To say that you were nervous was the understatement of the century. These next few days would be the days that determined your future. You would either find out if you get to live the rest of your life in bliss, ogling some eye candy or if you would maybe never get the chance to see some of your favorite novel characters.

Over the next few days the maid and butler applicants would be staying at the castle while completing various tasks to see if they were worthy enough to be serving the extraordinary Milton family.

The only job experience you had was working at a few fast food chains and of course that wretched office job you never wanted to think about again. Those days of being trapped inside of a cubicle haunted your mind. Because of your poor job experience, your expectations of being accepted into a maid position were at the ground. Maybe even below the ground, 6 feet under. The only reason why you thought that you would maybe be accepted is because you mastered the customer service smile. That smile never let you down, not even once.

You could only hope that very same smile would once again allow you to prevail.

———

The warm rays of the early afternoon sun slipped through the cracks of the silky, dark red curtains. They poured onto a certain white haired prince who was just barely waking up, somehow making him seem even more ethereal.

"Prince Wystan... I hate to interrupt your beauty sleep but it's already twelve in the afternoon, the day is already almost over. I-I'm sure your father won't be happy with you if you don't get up soon." A shy girl with a short brown bob and silver eyes said, worriedly glancing down at her prince who lied atop the king sized bed.

Slowly, onyx eyes fluttered open and glanced up at his personal maid. He let out a frustrated huff and sat up on the bed. "Sylvia, you just wakened me so you could spend more time with me... That's the case, yes?" A voice which was so enchanting, even despite just waking up, never failed to reduce Sylvia into a blushing mess.

"N.. No! You know that's not the case, Prince Wystan... Have you forgotten that this is not your castle? We are currently in King Milton's kingdom on a business trip, and his castle no less! It — It would be showing disrespect if you sleep in so late." Sylvia muttered out, not being able to keep eye contact with her flirtatious master.

Wystan merely hummed and stood up, walking past Sylvia but not without twirling a strand of her brown hair around his finger for a brief moment. "Don't worry Sylvia, I was about to wake up soon anyways. You know I was only teasing."

He strode into the bathroom which was attached to one of the many guest rooms in the castle that he would be staying in while his father attended to business with King Milton.

He grabbed the edge of the counter with both hands, glancing up into the mirror through his wispy eyelashes.

Fuck, she pisses me off.

Prince Wystan was a flirtatious man, and flirting with his maid was not out of the picture either. Although he teased and flirted with her in a carefree manner quite often, he held no romantic feelings for her. At all.

Because he had so much experience with women, he can tell when someone is interested in him. That being said, it wasn't unknown to him that his maid Sylvia developed feelings for him. She played the role of a shy, oblivious maid but her wandering eyes and the lewd thoughts he could see through her eyes didn't go unnoticed.

He found it repulsing. A maid should know it's against her work code to think such things. He hated her.

He saw how his little maid Sylvia would send jealous glares to every woman he invited to his bed. It wasn't her place to act like that. She acted much too familiar with him, as if she was on equal footing with him. Like she didn't beg and cry to the head maid to allow her to be his personal maid.

"-ystan! Are you almost done? You've been in there for a while."

Wystan repressed a groan and opened the door, sending a charming smile her way. "Let's get on with the day, shall we?"

———

The heat was unbearable. A long, almost never-ending, line could be seen throughout the pathway to get inside of the royal family's castle. Every person here had hopes to be accepted into a position at the castle. Unfortunately for you, every person meant it was less likely for you to be accepted.

Sabina fanned your face with her hand while you fanned hers. "Oh my, (F/n)! You're dripping sweat. Please, rest. I'll let you know when the line starts to move." She somehow seemed more worried about you than she was for herself.

You frowned and ruffled her blonde hair. "Shouldn't I be the one saying that? Anyways, if I can't even stand in a line for a few hours I shouldn't be allowed a position at the castle."

She huffed at your words, not liking the sight of you in this horrible heat one bit.

Eventually, the line got shorter and shorter until you were finally at one of the side doors of the castle. Of course, they wouldn't let mere commoners enter through the front door. That would be too crazy!

The guard at the door checked your applications with a few quick glances and granted you access inside. You expected to see a lavish, huge room but instead you were greeted with the sight of the servant courters. The floor was made of some kind of wood and the walls were made of concrete. It wasn't hard to tell this area of the castle wasn't in the best shape compared to the rest.

