"Haah…" I unintentionally let out a tired sigh. My grandmother always said that every sigh takes away a bit of happiness from you, but in my current situation, I just couldn't help it. It was still early in the morning, yet I already had a pounding headache.
I was walking through the halls of the royal castle of the Kingdom of Eberhart. Tough it was the largest castle in the continent, to me, it was like a small garden—I had lived there for as long as I could remember, after all.
I had walked every corridor, climbed every tower—you could almost say that the whole castle was my personal playground.
However, contrary to what one might think, I wasn't a member of royalty like a princess or a queen—my attire made it clear that I was nothing else than a humble maid.
Since I was a maid, I had chores to carry out, and of course the cause of my headache was precisely one of them.
¿How so? You might ask.
Well, the truth was that... despite being just a humble maid, my position was actually higher than most of the other servants in the castle.
Wait, what!? Really!?
Really. And it's not like im trying to brag.
To begin with, the word "maid" was very generalized: although we all wore the same uniform, not all of us had the same duties. If I had to choose a better word to describe my job, it wouldn't be maid—personal servant fit much better.
As you might know, the important members of royalty were special people. Among their many privileges—aside from the hundreds of servants in the castle—they each had a personal servant dedicated solely to them. It was something like a personal assistant. Of course, not just anyone could fill such an important role. In fact, if you wanted to become a personal servant to the royal family, there were three requirements you had to meet.
The first requirement was obvious: you needed the proper education to fulfill your role. How could you aspire to a job you didn't even know how to do? And to be clear, being a personal servant was no simple task—so naturally, becoming one wasn't easy either. However, it wasn't impossible: with enough effort, even a commoner could meet this requirement.
The second requirement, however, was a difficult one: you had to have noble blood. Not all the servants in the royal castle were nobles—some of them didn't even come from a wealthy family. However, the exclusive servants of royalty had to be of noble descent so if you weren't born into a noble family, it was impossible for you to get this job.
The third requirement was equally restrictive: not only did you need to be born into a noble family, but that family had to hold a significant prestige and influence within the kingdom. Since the royal household's trusted servants had to be chosen carefully, the role was reserved for nobles closely connected to the royal family, specifically from the most distinguished lineages.
Heh.
As you can imagine, I, Gerlinde von Falkenstein, met all the aforementioned requirements without exception: I had received the finest education to become a personal maid and my family name proved my noble birth—which is why I held the privilege of such a prestigious job.
I should be happy to have such an important role and I was, don't get me wrong…
But…
"Haaa…" I let out another sigh before even realising. If I had to point to the culprit that was making me this depressed, it wasn't the job itself, but rather the person I had to serve.
Charles Otto Leopold von Eberhart—he was the third prince of the Kingdom of Eberhart and the main source of my daily headaches.
Yes, I was the personal maid of a prince.
However, before romance fans get the wrong idea, there was something i needed to clarify: my relationship with His Highness was NOT like that. We had known each other since childhood and what we had was more a friendship than anything else.
I had to admit though, that there were times I fantasized about a forbidden love between a humble and beautiful maid like myself and His Highness.
But that was long ago, yes.
Or rather...before His Highness turned into the type of person he was now.
Anyways!
He was the origin of all my problems!
Explaining everything would be too difficult and there was no need to recall my past nightmares. A new one was probably about to begin anyway, and as always, I was going to end up being the victim of this story.
After walking for several minutes, I reached a room. This was his Highness's "office". However, calling it an office would be an insult to all the offices in the world, which is why I prefered to call it it "His Highness's leisure room."
Normally, a personal servant would be ready to assist their master the moment they woke up. However, no matter how early i arrived, His Highness, was always already gone. This was clearly a problem for me since my role was to be by his side all the time, and having my lord wander off without notifying me didn't help at all.
Luckily, if he wasn't in his room, he usually was in his "office". At this time, he was supposed to be at the chapel offering prayers to the gods. However, I highly doubted he had suddenly experienced a religious awakening, so I didn't even bother going there to check.
After taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door exactly three times.
Almost immediately, I heard a voice coming from inside the room.
"Come in."
There was no doubt—that was my lord's voice. Without hesitation, I stepped inside and offered a polit bow.
"Good morning, Your Highness."
The room around me resembled a library. There were numerous shelves full of books and documents—enough that it could be mistaken for a big book store. In the center of the room sat a desk with a mountain of papers on top, and although I had no proof, I was sure they were unfinished work belonging to my lord.
