Elysia slept.

Not deeply. Not peacefully. But she slept.

The guest quarters were so quiet that the silence itself felt like a rule.

The other recruits had collapsed onto their beds after the long journey, their exhaustion finally winning over their excitement. Some whispered in their sleep. Some snored softly. Others simply lay still, staring at the ceiling as if the palace walls might answer the questions they had not yet dared to ask aloud.

Elysia rested near the window with her hands folded neatly in her lap.

Her blue hair had come loose from its tie, spilling over her shoulder in a smooth curtain of sapphire strands.

Her eyes were closed, but she was not truly resting.

She was waiting.

The palace loomed beyond the glass in pale noon light, marble towers rising against the sky like a promise and a warning all at once.

Guards stood at every visible gate. Servants moved through the lower courtyards in quiet streams.

Farther east, beyond the gardens and the rows of trimmed hedges, she could just make out the wing she had already memorized.

Prince Thaddeus’s section.

She would be assigned there.

Soon.

A small smile almost touched her lips, but she kept her expression still.

She had no intention of showing the others how much she was already measuring the palace, already counting the distances, already placing herself in the right position to begin.

The first step had been taken.

Now she only needed patience.

Noon came quicker than expected.

The Head Maid gathered all the recruits in the training hall—a broad stone chamber with high ceilings, long benches along the walls, and a single table placed at the center like an altar.

The air was cool, polished, and faintly scented with wax from the lanterns burning in the corners.

Twenty-five recruits stood in a line before her.

Twenty-five nervous faces.

Twenty-five different kinds of fear.

The Head Maid stood at the front with her hands folded behind her back.

She was tall, severe, and terrifying in the quiet way only truly disciplined people could be.

Her black uniform was immaculate—not a single wrinkle, not a thread out of place. Even the way she stood suggested that the room belonged to her more than it belonged to the palace.

She looked at them all once. Then she spoke.

"Training begins now," she said.

"All of you here are lucky, you don’t have to go through the normal procedures of training which last for a week, do you know Why?"

"Why?", someone asked.

"Well, that is because, a check has been done on all of you and you all passed and also it was also verified that you all have the training etiquettes needed so this training would just be a little necessity"

Everyone looked at each other with an expression of relief because who knows what the normal procedures for training would be, they might even be able to survive.

"Now, shall we begin?"

Everyone nodded their head and some even said "Yes" aloud.

"There are three steps. You will pass all three if you wish to earn a place in this palace."

But first of all, how many people do we have here that are for the position of maids?

"16", Elysia said.

"Mmmm"

The Head maid instructed the other people who are not in for the position of maid to go back to relax, that training for each aspects were different and after the maids would be another aspect.

A murmur moved through the recruits.

The Head Maid ignored it.

The remaining 9 recruits left to the guest house.

When they all left, the Head maid looked at the remaining 16 recruits and then started the training.

"Step one is the Memory and Silence Test."

She lifted a scroll from the table and unrolled it with deliberate care.

Dense lines of writing filled the parchment.

"Read the rules for two minutes. Memorize them. Then I will take the scroll away, and you will recite every single one perfectly from memory. No mistakes. No hesitation. No omissions. If you fail, you leave."

The recruits straightened immediately.

Elysia stepped forward first.

Her eyes moved over the scroll quickly—not hurriedly, but efficiently.

She read the rules as though she were gathering information, not memorizing a list.

The others leaned in, some lips moving silently as they tried to force the words into memory.

Two minutes passed.

The Head Maid rolled the parchment shut and lifted her chin.

"Recite."

Elysia did not hesitate.

"Rule one: Never speak unless spoken to."

Her voice was calm and clear.

"Rule two: Never enter a room without permission."

She continued without pause.

"Rule three: Never touch royal property.

Rule four: Never look directly at a prince.

Rule five: Never leave your post without reporting.

Rule six: Never gossip about the royal family.

Rule seven: Never bring outside food into the palace.

Rule eight: Never wear colors brighter than the royal crest.

Rule nine: Never sleep during work hours.

Rule ten: Never prioritize personal needs over duty.

Rule eleven: Never fail to clean what is assigned.

Rule twelve: Never serve incomplete meals.

Rule thirteen: Never question royal orders.

Rule fourteen: Never reveal palace secrets.

