I woke up shivering. The floor of the old granary was hard, and my back felt like it had been kicked by a horse.
I wiped the sleep from my eyes, my fingers still stained with the soot from the barn I'd burned down last night.
I just wanted to hide for a day. Just one day to figure out how to be a commoner.
Ding.
The sound was different this time. It wasn't the calm blue light. A harsh, bright red light filled the dark room, pulsing like a heartbeat. It hurt my eyes.
A red envelope sat on the screen. My curiosity was piqued. I tapped it, and my stomach dropped.
[FORCED TASK: CRUSH THE HEART OF AETHELGARD.]
[OBJECTIVE: MAKE THE HEAD WARRIOR, CASPIAN, FALL FOR YOU.]
I stared at it. I felt sick. Caspian? The man who had killed me in one of my past life? (Story for another day guys!)
The man who was currently hunting the person who burned down that barn?
"No," I said. "I'm not doing it. System, give me something else. Anything else."
I hit the screen, trying to swipe the task away. It didn't move. I hit it harder, my breathing getting fast and shallow. I tried for ten minutes to reject it, but the red text just sat there, mocking me.
I sat back against the wood, my head in my hands. I couldn't go back to the Palace. That place was a graveyard for me.
I remembered being seven years old. It was a feast night. I had spent hours making a small drawing for the King.
I thought if it was good enough, he might actually say my name. I waited in the hall, holding the paper until my hands sweated.
When the King walked by with his guards, I held it out. He didn't even slow down. He just kept walking, his heavy cape sweeping the drawing out of my hand and into a puddle of spilled water.
Caspian, even back then, had been at his side. He didn't look at me with pity. He looked at me like I was a bug he wanted to step on. I was a mistake to them.
A mistress's daughter who shouldn't exist.
Another notification popped up. This one was green.
[SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: ONCE HE LOVES YOU... KILL HIM.]
I stopped breathing. Kill the strongest man in the kingdom? The System was suicide.
But I had one life left. If I didn't follow the red prompts, I was dead anyway.
"Fine," I bit out. "But I need a new face. He saw me at the barn."
[CHANGING DISGUISE...]
My skin crawled. It felt like needles were poking my cheeks and forehead. I looked into a bucket of water nearby.
The girl looking back was plain. She had dull brown eyes and sallow skin. She looked like someone you'd see a thousand times and never remember. She was the perfect servant.
I used the Servant's Entry the System showed me. It was a dirty, narrow tunnel that led into the Palace kitchens. I walked in, grabbed a basket of old vegetables, and kept my head down.
"You! The new girl!" a woman yelled at me. She was the head maid, and she looked stressed.
"The King has a guest. Take this wine to the throne room. Now!"
She shoved a silver tray into my hands. My heart started thumping against my ribs. The throne room? My father was in there.
"I... I can't," I muttered.
"Go! Or you're fired!"
I took the tray. I walked through the halls I used to live in, feeling like a ghost. I saw Yar, the old gardener, trimming a plant in the hallway.
He was the only person who had ever been nice to me when I was a princess. I wanted to stop and talk to him, but I couldn't risk it.
I was so busy looking at Yar that I didn't see the man coming around the corner.
CRASH.
The tray hit the floor. The wine decanter shattered, and dark red liquid sprayed everywhere. It soaked into a pair of expensive black boots.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" I gasped, dropping to my knees.
I grabbed my apron and started scrubbing at the boots. I didn't look up. I kept my hair over my face, my heart racing so fast I thought I'd faint.
"I'll clean it! Please don't tell anyone!" I pleaded.
The man didn't move. He stood over me, his shadow covering me completely. He smelled like rain and cold metal.
"You're new," he said.
My blood turned to ice. I knew that voice. It was Caspian.
I kept scrubbing, my hands shaking. I felt his gaze on me. It wasn't a normal look. It felt like he was peeling back my skin.
"The wine doesn't matter, maid," Caspian said. His voice was very quiet.
I felt a leather-gloved hand reach down. He didn't touch me, but he was close.
"Look at me," he commanded.
I took a breath and looked up. My fake brown eyes met his silver ones. I tried to look bored, like a normal servant.
Caspian didn't look at my face. He looked at my right hand. My thumb was twitching. I'd done that since I was a kid whenever I was scared. I quickly looked back at the ground
He leaned down until his face was inches from mine.
"Lift your head up," he said, his hand grabbing my chin. He forced me to look at him.
"I want to see the eyes of the girl who dared pour wine over my armor."