“Wake up!” A soft voice exclaimed, bumping Taylor's shoulders against something hard.

Groggily, Taylor opened her eyes, blinking quickly at the harsh light shining directly on her face.

“Wake up,” the voice repeated and Taylor vaguely recognised it to be Bethany’s.

“What’s going on? Where are we?” Taylor asked confused.

She received a glare from Bethany, who had opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Jasmine.

“We have reached the castle already. And because of you, we are half an hour late. The head of staff is not pleased. At all. Now, we are going to be even more late because you are sprawled right in front of the carriage door, ensuring none of us can leave the carriage. Honestly, newbie, do you want us to be sent back to Kelone before we even earn a single coin in Mazian?” Jasmine grumbled.

Upon registering her words, Taylor quickly scrambled up, knocking her head against the top of the carriage and flung the door open.

A sharp pain shot up her spine from laying in an uncomfortable position for so long, and her stomach grumbled with hunger from not eating for an entire day.

Ignoring it all, she clambered out of the carriage, followed by the rest of the young women, and they stood in a straight line, exhaustion and hunger visible on their unkempt faces.

Bethany stole a glance at Taylor and grimaced. Leaning closer, she whispered, “Gwen, your hair is a complete mess. You need to pin it up neatly before the head of staff comes to check us for any incompetency. She may send you back for simply not having a proper appearance compared to the rest of us.”

Taylor frowned. Such a thing existed in the servants? She never knew that they had to be able to look good in all situations to qualify to work in the castle.

 Discreetly, she looked at the rest of the girls in the line.

Bethany was absolutely right. They all may have had dirt on their clothes and faces, but their hair seemed to look as though it was braided and pinned up only seconds ago.

Taylor mentally raised an eyebrow at herself. She could imagine what a mess she looked like. She knew that her personal maid always had a hard time combing through her thick, curly hair every morning. Right now, her hair must be even worse of a mess. Her personal maid, Lyla, would have probably fainted if she saw her at the moment.

Trying to be inconspicuous, Taylor raised her hands to the back of her hands, attempting to straighten out the knots in her hair and make it look more presentable. Instead, her fingers simply got stuck within the mess.

“You are being too obvious,” Bethany remarked as an old lady walked out of the magnificent stone castle in front of them and approached them.

On one end of the line of girls was Taylor, while on the other end was Jasmine. Luckily, the lady went to Jasmine to inspect her first.

Taylor sighed. She had some time. 

Be less obvious. 

Of course, she could do that. It was like how she had to discreetly put frogs in her parent’s tea when she was younger to gain some reaction from them. Yes, exactly like that.

Trying to motivate herself, she ignored to hearing lady and instead quickly worked her fingers through her hair, forgetting the knots and simply bunching it up.

By the time the old lady was near Bethany, Taylor's hair was tied up into a neat bun, with stray hair poking out in all directions. It was a good start for her, someone who had never tied her hair herself for more than the past ten years.

When the lady approached Taylor, she was more than ready. A small smile played on her lips and she exuded the confidence of a princess. It was probably a bit too much for a servant, but maintaining the straight back and poised smile made her feel like she was not someone else in a completely different kingdom, which gave Taylor a small, odd sense of relief.

“What’s your name?” the lady asked Taylor.

“Gwen,” she replied, bowing her head slightly. “Gwen Chaser.”

With her head still tilted downwards, she bit the insides of her cheek. She was behaving similar to how the servants in her castle behaved. Now, Taylor was unsure whether that was how she was supposed to talk to someone of higher rank in Mazian.

“Gwen? A pretty name, it is,” the lady commented, walking around her to inspect Taylor.

By the time she made it back in front of Taylor, her cheeks were bleeding from the inside.

The lady disregarded Taylor and moved away, choosing to stand in front of all of the girls.

“Welcome to the Mazian castle! I am Miss Daisy and that is exactly what you will call me. I will be assigning all of you your positions tomorrow. For now, each one of you will be monitored by the staff in the castle. You will spend the next month proving to us that you are capable to work here. Any funny business during that time, anything that breaks our rules and you will either be escorted out of our kingdom immediately or punished according to our law. Is that clear?” the lady said, her strong voices resonating in all of their ears.

Taylor nodded her vigorously. Beside her, the entire line chorused out a, “Yes Miss Daisy.”

Shooting a look at them, Taylor mentally shook her head. She had absolutely no clue how to behave as a maid and she was expected to work in the castle. She had not even entered the castle and she was already messing up.

Brilliant!

It would be a miracle if she was not exposed within the first week of her first job in her parents' sworn enemy’s castle.