"Good morning, my dear Gerlinde. What brings you here?" His Highness responded with a mocking tone. Hearing that, I turned my gaze toward him. At that moment, he was laz- couhg, lounging on a luxurious sofa while reading a book. On the table nearby sat a wine bottle and a glass—only someone like my lord could be drinking this early in the morning.
"Haaa…" Unable to stop myself, I let out yet another sigh.
Just how many times had I sighed today?
If there was a competition for it, I could probably contend for the title.
Maybe I should quit being a maid and start chasing world records instead…
"I'm glad to see you're in a good mood so early in the morning, Your Highness. However, I would like to remind you that in less than an hour, you are expected at the royal court," I said in a formal tone.
My presence today was more important than usual—I had to help His Highness prepare for his appearance at the royal court. And yet, despite us knowing about today's gathering in advance, he showed no signs of wanting to get ready. To be fair, it's not like there was an issue with his current attire... but, his overall appearance was… well, less than presentable.
Much as it pained me to admit, my lord was undeniably handsome. His blond hair and his light blue eyes were so beautiful they could captivate anyone. Perhaps he was a bit thin, as he didn't exercise, but his facial features and height made up for it. Unfortunately, it often felt like he went out of his way to look terrible—and today, of course, was no exception. His hair was a mess, dark circles weighed heavily under his eyes and his clothes were wrinkled from lazing around all morning.
And then, there were the gloves.
No matter the time or occasion, His Highness never took them off. Why did he insist on keeping his hands hidden? I had no idea, but whenever I asked, he would simply brush me off with, "It's just a trend I like." A trend? I'd never heard of any trend that required wearing such plain white gloves all day—even when going to sleep.
I knew it sounded ridiculous, but after so many years without seeing his bare hands, I sometimes had the ridiculous urge to pin him down and rip those gloves off myself.
Not that I had a hand fetish or anything.
It was just curiosity.
Just that.
Yes.
Anyway, the situation wasn't all that dire.
Sure, His Highness's appearance left much to be desired, but we still had around forty minutes before the the royal court session started—plenty of time to get him presentable. If, for any reason, His Highness were to arrive late, a large part of the responsibility would fall on me, and once again, I would be the victim of the head housekeeper's broom—who, for those curious, was the very embodiment of a demon.
After checking the clock once more, I steeled myself for the task ahead: getting His Highness ready. First, I had to do something about his hair—it was an absolute disaster. Then, I'd make him change into something less wrinkled. His current outfit wasn't bad, but it looked like he had just rolled out of bed.
I was in the middle of planning my next steps when I suddenly heard something that made me freeze in place.
"Mmh, you know, Gerlinde? I don't feel like accompanying the old man today. This book I'm reading is quite interesting, so could you tell him I won't be present? Just say I'm sick or something: anything works," my lord said without even glancing at me. His words were like sharp knives directed at me.
Right.
How could I have forgotten?
His highness was not a cooperative person. It was because of things like this that my life had turned into a living nightmare.
What have i done to deserve this pain? I asked the gods in my heart.
At that moment, the headache that had briefly disappeared came back stronger than ever. This was my everyday suffering: having to deal with this idiot was consuming my life span little by little.
You son of a bitch—with all due respect to the deceased queen! No, I need to stay composed… Language, Gerlinde… Language.
"Ehm—Your Highness, you do realize you missed the last meeting, right? If you skip this one, His Majesty the King will get really angry. I'm serious!" I pleaded, my formal tone slowly disappearing.
This wasn't the first time His Highness had skipped a meeting—in fact, he did it all the time.
But today was different. Today's royal court session was crucial. It wouldn't be an exageration to say that the fate of the kingdom was on the line. And yet...
Even after hearing my desperate voice, as the cruel person he was, His Highness didn't flinch.
"My dear Gerlinde, didn't you hear me? I said I am sick. Do you really want me to go to the old man like this? Truly, you are merciless," he said, feigning a pained expression.
I don't want to hear that from you! You know perfectly well that I'll get scolded too if you don't go!No, even worse: I'm going to get hit!
I vented my true emotions inwardly while trying to maintain an outward calm.
"B-But Your Highness,you were partying all night at the duke's banquet yesterday. No one will believe that you're sick…" I said, trying to reason with him.
"Ha, that's where you're wrong, Gerlinde. Yes, I was partying all night yesterday, but that's exactly why I feel so sick now. I drank too much and now I can't even stand. Oh, why must I suffer like this?" he said in an exaggerated tone.
What nonsense! You just admitted to drink all night knowing you had something important to do today! And you're still drinking!
