Amira's POV
One thing I've noticed about this palace is that, all the staffs are unfamiliar for me to recall. None of these faces ring a bell and even the head maid who used to walk pass by me before has been replaced by this woman.
Perhaps the Empress replaced all the staffs when she reigned? Or were there new recruitment?
"I-I don't mean to be rude but..." I hesitantly spoke, ".. there are a lot of new faces that I haven't remember from the last time I came here and the last Head Maid I've seen was a little bit older looking."
The head maid's brows rose up in confusion, "So... You've been an employee here before?"
"Well... Sort of. But it was for a short period of time and it ended about 2 years ago." She slowly nodded her head and stood closer to me.
"So you were fortunate to decide to flee before the tragedy." I tilted my head upon her confusing comment.
"E-Excuse me? I don't-"
"I've been reassigned here from His Highness Axel's palace because Her Imperial Highness Moon wiped out the whole staff." she nonchalantly replied, not waiting for me to finish, My mouth gaped open understanding the whole situation.
"So the Empress fired and replaced them..." I muttered under my breath.
However, her expression somehow intrigued me. She paused for a moment, processing what I understood.
"Oh.. no Miss Nahmer, It was a blood bath." She replied.
My jaw immediately fell to the floor realizing what she really mean't. "W-What?"
"She had to get rid of them anyway." She shrugged. HOW CAN SOMEONE SAY THAT SO NONCHALANTLY AS IF THOSE PEOPLE WERE DESTINED TO DIE ANYWAY?!
"So when you say 'wiped out', you literally meant-"
"Executed, yes." She nodded her head and turned to continue walking down the halls without looking back.
"D-Does that mean that no staff survived?" I asked, horror started to run through me, finally understanding what was going on!
"No staff were able to escape her rage, my lady."
The servants were killed? Why?! Did they do something wrong against Her Highness?! I immediately shook my head in discomfort. That situation seem frustrating and mortifying!
I want to ask more but I didn't want to pry regarding that incident.
"Now, if you're ready young Miss. I've prepared your dress for today. Please step inside." She spoke and open a door to an unfamiliar room for me in which I immediately obligated.
The room is a bit big and the other servants were here. About three of them were waiting for me and they look about in their teens.
"Hello Miss! We're your caretaker from now on. Please have a seat as we pamper you." I stopped in my tracks and turned to look at the head maid.
"Why would a servant have a servant?" I asked. She cleared her throat.
"By the order of the Empress, you are hereby declared as one of the Imperial court lady." I looked at her in disbelief. WHAT THE F*CK IS THIS WOMAN THINKING, GIVING ME THIS KIND OF RESPONSIBILITY?!
"NO." I responded adamantly. She sighed and walked closer to me. "I'm sorry my lady, but we're only doing our job."
"I applied to be a servant—to do house chores. NOT her personal assistant." I insisted. I will not wear such wretched corset in events and play dress up. Most importantly, I intended to neither be close nor see a silhouette of her as much as I can!
Momentarily, she looked at me dead in the eyes and sighed.
"Girls..." She trailed and with her head, she signalled them to grab my arms.
"Oh h*ll no...." I cursed as they quickly forced me to sit down infront of the vanity and practically harass me into dressing me up in these ugly dresses.
I got a sense of nostalgia while I groaned in pain everytime the maids pulled the strings for the corset to tighten and the others excitedly dressing me up with expensive dresses and jewelries that aren't even mine just to impress the Imperial family. I hate everything about these as it reminds me about how pathetic I felt in them.
"I greet your Imperial Highness." Her lips immediately curved in amusement as she eyed me down. She swung her legs down from the desk and walked towards me with my posture remained the same, curtsying to a f*cking devil.
She suddenly found her way to touch my chin with delicateness to meet her eyes. "You're f*cking beautiful."
"You still look the same from two years ago and I see you never forgot the lessons from Hyejin. She'll be proud and ecstatic, I bet." She lowly chuckled. I want to slap the sh*t out of her and I knew God is working wonders to stop me from lifting a hand.
"F*ck your gorgeous lessons and empty compliments, Your Imperial Highness. I would've get away from you if I could."
She sniggered."What do I do now? You're stuck with me...again."
This time I chuckled bitterly. "Stuck with a tyrant who murders her subjects? " I tilted my head. I watched how her facial expression changed drastically from being amused to peeved as I slowly caught her hand balling into a fist.
Her breathing pattern turned ragged as she tried to stay calm. This time, my lips formed into a wide grin.
"You must probably done it because you weren't having any fun with them so it was right to dispose them like how you did to me."
I knew what I said was beyond the line the moment I watched how her eyes were indeed glowering down to me like a beast who is about to pounce on it's prey.
"Amira, I love you.... " She trailed with her fingers slowly tickling down my cheek. Suddenly, she grabbed my face and inched closer towards me.
"—But you will never understand the way how I've been holding unto my sanity for months just so people would think I haven't gone insane when in fact, I am thinking about burning the lands that didn't have you in it over and over in my head. Right now I see that you are trying to snip that thread I'm holding unto shorter and shorter just so you could feel like you won. I was and still am brutally messed up- Do you think I'll be able to forgive myself if I've gone crazy and do something unforgivable to you right now?" Her eyes darkened but I could still see the struggle she's been hiding behind those starving gazes when it travelled down to my lip and back to my eyes.
I felt parched and I'm starting to feel the magnetic energy radiating off of her. Her eyes were dull and it was never like this before. Nevertheless, It's wrong for me to think she's f*cking hot when she might be about to snap my neck in any second.
"I guess I might have to wait when you'd lose your mind and actually kill me, Your Highness." Because of my words, her eyes shifted into a different emotion again. It was as if she realized what she just said, her face softened.
"I would never want to hurt you, Amira." She whispered as she attempted to brush her thumb on my cheek. The contact made me flinch, not only because of the abnormalities of my heart beat, but also because of the fact that she have killed people with this hand. The thought resulted in me slapping her hand away.
"Don't touch me, Your Highness. I might be a slave but your filthy hands have no room for my body." I glared at her. Her face expression, is telling me that I must've definitely hit a nerve.
Her forehead immediately relaxed upon my statement and her eyes turned ice-cold again. "Then you got no choice but to stay where my eyes can feast on you." She whispered and walked pass me.
I couldn't move a muscle upon realizing her words nor understand how these threatening words made my heart beat so fast.
"Again.. F*ck you, Your Highness." I mumbled under my breath and looked back at her in anger. God knows how much I want to hit that confident back till she drops to her knees in pain.
First, she made me leave Aunt Lena and Ryo who were the important people of my life.
Now, she's not even contented so she's acting like I'm her f*cking ornament. We'll see how far you'll be able to take the chase, Moon.
You'd wish you pretended I was dead.
To be continued....
HELLO GUYS! I'M CURRENTLY RESTING RIGHT NOW BECAUSE I FEEL A LITTLE SICK BUT I DECIDED THAT I SHOULD UPDATE ON THIS BOOK BEFORE RESTING. I HOPE THIS IS ENJOYED. ANYWAYS, I WOULD LOVE A FEW FEEDBACK WITH REGARDS TO THE STORY SO FAR~LOVE Y'ALL!