Malyn scratched her head. The princess’s maids were required to wear a small, triangular hat, and combing her hair thoroughly each morning so that it would fit properly had become the most difficult part of her routine since she joined the castle’s servants. Her forehead was full of stray hair, making it difficult to pull it back neatly.

Even now, a few strands had escaped from under the hat and tickled her forehead. Malyn removed the hat and looked around for a place to fix her hair. The maids’ quarters were at the back of the castle, and it would take far too long to walk from the stables to the quarters and then to the princess’ chambers.

After looking around, Malyn found an empty cloister garden. Inside the stone cloister was a small fountain and a flower bed, a discreet place for her to remove her hat without being seen.

Malyn approached the fountain and checked her reflection. She must have been jogging on her way to the stables, for several strands of hair had come loose. She took off her hat and placed it by the fountain, then untied her tightly bound hair and scratched her scalp. The release felt refreshing after wearing the hat all day. Just then, sunlight broke through the clouds and streamed into the cloister, casting a warm light over her.

Her dishevelled hair made her face even more vivid in the reflection of the fountain’s water. Malyn paused, studying herself. In her last memory, her cheeks had been hollow and the skin under her eyes sunken, but it was remarkable how much had changed. After only a week of good food in the castle, her face looked almost presentable.

Scratching her head, Malyn reflected on how strange life could be. Only a month ago, she’d woken at dawn, crouched by the fire to prepare food for the cattle, and often dozed off as part of her daily routine. Now here she was, dozing off in front of a princess.

‘Is my situation a bit better now?’

Malyn shook her head at the thought. When she used to doze off while cooking cattle feed, she would often fall forward and end up singeing her bangs in the embers. Now, when she dozed off, she scraped her knees. What was the point of trying to decide whether singed bangs were better than scraped knees?

“What are you doing?”

A cold voice interrupted her thoughts. Startled, Malyn jumped and turned to see the blonde princess standing in the cloister, accompanied by two maids. Only then did she remember that the princess had planned to visit the stables soon. Like a frightened bird, Malyn flapped her arms and made a hasty grab for her hat, but then thought better of it and dropped to her knees, bowing low to the ground.

“I have committed a grave offense!”

“…I’m not here to receive an apology. I asked what you were doing.”

Malyn cautiously raised her head, squinting slightly against the bright sunlight. The princess, who had been watching her, tilted her head with a curious expression.

For some reason, at that moment, Malyn found herself captivated by the sight of the princess’s pale, thin face, slightly tilted to the side. She was momentarily lost in thought until the princess frowned, bringing her back to the present. Malyn hastily began to explain.

“I—I couldn’t possibly appear before the princess in such a disheveled state, so I was fixing my hat by the fountain—”

“I understand.”

The princess didn’t even wait for Malyn to finish before moving on. The two maids gave her a scolding look before following the princess. Malyn straightened her shoulders, picked up her hat from beside the fountain, and hurried to fall in step behind them. Dusting the dirt from her knees and skirt, which had been soiled by her low bow, was a pain, and even the ends of her loose hair were covered in dust.

‘When I was cooking cattle feed, nobody cared if I got dirty or wore my hat the way I liked.’

But Malyn soon changed her mind. Having two meals a day, including white bread and porridge with honey, was definitely a good thing. What was the harm in a little nagging if it came with white bread? The honey porridge was so delicious that it was worth scraping her knees ten times over.

After the princess rode out on her horse, Paradi, Malyn shared the sesame-sprinkled bread with the other maids. One of the knights who had stopped by the stables had given it to them as a treat. Malyn thought that she was quite happy with her job after all.

“Could there be a better job?”

There was. But at that time Malyn had no idea.

* * *

Malyn soon discovered why, despite her lowly status, she hadn’t encountered any hostility from others after becoming the princess’s maid.

“You’re an orphan, aren’t you? So that’s how you ended up as the princess’s maid?”

These words were spoken by one of the maids. In the small castle of Dion, girls Malyn’s age quickly became friends, and the laundry maid, who felt sorry for Malyn because she looked like a clueless country girl, told her all sorts of things.

At first, Malyn wondered if there was some strange tradition in the royal palace that only allowed orphans to serve as the princess’s maids. But the real reason turned out to be far more convincing.

Princess Layla was about to enter into a political marriage. And not just any marriage – she was to become Queen of Veldam, a kingdom rumoured to be cursed by a witch.

The curse of the King of Veldam was so infamous that even Malyn, who had spent much of her life on the streets, had heard it countless times.

It was said that the King of Veldam was cursed from birth. On the day he was born, a witch appeared at his cradle and declared: “Until the prince hears the cry of his first child, if he shows his face to anyone other than his mother and father, all who see him will cough up blood and die instantly!

From infancy, the prince, bound by the witch’s curse, grew up with his face hidden. At first his face was covered by a veil, but a maid, curious to see him, secretly tried to lift the veil. She was caught and beaten to death. From then on, the prince wore a mask of gold until he became king.

Veldam was a vast kingdom, with three vassal states and six powerful lords who swore allegiance to the crown. Dion, where Malyn lived, was also a vassal state of Veldam.

The princesses of the vassal states were chosen as potential queens, but none of them ever managed to become one. When the king was still a prince, one of the princesses chosen as his consort committed suicide on the very night she was forced into his bedchamber. Years later, marriage negotiations began with another princess from another vassal state, but she too claimed illness, was unable to leave her bed, and eventually the marriage negotiations broke down.

“”Even if the marriage was forced, is there really a reason to go so far as to end her life? After all, marriage is only something that parents decide.” Malyn asked, gnawing on a turnip she had pulled from the ground. The maid silenced her, motioned for her to lower her voice, and then whispered.

“That may be true for ordinary people like us! But can princesses, raised so tenderly in the palace, really endure a king as cruel as he is?”

“Cruel?”

Malyn’s eyes widened. The maid snapped, “What do you know?” before lowering her voice to a whisper.

“Imagine how hard it must be to live every day in a mask. Maybe that’s why his cruelty is beyond words!”