At this rate, my lord was making up any excuse to avoid going. If I was a rising star in the sport known as sighing, then he was a world champion at talking bullshit.
Language Gerlinde! I heard in my head but I didn't have the luxury to care about that anymore.
This was bad. If I didn't hurry, we were going to be late.
There was no other choice.
I had to use my secret weapon.
I didn't like it. I hated it.
But this was an emergency.
With a swift motion, I knelt on the floor, pressing my forehead to the ground.
"Please, Charles! I'm begging you as your childhood friend! Go to that damn meeting or I'm going to get hit with a fucking broom!" I shouted with all my soul.
My manner of speaking had completely changed. Until now, I had been speaking with the respect a maid owes her master, but now I was nothing more than Gerlinde, Charles's childhood friend.
Normally, this kind of behaviour would have earned me a couple of lashes as punishment, but thankfully, no one else was present in the room besides Charles.
"Hahaha! Well, if my best friend Gerlinde asks for it, I can't refuse," Charles got up from the sofa quickly. He never liked it when I addressed him formally, so whenever I dropped the act, he'd always cheer up.
Of course, I would prefer to talk to him normally as well, but I was dedicated to my job as a maid and so I liked to behave accordingly.
When I saw His Highness get up from the sofa to get ready for the meeting, his figure shone like the one of a prince charming— if he weren't the source of all my problems, I would have fallen for him on the spot. A wave of relief washed over me, and I quickly stood up to check the time: twenty-five minutes until the royal court session, so we were still on track.
However, there was an unsettling feeling in my heart.
What was it?
I couldn't understand what but I felt like I was overlooking something.
Something important.
Something really important.
Ah—
In that moment, it suddenly came to me.
Yes.
Charles wasn't the type of person to grant my wishes so easily.
Oh no!
I immediately turned to look at him and a chill ran down my spine. His expression was that of a demon about to demand my life in exchange for a wish.
"Gerlinde… You know how we settle things when we disagree, don't you? We've done this since we were kids..." he said with a cold, merciless tone.
It was true. Since we were little, whenever we disagreed, we would always settle it with a game. And, as embarrassing as it might be... we still did that even now…
"B-But we don't have time for that! If you want, we can play later, but not now!" I immediately glanced at the clock.
Time was slipping away fast. There was no time to waste with games—we had to go, NOW.
In that moment, I was ready to call for backup from other maids to bring Charles's ass to the reunion. It was all or nothing. I didn't want to be yelled at or get hit with a broom—my pride as a maid was on the line.
However, Charles didn't seem to care about my feelings and with a piercing gaze he said the prohibited words.
"Oooh...? Are you perhaps... scared of losing?"
!
Hearing those words, my mind went blank and the world around me faded to black. In an instant, all unnecessary thoughts vanished, and the confusion and desperation that had tormented me disappeared, replaced by a scorching fire.
Slowly, I felt by body heat up.
Something had shifted within me—or, more precisely, within my mind.
Scared?
I couldn't tolerate being called that.
Me?
Gerlinde was a strong woman that didn't fear anything or anyone.
Ha, in your dreams!
My chest burned hotter with each passing second. I was on fire.
At that moment, I was no longer the servant Gerlinde that everyone knew.
I was a warrior.
A warrior who had been humiliated and was ready to reclaim her honor.
"Don't say I didn't warn you! Bring it on!" I shouted with excitement. Seeing that, Charles flinched a bit but then smiled.
I quickly took a seat at the table near the sofa where he had been laying down. Without missing a beat, Charles retrieved a chessboard with black and white squares, along with a box of pieces—seemed like we were about to play chess.
I glanced at the clock again. Fifteen minutes. If we were to play a regular game of chess, there was no way we'd make it on time. The last time I played against him, the match had dragged on for two hours
However, Charles seemed to understand my concerns.
"Haha, don't look at me like that. We'll play a quick version of chess. Each of us must make our move immediately after the other. Let's say we have two seconds per turn. We don't need a chess timer," he said with a grin.
Indeed, this way, the game would end much faster, but the situation was more advantageous for Charles than for me. Not only was he better than me at chess, but he was also skilled at thinking under pressure.
Two seconds were nothing to him.
But for me, it was different.
As much as i hated to admit, I wasn't good enough to make decisions in such a short amount of time.
It's true, right now I wasn't in a normal state—I was in fighting mode. Even at a disadvantage, I would surely find a path to victory. However, what was worrying me in this moment, wasn't the game but what would happen if i lost. If for some reason Charles defeated me, he would probably ask me to leave him alone for the rest of the day, which meant he wasn't going to attend the royal court session.
