I run like there's no tomorrow, eventually stumbling into the throne room. I notice that all three of the family members are sitting in their respected seats, which sends a course of nerves through my body. After earlier's occurrence, I feel a bit awkward standing there.

"I thought you'd never get here," Queen Madia shows no emotion, but her tone tells all.

She slowly gets up, coming too close to my ear as she whispers, "Clean my bathroom, and make sure it shines! We are having dinner afterwards so make sure there is not a speck of dust when we get to the dining room, while we eat, and after."

"Yes ma'am," I nod before racing out of there.

Unlocking the Queen and King's bedroom with my bronze key, I haul my necessary cleaning supplies into the large room. The ceiling is abnormally high with the golden crown molding to match it's intricate design. The white walls have hand-embroidered swirls with roses, made from real gold leaves. Their bed is placed against the front wall, as it can comfortably fit 5 people. Their bathroom is a dream as well with EVERYTHING made of gold and white marble. The floor is marbled while the shower and bath tub are made of real gold. The sink is all white marble with golden spouts to accent it. I take a deep breathe and begin to clean, making sure to not leave any residue or dust.

At this point, I've been cleaning for so long that my knees are chalked and my hands are fire red.

"I HOPE TO SEE A SPARKLING BATHROOM THE SECOND I WALK IN!"

I grab my supplies and move them out of the way, making sure everything looks the way it should be. I scramble to stand as the queen makes her menacing entrance with her large, dark green dress trailing behind her. She stares at me, then looks around the bathroom, checking every corner and crease so that she can punish me in some of out of proportion way.

"Lily,"

She said my name... this is not going to end well..

"Come here." Her voice is dangerously calm.

I slowly step towards the spot on the shower door she's pointing at.

"Do you see that?"

Oh no.

"Do you have eye problems?"

This isn't good.

"Do you need glasses?"

Her face is way too close for comfort.

If you look REALLY close, you can see a hard water stain that I forgot was there.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am." I lower my head in shame, mentally preparing myself for the agony that is to come.

"How DARE you slack off! I WILL NOT tolerate this kind of behavior!"

She exits the room and grabs the all too familiar belt. She whips my side, immediately sending me to the floor. After hitting me various times and telling me how bad and ungrateful of a maid I am, she finally leaves me alone. As I'm kneeling on the ground, I can't help but believe what she said. I really am a terrible and ungrateful maid. She gives me a place to sleep and I repay her by not cleaning properly. I get up, refusing to let the tears leak out. Quickly grabbing the supplies, which I can barely do due to the excruciating pain, I run out and lock the door.

I make my way to the spotless dining room with the other maids, seeing that everyone is getting into the horizontal line next to the large dining room table. I carefully tie on my apron and stand in the line of maids waiting for the royal family to arrive, which should be any second.

"Finally! I was beginning to worry about you!" Alice says, not moving an inch out of line.

I nod and smile, not wanting to carry the conversation forward. It would just bring back another bad memory I don't need in my life. Before she can comment, they finally arrive. The King always sits at the head of the table while his wife and son station themselves on either side of him. The maids scramble around the large table, getting the appetizers and pouring the iced water. I grab an appetizer of clams and rush it over. Coincidentally, the only one that doesn't have one is Prince Fredrick... Why me?

Back straight, I bring the plate over to him. Why are my hands shaking so bad? As I set it down, I accidentally hit my tender side, almost dropping his food on his head as I refrain from yelping. Thankfully, I push through it and stop the contents from falling. I then almost make his drink fall, which he skillfully catches the cup, letting only a few drops fall onto the wooden table.

"That was a close one," He whispers it so quietly that nobody could hear but me.

I just nod my head, and quickly grab a napkin from the table to clean up the tiny mess.

"Thank you, Clarissa." The queen states in her non-existent happy tone, taking the cup of pure Italian water.

"Maid, come clean this crummy mess." She commands me.

I quickly rush to clean the almost invisible crumb mess around her chair.

"Maid, clean my face."

I internally roll my eyes at this ridiculous command. I lightly tap her face to get some crumbs and sauce off, which took everything in me to not cringe.

