C7 The plan

As morning came, I woke up very early. Last night the supervisor told me that Axel himself had instructed that I be spared from late-night duties so I could rest.

It convinced me that my conclusions were right. There was a part of him that felt indebted to me, and I planned on using it.

I took a quick shower and made myself look presentable before I stepped out of the room in search of the supervisor.

The corridor was isolated as most people were still in their rooms or perhaps out on other duties I wasn't aware of.

I saw two girls in the general room and I walked up to them. They were packing the folded clothes into baskets.

One had short dark hair with freckles on her nose while the other had olive skin with beautiful locks.

I got to them and smiled.

"Good morning, please, I am looking for the supervisor. Have any of you seen him?" I asked.

They exchanged looks between themselves and turned to look at me again.

"You are the new girl aren't you?" The one with short dark hair asked.

"Yeah, I am."

"You should introduce yourself and tell us where you came from before engaging seniors here," she said.

It took the grace of heaven for me not to roll my eyes at her comment. They were slaves. How was it important who was a senior and who wasn't?

"Watch your tongue, Ash!" The one with the olive skin reprimanded. "She is favored by the King. I don't want any trouble."

Then she turned to me. "Go to the male corridor and check the first room. He should be there."

"Thank you," I said and made to turn and then I remembered I had no idea where the male corridor was. As far as I could tell there was only one corridor.

"I am sorry, where is the male corridor?"

Ash rolled her eyes and returned to her work. But Olive Skin gave me a small smile and straightened up.

"Come with me," she said and started walking out of the room.

I followed behind her and she took me to a door I had thought was just another room but it opened into a second corridor.

"First door," she pointed out and then turned to leave.

"Thank you!" I whispered at her retreating figure.

I took a deep breath and went on to knock at the supervisor's door.

"Who the hell is that?" He roared from inside.

My brows raised and I looked around me, thankfully the corridor was also empty.

It was still dark outside but I could tell the sunrise wasn't so far off anymore.

"I am sorry to disturb you but it is urgent!" I called the door.

"Urgent to get killed!" He hissed.

I took a step back as I heard him shuffle his feet from within and then the sound of keys kissing each other before the door opened.

"Oh, it's you!" He hissed. "I should have known. What do you want?" He returned inside and I figured that meant I should follow after him.

I blamed his bad reception on time but I was desperate.

"Good morning sir. I am sorry for disturbing you so early in the morning—"

"That's an understatement. What do you want?" He interjected rudely, glaring at me.

"I would like to be assigned for any sort of duty in the mansion today. I... Urmm, it's very important that I am there."

His eyes seemed to enlarge as my words visibly sank into his skull —which was completely void of hair

He narrowed his eyes and looked at me for a few seconds. "Do you understand what you are asking?"

My eyes moved in their sockets as I tried to think of what could possibly be wrong with my request...

"Yeah... I am sure. Yes. I want to be assigned there." I repeated.

He pushed his mouth forward and nodded his bald head at me.

"Very well then. If you are assigned to the mansion, you get to work there for the entire week before you get a shuffle." He walked to his table and that was when I noticed that the office wasn't just an office —it was also his room.

There was a small bed in the corner and a pile of clothes sat on it.

The sound of the scribbling he was doing pulled my attention back to him.

"Violet is what you are called, right?" He asked, still focused on the paper.

"Yes. That's my name."

He finished his note and handed it to me.

"Go to the mansion and ask the guards at the entrance to take you to Hilda. She is the head of maids there. She will show you where you will be needed."

I took the paper and I couldn't help but smile. It was so easy.

"Thank you very much," I mumbled and he looked at me with those same weary eyes adults looked at a child committing a grave mistake.

"I hope you don't return to me crying for a rechange, Violet," he said.

I shook my head at once. Why would I do that when all I wanted was to be close to Axel and this was a sure ticket?

"Good luck." He motioned to the door and I was more than happy to move out.

"Thank you," I muttered again as I walked out of the room.

I controlled my excitement once I got to the general area and walked out. More slaves had now joined Ash and Olive Skin with the packing and as I walked out, I tried to be as invisible as possible.

"Hey, Princess!" Ash called from behind me.

I was already out of the building but it seemed she had followed me out. I slowly turned to look at her with raised brows.

"Just because the king spared you from late-night duties doesn't mean you get to skip all duties!" She snarled.

She stretched her hands forward and held out a basket full of clothes.

"Here, take this and follow us to the mansion!" She added.

More girls stepped out of the door with similar baskets and they passed us and moved on in the direction of the mansion.

I could have refused. I already had my pass to the mansion but I knew Ash was only looking for trouble.

I saw it in her eyes that morning. She was hyperactive and for some reason, she hated me.

I placed the note from the supervisor into my jeans pockets and closed the distance between us. I took the basket from her and followed the rest of the girls to the mansion.

We filed to the lower floors which belonged to the mansion servants. Their living quarters were ten times better than the slave quarters and they looked less stressed and more friendly.

They directed us to the laundry room where all the baskets were nearly arranged in a neat row.

After each girl dropped their basket, they quickly made another file and started walking out.

As we moved, I felt a hand tap my shoulder.

"Hey, Violet right?" The olive-skinned girl said.

I nodded and she smiled.

"I am Sky. Sorry about my friend's sour mood. She is usually not like that," she explained.

"It's fine. I understand," I replied.

"If you need help with anything. You can always come to me," Sky said and nodded again before she left my side.

Hopefully, I wouldn't be needing anything from her because I planned on leaving here a free woman.

As the slaves filed out of the mansion, I walked to a guard and pulled out my note

"Good morning. I was sent to present this to a certain Hilda," I said holding the note in front of me.

The guard squeezed his already hardened face into a frown and gave me a stern look from head to toe.

"You don't look like you can survive a day with Hilda," he scoffed and then returned his focus to guarding the door.

I waited as I thought he was waiting out on something or was thinking but he literally forgot that I still existed

"Excuse me, where can I find her? You never replied!" I insisted.

His eyes returned to me and he kissed his tongue to his teeth. "Pesky little human! I am only trying to save you but since you are so adamant about killing yourself, be my guest!" He spat out.

He looked to his right and yelled "Alonso!"

A short but stoic guard jogged towards us and he pointed at me. "Take her to Hilda. Fresh on duty."

Alonso, the short guy, snickered and motioned for me to follow him with his fingers.

It was at this point I started to truly wonder what it was that this Hilda person made slaves do in the mansion.

We got to her quarters and Alonso left me to my fate. I knocked and the door opened to a nice petite lady.

"Sam must have sent you?" She asked as she looked at me.

"Yes," I said and then hurriedly gave her my letter.

She took it and read through it and then nodded.

"Okay, you will go to the dungeons. Your first assignment is to clean the faeces off the corridor."