The Cleansing Begins (2)

The grand hall of the palace echoed with the clattering of plates and the occasional thud of someone tripping over their own feet.

The "test" for the new girl—who Argider now learned was named Maeve—was in full swing, and it was already proving to be as entertaining as it was unorthodox.

Maeve stood at one end of the room, her wild ginger hair barely tamed into a loose braid and her cheeks flushed from nervousness. Her opponent? Agnes, the head maid-in-training, a stoic and sharp-eyed woman with an aura so intimidating it could cut glass.

"Begin the table-setting challenge!" barked Brimley, the butler, waving a hand dramatically like a game show host.

Argider, sitting on a cushioned chair off to the side, couldn't help but snicker at the absurdity of it all. This was hardly the formal recruitment process she envisioned, but it was entertaining.