The sight of a middle aged woman with a low bun greeted you. She had low, rectangle glasses resting on her nose. Based on the sneer she was aiming your way, you could tell she wasn't the nicest woman you've ever seen.

"Hello. Welcome to the Royal Milton family's castle. We expect the very best, and get the very best. If you cannot work under intense pressure and demands then this is not the place for you. If anyone wishes to leave, now is the time to do so." Her voice sounded stern, a guarantee to get her point across.

Some of the people in your group murmured to themselves, a few of them left the door with ashamed looks on their faces. Seemed like they finally understood what the job entailed and what they were actually getting themselves into.

There was no turning back now, and so you didn't.

———

You definitely underestimated the workload that the maids had to go through.

You were only in training for a couple days and yet it felt as if you could never catch a break. From dusting the walls, cleaning the floors, laundry, and running around completing various tasks that were assigned to you. Not to mention, you had to go back and forth between the castle and the cottage in the forest to feed Marlin once the days came to their ends. Was it possible to be this tired?

Finally, you reached the last chore on your list for the day. Dust the shelves of the library and put a few books in the correct spot? Sounded easy enough.

It felt as if you should have been remembering something upon reading that, it was on the tip of your tongue.

Fionn Lewis!

You couldn't believe that he completely slipped your mind. Being so busy with chores, you forgot that he quite literally worked here. Joy filled you, hoping to see him at the library. He was so cute, he reminded you of your baby cousin back at home. He would be offended if he heard that though you thought, so if you came across him you would keep your mouth shut.

With a huff, you picked up a stack of books and shoved the door open with your foot. On the first day of training they gave the contenders a small tour of the castle. The tour guides of course arranged the schedule so you wouldn't run into any of the royal family within the castle.

You had a slight idea of how to get to the library. You walked through the seemingly never ending halls, the red carpet beneath your feet leading the way. The library was found easier than you expected and you couldn't help but feel a little proud of yourself.

Lucky for you the library doors were already cracked open so you used your shoulder to open it more and walk through. The smell of crisp pages filled your nostrils and the sight was even more amazing than you expected. It was as if it came straight out of a fantasy novel, which it technically did. The shelves were huge, reaching the ceiling with the occasional ladder leaning against the books. Tables were scattered throughout and it seemed to have three floors. You immediately felt at peace. If you could stay here all day, you would.

Looking down at the books in your hand, you noted the titles of them and walked around to find where they belonged alphabetically and which genre they belonged in.

If Fionn was here, you didn't see him. It was to be expected though, he was one of the main characters of a novel so he was bound to be busy-

"(F/n)?"

The bells from heaven rang in your head. This was your lucky day.

Spinning around, Fionn was right behind you with a shocked look on his face, and yet he also looked very... too happy? If anything though, you were definitely the happier one to have met him here.

"Fionn! It's so nice to see you! I knew I would eventually see you here but I didn't know this soon.. I didn't see you when I came in, where were you?" You put down the books beside you because they started to get a bit heavy.

He glanced to the side and adjusted from foot to foot. It seemed like he had trouble with eye contact, it was sort of endearing though. "I... I saw you come in but I was too nervous to say anything so I... you know. I h-hid."

Could he get any cuter? You didn't think it was possible. You would save your thoughts on why he was so good at being stealthy for later.

"Any.. Anyways! I just wanted to say-" He was interrupted by an authoritative voice calling for him, probably one of the higher ups. "Nevermind... They're calling for me." Fionn looked up to you with hopeful eyes. "If you want, w-would you like to meet here tomorrow? I'll see you, (F/n)!" With that, he ran off in a hurry.

You smiled. If this was a dream, you never wanted to wake up. If you had to wake up from this, you at least wanted it to be after you find out who Sabina chooses to be her lover. It was so fascinating to interact with characters you thought to only be alive in your imagination and you wanted to learn more about this place.

Unfortunately even in a world like this there was still work to do. You picked the books back up and put them in their place. After about an hour, you moved on to dusting the place.

You moved over to the window to dust the table in front of it. You swiped your duster over the oak wood table while glancing out the window.

You were surprised to see a large group of knights and knights in training down in the yard. There were a few training dumbies but you couldn't be bothered with taking in the details, the knights were a beautiful sight to see, sweat dripping from them and shaking their heads with droplets flying off. What kind of commercial was this? You kept yourself from laughing out loud.

You were about to return to the task at hand of dusting the table but green eyes met yours. You had completely forgotten about him, given he basically abandoned you when you first met.

Asa Lindon.