Throughout all of dinner, I was told to clean random messes while the others did the normal stuff. Now that they're on dessert, almost all of the maids had left. The only one remaining is Alice, who's on water duty tonight. As I clean another 'accidental' crumb mess, I see the Queen's long finger nails nick the glass, making it crash on top of my shall. I instinctively move out of the way, apparently puncturing my hand with pieces of glass as I see blood spilling out. Great. Now I have a bloody hand, an aching body, and I'm wet.

"Whoops! Clumsy me! Maid, pick it up, will you?"

Alice immediately comes to my aid with quick steps.

"NO! I said Maid, not Alice."

Alice gives me an apologetic look, and rushes back to her position. Then out of nowhere, I hear,

"Mother, can she not have any help? She's bleeding!"

I could hear some sort of frustration in Fredrick's voice... Why?

"Do not take that tone with me, young man! Besides, she can do it. She's nothing. And nothing doesn't need 'help'." She scoffs at me like I really am nothing, which I am. And always will be.

"How can you say something so horrid, mother? She is a person like you and I... If she can't get help from Alice, then I will help her."

I can hear him firmly stand up, skidding his chair, and walk over to me. With my head down, I can feel the queen's filthy eyes piercing my back. Prince Fredrick grabs some stray pieces of glass and holds out his hands.

"Give me the pieces,"

I try to have as little physical contact as possible as I place the large pieces into his soft hands. Oh my goodness, they're SO soft. The only sound that's heard is the sound of the prince picking up the broken shards. He runs off to throw them away, then, OUT OF NOWHERE, he locks his arm with mine!

"C'mon, I'll help you up." He whispers in my ear as he picks me up.

Being me, I stumble on my own two feet and almost fall on top of him. Thankfully, he catches me by my waist. His grip is oddly tight, which is unfortunately hurting my sides. I can't help but tilt my head upwards to briefly see his face.

He couldn't have given me a sweeter smile as he utters "I got you,"

He clears his throat, slowly removing his hands off my aching waist and places one on my shoulder. The queen is eerily silent through out this whole thing.

"Alice, please escort her to the nurse to treat her."

With that, she quickly gets me out.

After Alice leads me to the nurses office and makes me promise her to explain, I get cleaned up by the really sweet royal doctor. She',s the doctor for the royal family, and the only one that's on duty.

"There you go, honey. You're all done." She says, finishing with the ointment she put on my hand.

Her tight brunette bun barely moves out of place as she motions from one side of the small room to the other. Deeply thanking her, I walk through the dimly lit hallway to get to my room.

I take my time to collect my thoughts with every quiet step I take, until I start to hear something coming from the end of the dark empty hallway.

**CLICK CLICK**

I snap my head to where the sound is coming from. I don't hear it for a moment, but the second time I do, I know exactly what it is. The sound of heels clicking on the slick marbled floor. I basically bolt to the door leading to my room, until I hear someone calling my name. Or, my second name.

"Maid!"

I reluctantly stop and slowly turn around, only to be faced by an angry queen. I hear her footsteps get closer as I look down at my sandaled feet. She gets hold of my wrist with an extremely tight grip. She roughly slaps my face with her ring pointed toward me. I can feel the hurt and the redness creeping onto my face already.

"I don't know who you think you are, but you are a maid. A lower life form than the rest of us. Even the animals are a better species than of you. I suggest you remember that because this whole 'Fredrick helping you nonsense' will never happen again, I will make sure of it."

She harshly lets me go, stomping all the way to her room. She stomps so hard that I'm surprised her heels haven't broken yet.

I run downstairs to check on my face. Sure enough, it has a large hand mark. I can even see the engraving of her ring with the tiniest bit of blood spilling from it. Luckily, I've learned how to move on after I get hurt. Thick skin, if you will. I don't even bother to check the marks and bruises forming on my already bruised body, cautiously crawling onto my mat after I unfold it.

If what the queen was saying was true, then why did Prince Fredrick help me? Why did he treat like a.. person?