Rule fifteen: Never associate with discharged staff.

Rule sixteen: Never enter the royal wings without authorization.

Rule seventeen: Never touch the princes’ personal items.

Rule eighteen: Never fail to report suspicious activity.

Rule nineteen: Never be late for your shift.

Rule twenty: Never show incompetence in any task."

She stopped.

Perfect.

No mistakes.

No hesitation.

The Head Maid stared at her for a long second, her expression unreadable. Then she gave a single nod.

"Passed."

The recruits shifted nervously behind her.

The brown-haired girl from the carriage stepped forward next.

Her shoulders were stiff, her jaw tight.

Her eyes kept flicking toward Elysia as though looking at her for too long was somehow insulting.

She read the scroll.

Two minutes passed.

The Head Maid took it back.

"Recite."

The girl opened her mouth.

"Rule one: Never speak unless... unless..."

Silence.

Her face reddened.

"Rule two is never enter a room without permission," Elysia said quietly from where she stood.

The girl whirled on her, mortified.

"I know that," she snapped. "Rule two: Never enter a room without permission.

Rule three: Never..."

She froze again.

The silence stretched.

The Head Maid did not help.

The girl tried once more.

Still failed.

The Head Maid lowered the scroll and looked at her with mild disappointment—which somehow felt worse than anger.

"Failed."

The brown-haired girl’s face flushed crimson. She stepped back with clenched fists, fury burning in her expression.

Elysia had a small smile on her face and walked towards where she was and whispered.

"You know how to spread rumours, particularly false ones perfectly but you can’t even recite 20 rules from memory, How Pathetic!"

Elysia words just made it more worse for her as other girls were also laughing at her, The brown haired girl eyes were filled with tears threatening to come out but she had to hold it in.

One by one, the others attempted the test. Some passed. Most failed. By the end of the first step, only twelve remained. Elysia was among them.

"Step two," the Head Maid said, "is the Blind Walk and Clean Dishes."

She pointed toward the corridor behind her.

The passage beyond the hall was narrow and dim, lit only by a single candle at the far end.

Small obstacles had been arranged along its length: a chair, a hanging cloth, a low table with a shallow vase set on top, and a narrow stair turning at the end toward another room.

"You will walk through the corridor in the dark with a blindfold on," the Head Maid said. "You must reach the other side without touching anything, without breaking anything, and without losing your way. One mistake ends the test."

She then pointed to the table in the center of the room. Ten silver plates sat there, each one dusty, dirty, and marked with old food stains.

"When you reach the end, you will clean those ten plates. No scratches. No missing spots. No leaving marks behind. One mistake and you’re out."

Some murmurs were heard; "If this training in which the head maid said we were lucky is as hard as this, I do not want to imagine the real deal"

The twelve remaining recruits stepped forward. Elysia moved with them.

She entered the corridor first.

The darkness inside was thick enough to feel physical.

The candle at the end gave only the faintest glow—a thin golden line swallowed by shadow.

Elysia adjusted instantly, her eyes narrowing slightly as she let the darkness become something measurable instead of something frightening.

She took one step. Then another.

Her hand brushed the air near the hanging cloth, but not the cloth itself.

She passed the chair without touching it.

The low table waited at her side like a trap, but she stepped around it carefully, her posture straight, her movements controlled.

At the stair she paused only long enough to judge the angle, then climbed without a sound.

No stumble.

No misstep.

At the end of the passage, she reached the waiting table and the stack of plates...then removed the blindfold.

The Head Maid handed her a cloth.

Elysia took it.

Then she cleaned the first plate—slowly, precisely.

The second plate.

The third.

The fourth.

The fifth.

Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

Every plate shone by the time she was finished. Not one scratch. Not one streak left behind. Not one sloppy edge of cloth still visible.

The Head Maid inspected them one by one. Then she gave another sharp nod.

"Passed." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Elysia stepped aside.

The other recruits followed.

Several touched the hanging cloth and failed immediately.

One misjudged the stair.

Another dropped a plate.

Another cleaned too quickly and left a smear on the rim.

Only ten made it through the second step. Elysia remained among them.

"Step three," the Head Maid said, "is the Poison Check and The Service."

A slight murmur passed through the recruits.

"What if it’s actually poisoned ma’am" someone asked.