"Wear this." stepmother Nam Woohyun said as she threw a dress towards me.

I caught the dress just in time and I examined it. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to me that it was a maid's uniform, but I was still shocked.

I mean I know she's treating me like a slave, but she wants me to look like one too? That's totally barbaric.

I inhaled deeply trying to dissipate my frustration against my stepmother.

'It's just a dress. This dress does not define me.' I keep on repeating to myself like a mantra as I grabbed the dress and tried it on.

Good thing it fits perfectly with my slender curves. I look great. In fact, I make the dress look more expensive than what it actually is.

Come to think of it, if I really wanted to go to the ball, I could wear any dress or gown and I'm sure I would be able to pull it off. I can even make heads turn if I want to.

I'm not trying to be boastful or anything, okay? I'm just simply being honest here (okay, maybe I'm just trying to console myself so I wouldn't wallow in self pity).

It's bad enough that she wouldn't let me go to the ball, she made it even worse by making me wear something to remind me of what I have become: her personal maid.

---

I was cleaning the living room, humming my favorite working song again, when I heard a knock from the door.

Weird. Stepmother never had visitors and neither did I.

When I opened the door a man wearing a palace guard uniform greeted me.

"Greetings. We would like to inform you of proclamation no. 101; which states that, in anticipation of the prince's 21st birthday, all housemaids or house helpers from all the households within the sovereignty of the kingdom shall be required to assist in the preparation of the banquet."

"In line with this, we request that atleast one maid in your household will come with us to the palace."

I just stared at the guard after hearing the proclamation. We don't have a maid to let the palace borrow.

Sorry, but I don't consider myself a maid even when I'm currently being treated as one.

"Good day, sir." I started after thinking for a bit.

"As much as we would like to follow the the king's orders, my stepmother and I currently don't have any maid in our household."

The palace guard looked at me as if I was telling him a joke and he doesn't find it funny at all.

"Excuse me miss, but clearly, you are wearing a maid's attire."

I looked at my dress and remembered what my stepmother made me wear.

"Oh, right." was all I managed to say.

"Don't worry young lady. We will give all housemaids a fair pay and a proper room to stay for the time that they will be at the palace. We will also provide good food and ample amount of rest time."

'Fair pay? Proper room? That sounds like a great idea, but he got me at 'good food' and 'rest time'.' I thought to myself.

"Sungjongie! What's going on down there?" Stepmother Nam shouted from upstairs.

"The palace guards from the castle are here, stepmother! They said I need to come with them!" I shouted back (so she could hear me).

"What??" she shouted before she went straight towards where I was.

I have never seen my lazy stepmother move that fast before.

"What is going on here?" Stepmother Nam asked calmly seeing as there were really guards outside.

The palace guard went on to explain the proclamation to her.

"What if I deny the request?" she asked instead of what I said earlier (about us not having a household maid). I guessed she also assumed that she had a maid, and that maid is me.

"The proclamation states that if ever the owner of the household will not let their housemaid serve in the castle, the owner of the household will be the one to serve in the castle."

Stepmother Nam looked horrified upon hearing the consequence.

"Fine." She begrudgingly agreed.

She shoved me out of the door and said "Here, take her with you. She's useless anyways."

I'm happy that I get to go to the palace and have good food and rest there, but I'm a bit hurt being called 'useless' by my stepmother. Even if she was cruel, and even when I always complain behind her back, I still do my best everytime I serve her so that one day she would appreciate all the things I've done for her and finally accept me as her daughter.

When my stepmother closed the door, that's when I knew I was really going to serve in the palace.

But wait.

I still haven't packed.

"Sir, I'm sorry but I haven't packed anything yet." I told the palace guard.

"Don't worry miss, we will provide you with everything you need at the castle." the guard told me and ushered me towards one of the royal carriages.

I just followed him and he helped me climb up the ride.

Wow. I feel like a princess.

Is this how they treat maids at the palace? If it is, then I want to be an official maid there.

---

The trip to the palace wasn't long, the journey to the different households was. When we finished visiting the last household, the carriages turned around and made their way back to the palace.

