High Maintenance

On the other side of the Palace, Reina stretched her arms and mewled as she awoke from her long slumber.

Her eyes turned towards the window where she found that there were countless stars shimmering bright in the night sky.

'I slept for too long.' She realized that she had been in bed all day long.

After watching the King disintegrate that maid's body, she had lost consciousness and when she regained her senses, she was already in her room.

An old doctor had come to check up on her along with that insufferable man, Treegan Molt, who often scorned poor Rein every time they met.

After they left, Reina had recollected the memories of her past life.

These memories ended with her recalling how she had lost her life in the old world and somehow managed to move to this one.

She did not know whether Rein had transmigrated into her body as well or if her maid had found her dead body this morning.

Staring out of the window, Reina felt her eyes well up as she realized that she would never get to meet her sister and Rozella ever again.

'I hope you stay well.' She prayed for their well-being no matter what had happened to her body in that world.

Getting off the bed and walking towards the window, Reina stared at the stars with hope and prayers in her heart for the only two people she considered her family after the death of her parents.

"Hic..." She sniffled and hiccuped as tears streamed down her cheeks due to her heavy heart at the thought of being in a new place where she knew no one and could not depend on anyone here.

From the fragmented memories she gained throughout the day, she had realized that no one in this Palace liked Rein nor did she trust anyone here with her secret.

They were people she worked for or worked with.

She had no deeper connection with anyone around her which made Reina feel that she was more pitiful than herself in her previous world.

Since Rein had no friends, she thought of a different matter.

'Did Rein have a family somewhere?' She wondered if there was someone in this world who would mourn the death of the poor cross-dressing chamberlain who had lost her life due to the petty schemes of those Queen candidates.

At the thought of family, the face of that pretty lady she had seen in her memories popped up once again.

'Rein, your mom was a beauty.' She spoke to no one in particular.

A smile formed on her lips when she thought of that gentle lady, making her wipe away the tears that she had just shed.

She tried to pry open her crowded memory to find out more about Rein's family situation but it seemed like there was something blocking them.

The more she tried to concentrate and pinpoint the memories related to her family, the more her head hurt until she had no choice but to give up.

'I'll try some other time.' She sighed as hurting herself would not help her in any way.

The cold breeze hit her face and snapped her out of her thoughts, letting her gaze at the sight before her.

Her eyes scanned the view outside her window and found that she could, in fact, see in the dark.

'Well, at least something is according to the knowledge from my old world.' She scoffed as those movies and novels had misleading and inaccurate information, a few of which were proven wrong earlier.

The night was dark but for Reina, it was as though she was in a slightly dim room which made her squint to get a better view.

With her eyes narrowed into a squint, she had to focus on one area and she could make out figures of people walking around in the distance.

As her eyes roamed around to gaze at what was outside her window, she figured out that her window faced the back garden.

The area was so vast that if she was still a mere human, she would have to walk for hours to get to the end of the garden which just led into a thick forest.

According to the memories residing in her body, she knew that this garden was something the previous King had prepared for his wife whom he loved dearly.

Thankfully, King Zander was also impressed with this aesthetically pleasing garden and hence did not tear it apart once he was enthroned.

Her eyes could find a large and deep lake at one corner of the garden with a pavilion at its center.

'This was something that Meteor Sama's imposter built.' She recalled from her memories as he seemed to like the tranquility he found in that area.

The rose garden was another scenic spot along with the hedge maze and the thick trees that surrounded it.

Reina was impressed with how this place looked and as she continued to observe the new place, she was beginning to regain more of Rein's memories.

'It's troublesome that my memories get clearer only when I experience something related to it.' She rubbed her chin and pondered over her situation.

The sound of a door opening made her turn towards the room connected to hers.

'Is he back?' She wondered and received the answer in the next moment.

"Prepare my bath." The gruff voice of the King echoed in her ears which made her narrow her eyes.

From the parts that she had grasped until now, most of the orders that the King doled out onto Rein were in the form of what had happened just now.

She could hear his voice in her mind while no one else could.

However, what she was most thankful for was that he could not hear anything that was running through her mind.

'If not, then he would have detected that I'm not the original Rein within a second.' She gulped in fear when the memory of the maid ending up in just a splatter of blood came to her mind.

If he was this ruthless to someone who had just tried to harm his servant, how much more would he loathe and punish her for having tricked him for so many years?

'He won't even leave those drops of blood.' She shuddered as he might disintegrate her down to the very atoms to discard all traces of a Rein Melk from this world.

"Get to it!" The roar reaching her ears startled her as she had forgotten about his order while being lost in her thoughts.

Since she had not changed clothes since this morning, she was still in the Butler-styled uniform with just the outer coat missing.

However, she could not waste time in finding her coat as the King did not wish to be kept waiting any longer.

Therefore, she rushed towards the door and knocked on it twice before entering his room.

There she found the regal and stern King of the great Kingdom of Valanthur sitting on the couch with a file in his hand.

"Bath, bed, then clothes." King Zander gave out orders to his chamberlain before returning to his file.

Reina bowed before him and hurried to fix his bath after which she rushed back into the room for the next task.

She then began to fluff his bed along with his pillows since this King liked his mattress to be soft and his pillows, as light and fluffy as the clouds.

'High maintenance.' Reina rolled her eyes with her back towards the fussy King as she completed the second task assigned to her.

As he read his files, he glanced at his diligent chamberlain who was back to his usual routine even though he had been poisoned just yesterday.

'That is how it should be.' He nodded and watched how Rein ran to bring out his nightwear.

Reina stretched out her hands to pull the towels which were placed on the top shelf of the wardrobe.

This caused the shirt which had already been untucked due to her unruly sleeping posture earlier, to lift higher than needed.

The sight of her pale lower back was the first image the King caught when he raised his head from the file he had just completed reading.

Furrowing his brows, the man did not move his eyes away from her back as it traveled up to her hands which had finally grabbed onto the towel, allowing her to return to her normal standing position.

Unaware of the predatory tiger who had just caught sight of her exposed back, Reina rushed to complete her final task before she could leave this room.

Reina entered the bathroom and placed the towel there before she returned to fetch his nightwear.

King Zander's eyes flitted in her direction one more time and saw how she was bending over his bed to arrange his clothes there.

Once she was done, Reina bowed to the man before she exited his room and entered hers.

No words were spoken between them throughout this entire incident which was how it had always been.

Staring at the now shut door, King Zander could only shake his head in dismay.

'Look at how thin and fragile he is.' He scoffed at the thought of the thin waist that he had just seen.

If this continued then his chamberlain would be brutally annihilated once he starts training with his other aide, Treegan Molt who was known as a scary and relentless instructor.

Imagining the pitiful state that Rein Melk would soon be in, King Zander wondered if he could return unscathed after facing Treegan during training.

However, he understood that this was essential for Rein's development so he shrugged off the thought of pitying him and went ahead to soak in his warm bath.