Although I liked to play seriously, I was currently working and my job was my top priority. If Charles decided to don't go, I was going to be in real trouble.
"Don't worry, Gerlinde. Today, I'm feeling generous, so I'll give you an advantage," Charles seemed to understand my worries, so he offered me some help.
I didn't understand what kind of advantage he meant until I saw the board in front of me. Sure enough, I had all the pieces I needed to play, but Charles was missing both rocks and the queen.
Is this dumbass mocking me?
This couldn't be called an advantage—it was practically a free win. But instead of feeling happy, I felt humiliated. It was almost as if he was telling me I wasn't a worthy opponent at all.
I glanced at the clock again.
Under normal circumstances, I would have rejected such a humiliation, but time was against me, so I had no choice but to accept. Still, Charles didn't seem to have finished with his rules.
"As you can see, I'll start with fewer pieces. But since this is quite an extreme advantage, I'll add another rule. For each piece we lose, we'll take a shot of this liquor," he said, pulling a bottle of liquor from beneath the table.
¿¡What!?
I knew that brand.
That liquor was dangerous.
It was almost as if he had planned this from the start.
This rule was clearly a punishment aimed at me.
I was terrible with alcohol, while Charles seemed immune to getting drunk.
However, there was no time for negotiations. The game had to start now.
The board before me seemed to promise victory.
Not only did I have more pieces than he did, but I also had the honor of going first since I had the white pieces.
I would make Charles bit the dust and drag his ass to his daddy.
With determination, i moved my pawn to the center of the board. Simple chess—no need to overthink it.
As if to provoke me, Charles moved his pawn in the same way, creating a blocked pawn situation.
The game continued like this. Every time I moved a piece, Charles responded with a move that seemed to mock me. But soon, the piece advantage I had started to show, and I began capturing his pieces one by one.
Each time I captured one of his pieces, Charles drank calmly as if sipping orange juice. However, each time I had to drink, my vision blurred little by little.
If the castle found out that I had gotten drunk during working hours, I was sure the head housekeeper would beat me to death.
I had to win this match at all costs.
After just one minute, the game was nearing its end. The fact that Charles had started with less pieces and the two-second rule had contributed greatly to this result. My victory was assured, but then I realized something.
Charles hadn't been playing seriously.
Or rather, he had been playing with a different goal in mind.
When I looked at the board, it became clear: he had been focused on capturing pieces, not winning the game. Of course, this wasn't a strategy that would lead to victory, but then I realized—Charles had never intended to win. From the start, his goal had been to get me drunk!
"You bastard...!" I hissed, glaring at him.
"Hahaha!" Charles chuckled, his laughter echoing in the room.
So far, I had already taken several shots of liquor—I was surprised that I was still conscious. My face was flushed, and my head was spinning. One more shot and i was sure I'd throw up, and no amount of sleep was going to save me from the hangover.
"I won't let you beat me!" I said, moving my queen. If everything went according to plan, I would checkmate him in two more moves. However, in those two moves, Charles wouldn't defend his king; he would attack my other pieces. If I wanted to ensure that he didn't capture more of my pieces, I had to extend the game by a few more moves. However, time wasn't by my side so in the end, I prioritized my victory over my sanity and decided to finish the game quickly.
"You naive fool!"
But then, Charles suddenly started playing seriously, defending his king. Until now, I had thought Charles was playing just to capture my pieces, so I hadn't expected him to suddenly change tactics.
By defending, he could stretch the game out and capture more of my pieces. Normally, I would have realized this immediately, but in my current state, my brain wasn't working properly.
In the following moves, Charles captured not one, but two of my pieces, forcing me to take two more shots. Somehow, I managed to not puke all my insides after the last shot, but another one might have been fatal.
However, the game was finally coming to an end.
"Hah... Hah... Checkmate." I moved my rook to corner the black king. My forhead was covered in sweat and the world around me was spinning endlessly.
At that moment, my head slumped onto the table, and my consciousness began to fade away. I wanted to get up and help Charles prepare for the meeting, but an overwhelming wave of sleepiness washed over me.
"Well done, Gerlinde. I will be going now," I heard him say before my mind completely relaxed.
I had finally completed my mission, so I deserved a break.
Before closing my eyes, I glanced at the clock, but my vision was too blurry to see the time. In my final moments of awareness, I silently prayed that Charles would make it to the royal court session on time.