She looked at her apron, then at the bedsheets. Bending down, she wiped her lips with a corner of the sheet.

Gladly, there was a heavy movement on the bed, and Isabelle got up. But the next words from Isabelle's mouth utterly shocked Estelle.

"Where am I? Where is this place!"