When we arrived, I was amazed by the wonderful sight that is the kingdom's castle. I've always seen it through my view from the attic but I've never seen it this close before.

If the outside looked great, what's inside was even more majestic. Everything looked expensive. The jars, the figurines, the furnitures, the gold decorations, everything captured my eyes. Our king must be really rich. I wonder what it's like to wake up and always see your house like this?

When we were done sightseeing, we were assigned to our different tasks.

Some were assigned to tend to the royal garden where most of the guests will be welcomed. Some where assigned to help in the kitchen to prepare the royal plates and utensils that will be used. I, on the other hand, was solely assigned to clean the prince' room.

I mean how hard can it be, right? I'm used to cleaning now anyway.

I went to the direction the palace maids directed me to and I easily spotted the door to the prince' room. There was no other door around.

I knocked at first, thinking that the prince might be inside, but then, no one answered so I figured that it was better to clean it now if the prince isn't around.

Bringing my cleaning materials, I entered the room carefully. I was again amazed at what I saw inside. The room was as huge as a whole house! I'm not comparing it to my house though. My house is quite big as well, so I'm comparing it to an average commoner's house.

As much as I loved looking around in wonder, I couldn't help but question, how come they didn't assign anyone else to clean it with me? How many days do they expect me to finish cleaning this?

After a while, I figured complaining wouldn't get the job done, so I decided to start with the bed; I plan to replace the sheets and pillowcases with new ones.

I was too busy removing the very heavy comforter tucked tightly around the bed that I didn't hear someone come out from another door (most likely the bathroom door) inside the room.

"Excuse me." The voice sounded familiar that it made me turn around.

"You?" We both said at the same time.

"What are you doing here, Myungsoo?" I asked, shocked to find Myungsoo inside the prince' room.

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking confused.

It just dawned on me that he was only wearing a bathrobe. My eyes widened and I turned around covering my eyes.

"Why are you in a robe?! What do you think you're doing? Wearing only that, inside the prince' room?!"

"You really don't know, don't you?" He asked me as if I should have known something a long time ago. He should be panicking now that I've discovered him and that the prince could come any moment now.

"What I do know is that you're almost and you could get in big trouble if the prince sees you."

Instead of being worried, I hear him laugh hysterically behind me.

What is wrong with this guy? Is he crazy? It's a shame that he has that good looking face but has some sort of mental illness.

"You're really one interesting lady. I was really disappointed that I didn't get your name last time. May I humbly ask for the name of the lady I'm intested with?" The way he asked was so gentlemanly (is there such an adjective?!), I couldn't help but blush. Is he asking for my name? Am I the interesting lady he is talking about? I guess, because nobody else is in the room. If I'm not, it would be really embarrassing for me to tell him my name when he actually means someone else.

"Are you asking for my name?" I asked to be sure.

"Yes, my lady." Myungsoo smiled handsomely (I mean how else can I describe that smile?!).

I was about to tell him my name when I turned around and remembered that he was still in a bathrobe.

"Yah! Can you please put on some decent clothes before I tell you my name!" I screamed turning my back from him.

"Oh, sorry about that." He said and I heard some shuffling behind me.

"I'm all dressed." He said after some time. "You can face me now."

When I turned around. I saw that he was dressed in simple white clothes that looked very much like pajamas but he made it look expensive and fashionable.

"M-my name is Sungjong." Why did I stutter?! I'm just telling him my name. I don't know why I let him know about my name so easily but I feel like I could trust him (or more like I wanted him to know my name because he is handsome).

"Sungjong." He spoke my name and smiled as if he finds my name so amusing.

"Are you assigned to clean the prince' room, too?" I asked after giving it some thought and also to ease the awkwardness I feel because he didn't say anything else after he said my name. How else can Myungsoo be in this room, right?

He seemed to think deep before answering me.

"Hmm. I guess you can say that."

"So shall we start cleaning now?" We really should start cleaning now.

"We can do that later. Why don't we have a tour of the palace first?" He asked. And before I could protest, he already grabbed my arm and we went towards the door.

---

A/N: Wow. It's been almost 2 years since I last updated this. :o