Chương 25: Night surveillance

The celebration inside the palace ended with a ceremony. The woman who won the lottery was welcomed in the palace.

She knelt in front of the throne as she gladly took her own life. Blood splattered on the floor as witnessed by the royals.

And in her funeral, she would wake up into an entirely different world.

***

Alyssa's under eye was puffy from attending the ceremony. The funeral took the whole night to end. Unlike Barn's ceremony, the woman took her time to rise from the dead.

Princess Alyssa's chamber was a mess. There were dirty dishes on her table, her makeup was sprawled on her vanity table, and her bed was unmade. No attendant was able to clean her room for they were busy with the festivities.

Alyssa did not mind the mess as she threw herself on the bed. She was still wearing her floral dress from the funeral, her makeup not removed. She was too tired to take a shower.

She was about to fall asleep when there was a soft knocking on the door.

"Later," Alyssa mumbled. "come back later."

"Princess," Barn knocked on her door. "it's me."

Alyssa buried her face on her blanket before she dragged herself on the door and opened it for Barn.

Barn was welcomed by a very disheveled Princess.

"Barny." Alyssa welcomed Barn with a hoarse voice. "It's always nice to see you." She hugged him tight.

Barn observed the Princess at arm's length. "Were you about to sleep in those?"

"No," Alyssa turned away from Barn as she sat on the round table. "I'm about to take a shower."

"Really?" Barn followed the Princess and sat beside her. He noticed her lipstick was smeared on the side.

"Yes, really." Alyssa blinked a few times to force her eyes open. "What brings you here?"

"I'm sorry." Barn was holding a file of papers on his hand. "You're tired."

Barn participated at the funeral too, but he felt fine. He assumed that the Princess, who was younger than him, would feel the same too. It was not surprising how your lifestyle would immediately change once you are turned.

"No, It's okay Barny." Alyssa finger-combed her hair. "Is there something wrong?"

"Actually," Barn slid the papers to Alyssa. "I want you to take look at these and make the final decision."

Barn gave her three pieces of papers, they looked like resumes of some sort.

Alyssa rubbed her eyes to read the papers. "What is this?" On the papers were the list of the applicants' previous jobs and accomplishments.

"Choose one," Barn urged Alyssa. "One of them is going to be your attendant."

Alyssa compared the three but none of the resumes particularly stood out for her, they all seemed similar to her. "Barny, anyone is fine with me." Alyssa lifted her eyes to Barn and smiled. "None of them is you anyway." She slid the papers back to Barn. "Just pick anyone for me. I entrust you with this decision as the chief royal attendant."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Alyssa yawed.

"Okay, if you insist." Barn picked up the papers and stood up. "I'll choose the best among these, but I'm warning you…"

"What?"

"Don't expect them to be as patient as me."

"Barny, I know that. No one would be better than you."

Barn chuckled. "I'll leave you to rest, princess."

Since he was already here, Barn picked up the dirty dishes with him.

"Thank you Barny."

Barn opened the door but turned around to face Alyssa one last time. "Princess?"

"Yes?"

"Make sure to take a shower before you go to sleep, okay?"

"Of course," Alyssa blinked rapidly. "I'm not a kid anymore, Barny. I can take care of myself."

"Good night, princess." Barn glanced one last time at the Princess' room, it had never been this messy when he was around.

"Good night, Barny.��

Barn locked the door as he exited the room.

After making sure that Barn was gone, Alyssa slid back---face first--- into her bed as she stared at the side.

It was too bothersome to take a shower, she decided to lie down first.

Alyssa stared at the dagger on her bedside table. It was left there ever since Ziloh gave it to her.

Too bothered to move, Alyssa stretched her hand as she reached for the dagger with the tip of her finger. She crawled her fingers further as she struggled to grab it on her hand.

She turned around as she observed the dagger.

It had a black leather hilt, comfortable on the hand. It was perfect on her grip as she swiveled it in the air. Intricate runes were engraved on the side of the blade. The tip of Alyssa's finger traveled at the sharp edge of the blade, but she was not cut at all---it was blunt.

'Probably only for decoration purposes.' Alyssa thought.

But Alyssa remembered Ziloh carrying it before when he was allegedly protecting her, cutting a part of her hair.

She then grabbed her comforter and stabbed it with the dagger. The dagger went through.

'Or not? A very unusual dagger. Mysterious, just like his previous owner.'

It was a beautiful dagger, but what fascinated Alyssa upon close observation—as her eyes turn to slits --- was that it glinted red for a second. The familiar color brought her comfort.

The color reminded her of Ziloh's eyes.

Alyssa had no idea what the gift meant, nor what it symbolizes. Maybe it was a collector's item. But Alyssa was not interested with weapons, nor can she wield one. She had to ask Ziloh for an explanation.

Alyssa returned the dagger back to the bedside table.

She closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep--- with her floral dress and makeup of course.

***

Maya gets along with everybody not because she was friendly, but because it was part of her job. And because of her connections, she knew all the gossips running around the palace. She knew that the chief was favored by the Princess, so getting closer to him would be a good plan.

If the plan was to kidnap the Princess, that is.

Maya was happy with the leader's plan. The slumps had always been in the shadows, the observers. But they never did something actively before. Well, until now.

Maya had been keeping an eye on Barn. She saw him carrying a folder as he visited the Princess. She had a feeling that it had something to do with the hiring of the attendants.

And her instinct was right.

Barn gathered them around after his visit to the Princess. It was a very late evening. Everybody was tired from the long workday.

"I have good news for you," Barn beamed at the attendants. "We will have a batch of new workers within the week."

The attendants clapped in delight.

