2.

They descended the stairs and skittered towards the hall, avoiding people as if time was indeed pursuing their tails. Servants in blue and green tunics move up and about, trudging through makeshift servant pathways and disappearing right next to seemingly dark shadows of countless secret servant passageways. Although crowded in an unhurried and daily basis, it was nonetheless peaceful, considering the silence that narrowed the spacious hallways.

Paintings and sculpted faces hang from walls of peach blush, illuminated with bioluminescent flower ornaments arranged neatly in every corner of the path. Towering windows were opened, fresh sea breeze wooing their way inside, rustling curtains of cotton and silk. Chandeliers hang high from the ceiling, as if God himself placed them solely to act as delicate shards of stars when in a moonlit night. Painted scenes of battles and lores made from historical legends depicted in faded saturation, highlighting the richness of Elven Castle's 800-year-old culture.

The hallways were basked with warmth and sunbeams that can make even the hearts of cold and lifeless gods flutter in absolute peacefulness.

For four years since she decided to enter the palace as a maid servant, Emily still could not stop but admire her luck whenever she pass by these hallways. As a kid, her only dream was to become the successor of her father's hat factory. Being born as the second eldest, though modest and bright, she was not a peerless genius like her elder sister, and so her dream only ever really remained a dream, never becoming a reality forever. After her father's passing and their business' complete and devastating bankruptcy due to countless pressing depts, her mother's fear of falling from the heights of newly reached wealth paired with the grief of losing her beloved husband gradually made her health turn for the worst. Disheartened by her family's terrible journey to rock bottom, Emily thought she needed to help her sister bring their luck back to their family, and so she ventured outside her comfort zone and met a woman who gave her a pass, a key to find the luck that was lost in her family, a charm to bring the luck back, with the expense of her own life's servitude to the royal family.

To bring back her father's legacy, she willed herself to become lowly and earn her living. For the family she loved dearly, their happiness is her happiness. Being selfless is the least she could do to repay her filial gratitude to them.

It's not like her new life in the palace is boring, anyways. It was pretty uneventful, yes, but for her who liked doing something, being a maid is actually pretty fun. She can also roam around the palace during her free time which is an added bonus to her job payment considering a castle with an otherworldly beauty such as this, even countryside nobles would envy her eyes.

Her thoughts made a smile graze her lips. Emily can't wait for payday.

"Madame Gertrude assigned us in the kitchen today," Rayna said. Emily looked at her and grimaced. She never really liked the kitchen, too much grease and oil and everything that humans hated washing. Kitchen, in a big castle such as this one, is pretty chaotic, not to mention cheeky chef captain wannabes and their seemingly grumpy scullery children. Emily internally groaned.

"What? Why? We were assigned to the east wing by our matron," she muttered as she side stepped to avoid a man engrossed with the book he's reading.

Matrons are mother figures of servants divided into groups with different roles and tasks. Each of them play vital roles in ensuring their "children" are well cared for and in return, be more submissive with servants' customs. Although it isn't generally frowned upon in the servant hierarchy for a matron to assign another's lackeys, it is highly not recommended for it may ensue misunderstanding towards leading matrons aiming for the position of the head matron who commands the inner realm in submission with only the royal Queen and King as her masters.

There are many ways of ensuing chaos, especially for those who wants to curry favor with royalties.

Madame Gertrude is a matron who's assigned to supervise kitchen bound servants. Originally a slave, the lowest of the low in all existing hierarchies, she became a living idol praised by her previous fellow slaves for having a one-of-a-kind luck when she decided to help a vigilante on a one fateful night of grievances and sadness. Who knew that her act of unmasked kindness would later result to her being commended by her previous slave masters and later the whole commoner world?

After a year since she last saw the person whose life she painstakingly snatched from the clutches of death, a letter with a royal emblem seal was delivered by a royal messenger to her slave master's home, requesting her presence in the high castle. Afraid because of the paranoia of being shamed by his slave's unexplained and seemingly unavoidable doom, the slave master uncharacteristically beaten her to an almost death until he too was summoned after a moment's notice. After reaching the palace, the slave master was executed, and the slave freed from the ranks of lifetime slavery. For the vigilante-turned-queen of the monarch, depts must be repaid ten fold. And so Madame Gertrude's life became an absolute fairytale, a good-night story in the hearts of those dreaming to be greater in both life and luck.

It is sad that Madame Gertrude was assigned with kitchen staff. She's a great matron, but for Emily, who never really liked Madame Gertrude in a higher regard, no one can beat her Madame Le-Chatilier's pure and honest person still.

"Yes, but you know the rules, Emily. The latest command is the newest priority," Rayna said.

Emily rolled her eyes at that and pursed her lips.

They made it to the servants' quarters and immediately changed for kitchen duty attire.