Frida’s pov:

"I think I’ll be giving you a piece of silver for everyday you don’t die." he mocked her openly as she coughed all over the floor.

"And who is Laz?" his question made her look at him. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

She had actually imagined Laz’s face but it was Snowflake and he wasn’t having it.

"Snowflake? what are you doing here?" she stood up flapping her dress.

"Oh I was sent to come see how you were faring, and what do I meet? oh you drowning why am I not surprised? I told master Song this was a bad idea. You are not to be trusted with this type of work."

She frowned at him "Thank you for saving me, but I do not need your help. You may go."

She picked up her bowl and walked away murmuring under her breath "What an asshole."

Seriously, if master Song couldn’t trust her with this simple assignment, even though they haven’t listed what she must specifically do yet, if she couldn’t handle simply blending in.

Then they would never trust her with anything, and Snowflake would be right. She thought as she got closer to the kitchen, fear of falling into the well didn’t allow her to dare draw from it again.

She hoped she would find water there at least, enough to wash her master’s feet.

"Do you think she drowned?" she heard the maids in the kitchen whispering among themselves.

"I told you not to push her too hard." one paced around looking frantic.

"If anyone breathes a word of this, they will take the fall...do you understand?" she barked at them.

"Yes Sarah." they chorused all looking at their feet.

"If no one speaks up, it looks like an accident, just like the other maid." Sarah smirked confidently.

The words sank into her brain "She had something to do with the other maids death?"

She walked into the kitchen and they all froze with dread, fear in their eyes as she headed towards the drum dripping wet, without a care in the world as if she hadn’t been pushed by them, as if she had not heard their conversation.

Sarah looked at her like she had seen a ghost "How much did you hear?"

"Hear what?." She answered beaming with a smile as she picked Rose petals and put it in her bowl as she fetched some water from the drum.

Sarah grabbed her hair. "You must die, if you tell the master what we have done, our lives will not be spared."

The other maids, scared and desperate, picked up knives ready to do whatever it takes to silence her.

"Sarah!" a voice barked from the corridor and they dropped their knives and scurried out like roaches.

She fell to the floor holding her throbbing scalp, her eyes watering with tears as she dropped her bowl soaked in water again. "Lady Kim." They bowed, greeting her by the corridor.

Her footsteps silenced them as she stepped into the kitchen "What is this mess?!"

Lady Kim was Mary’s mother, things weren’t looking good for her at all today "You just got here and you are already wrecking havoc in my house. First you speak to my daughter like equals then you dare to mess up my kitchen."

"Bring the cane!"

Sarah with a devilish smile brought the cane "Show me your legs." lady Kim ordered.

She was trembling as she turned her back and lifted her skirt,

Lady Kim whipped both her legs ruthlessly without mercy and she cried out in pain counting each wipe.

A total of six whips "You are fairly new so I’m sure you don’t know the rules, make more trouble and you will understand that this house does not tolerate rule breakers."

"Fetch your water and get out!" Lady Kim barked and she quickly scooped water from the drum into her bowl and scurried out of the kitchen.

Every maid and servant present held their laughter and she quickly realized she was surrounded by enemies.

People who hated her and her master, this was the first information she had gotten today as she limped with her bruised and hurting legs to her master’s compound.

As she tried to navigate her way through the darkness, she constantly bumped into walls and wanted to scream in frustration from holding the bowl with all her strength.

By the time she finally found her master’s door she wanted to quit, she hated everything.

She opened the doors and her master’s voice came at her like another whip. "On your first day you are exhibiting lateness, poor manners, back-talks and incompetence...you won’t last very long here."

She gritted her teeth, choosing not to answer him as she set the bowl on the floor and lifted his under garments a bit using the petals to wash his legs.

What would he know?

She was nearly murdered just now, attacked, beaten, bullied, punished, insulted all in less than an hour or being here.

Then she thought, if all this had happened in just a day.

What horrors had this man gone through for so many years.

Was that why he was currently sitting in a wheelchair?

She was done washing his feet and she picked up her bowl to leave. "Wait." he said.

Anger rooted her to a spot, she had to practice breathing exercises to calm herself down because her anger was about to erupt.

He opened the curtains slightly and his grey eyes roamed over her with distaste.

"So how will you please me?" he asked and she was astonished by his question.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Well the maids they send here are meant to serve many functions, such as my entertainment." His eyes pinned her with a wicked look she could not explain. "They usually try to gain my favor to make me nicer." he smirked and she felt a chill down her spine.

"I am injured my lord, I don’t think I have the energy to entertain you tonight." she said politely.

"Did I ask for your opinion?" His voice was deep with something as brutally evil like the maids from earlier or the lady Kim herself.

The wicked feeling of self importance these people inhabited amongst themselves.

"My legs are bleeding my Lord." she says with a plea in her voice.

"Good." he beams at her for the first time today like a sadist "Now dance."