"I know it's hard," Barn crossed his hands on his back. "But I'm asking you to endure the workload for a few more days. When they arrive, expect that all of you will be placed back to your original posts."

The attendants nodded happily from the promise.

The announcement only meant one thing for Maya; the list was finalized.

Upon her observation, Maya was certain that the list was kept on Barn's office. All she had to do was to make sure that Elion's name---Eli Kaiser--- was on the list. If not, she would have to replace someone's name with his.

The attendants dispersed to rest for the day, but Maya stayed. She followed Barn closely behind.

Maya ambushed Barn in front of his office.

"Sir," Maya smiled. "I'm just curious if my friend made it."

"What friend?"

"Eli Kaiser, the one I recommended."

"Eli Kaiser…" Barn pondered for a moment. "Don't worry about your friend, he got the job."

Maya smiled. "Thank you, sir."

Barn patted Maya's shoulder. "No problem."

Maya made sure Barn was out of the vicinity before she turned the knob of his office---it was locked. She can let it go and leave it to chance. But she cannot trust the words of a zombie, she needed evidence.

She gave up on opening Barn's office for now, it would be better to infiltrate his office when other attendants were sleeping.

***

It was three in the morning and Maya was still awake. She listened to her roommate, snoring loudly. Thankfully, her roommate was in deep sleep from exhaustion. She immediately rose from her bed without alerting her roommate.

She took a hair pin and snuck out of her room, barefooted. One benefit of this outdated palace was that it was easy to infiltrate. Not one CCTV was around to record her every move. She was safe as long as no royal would bump into her.

She walked silently at Barn's office and saw that the lights inside were off. She looked on both sides before she picked on the door.

It took her a minute or two to open Barn's office. But thankfully, no one walked on the hallway and managed to open it without getting caught.

Maya opened the knob slowly--- making sure not to make unnecessary noises. She walked straight to Barn's table, the most probable place to keep the list. Her instinct was right, what she was looking for was there. She took the paper and a pen from the table.

It was very dark, but she cannot take the risk to open the lights. She read the paper near the ajar door. Maya scanned through the list with very minimal light. The list was arranged by division---from mess patio to kitchen etc.

Maya was about to remove a random guy from the list and replace it with Elion's name. But when she reached the bottom of the list, she read his name clearly. He was the only one assigned in that division, he was assigned to the Princess.

Maya smiled in the dark.

She was surprised to see that Elion did not need her help at all. Elion was indeed their best man. He always does his job well, and this mission was no exception. His position was perfect, Maya need not to alter the list after all.

Elion did better than expected.

Elion was one step closer to his mission.

She made sure to place the paper and pen exactly where she found it and locked the door of Barn's office.

She was about to go back to her room when she saw the light on the kitchen. She was in a good mood. She was out of her room anyway, might as well roam around the palace for further surveillance.

She peeked at the kitchen and saw that it was empty, so she walked confidently inside.

Maya's job in the palace was to be a concierge or a server.

But because of the lack of personnel, she was forced to do jobs not within her line of work. She may be assigned at the kitchens earlier today, but she was not as familiar with the kitchen as compared to other places. This might be a good opportunity to look around. She opened the refrigerators and a few cupboards just to snoop around.

She found nothing unusual.

She heard Barn's voice from the other area of the kitchen--- the night kitchen. She was specifically warned earlier today that attendants were forbidden to enter that area. The night kitchen was only open every night. Maya may not have another chance to look around this area in the future for she was not assigned at the kitchen, so she pushed her luck and looked further inside.

Maya went in closer as she sneaked in the night kitchen and crouched on one of the counters, making sure that she was perfectly concealed from the view.

"Are the royals well fed?" Barn asked the night chef.

"Yes, everything was fine. Cliff, loved the main dish as usual."

"Good, it's time for us to eat too. I'm starving, the day was long."

Barn and the night chef headed at the pantry and returned after getting some ingredients.

The night chef began to cook. "We have to make sure everything is fresh for the royals. Especially the Queen likes them when they are freshly harvested." The night chef opened a fridge to get some ingredients. "But frozen foods are enough for us."

The pair enjoyed their food at the counter-top. They turned off the lights and immediately left the night kitchen after eating. Maya's legs were numb for squatting for too long. She waited for a few more minutes before she stood up, just to make sure.

She rummaged through the marble counter-tops and cabinets, she tried her best even in the dark. She was looking for something unusual, but it looked like a normal kitchen to her.

But the similarity of the morning and the night kitchen changed when Maya opened one of the fridges.

The light from the fridge illuminated the night kitchen as it revealed the storage filled with brain meats. Maya was not surprised with this. She knew that they had party dinners during the night when everybody was asleep. She opened the second fridge and it had exactly the same content as the first one.

She opened the third fridge nonchalantly, expecting the same.

But her whole body convulsed as she opened the door fridge. She took a few steps backwards as she covered her mouth to keep herself from screaming.

Shen went straight into the sink on the counter-top and vomited until her stomach was empty.

A whimper escaped from her as she slid on the ground, her knees losing strength.

The fridge was filled with severed heads--- human heads piled up from each other. Each were carefully covered with plastic wraps.

But they were not just any humans, some faces were familiar to Maya. They were the same attendants that were imprisoned together with her. All of them were beheaded and their heads was perfectly preserved. Seeing the few familiar faces, many were probably already eaten.

But out of all the heads was someone she knew well.

At the center of the fridge was a set of eyes---open---as if bewildered from shock. The pair of eyes was staring right into the soul of Maya.

It was the severed head of Jack.

She entered the den of monsters.

"No." Maya cried silently. "I'm sorry."

Maya sat there for a long time, until her tears went dry.

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