So Merida left a map for me. Time to continue on the adventure! I walked towards Merida's office, which doubles as her room. For some odd reason, she sleeps on the desk. Specifically under the desk. It's a long desk, but she has her own room. Also, somehow she made her office look exactly like the one from the burned down mansion. I guess Speedy is just a really good architect? She's the one who does renovations. 

Turns out every single person in this house really likes having specialised rooms. Pretty much everyone has one or two extra rooms besides their own bedroom. The person with the most rooms is Merida, with too many to count. Meanwhile, May has the least, with only two. Wait… why did we give May rooms? She's a dragon. She doesn't need rooms. Eh, whatever.

As for me, I have a room specifically for drinking and making tea. The tea room. It's actually a shared room between me and Merry, but everyone else is free to use. My only other room, I use to specifically train new maids. The demon corps are in constant flux since many of them grow bored of the maid duties. At the same time, other demons get interested in being a maid for apparently a prestigious household. Usually my shadow clones are doing the teaching, but occasionally I take over whenever I'm free, bored, the tea has run out, and Mel has kicked me out of her room. She doesn't do that as often nowadays, though.

I walked into Merida's office to find Mel sitting on one of the chairs, eating a sandwich with one hand and holding a map in the other. "Oh, Madeleine." She took a bite of her sandwich. "I was looking at the map, and that damn soup sucker really wants us to go far. Granted, I've only looked at one mark, but it's a far mark."

"Like, Hamblin far?"

"Never that far. We'll go back to your hometown one day, okay bud, but not today."

"Aww…"

"So," she handed over the map, and I looked through, "You wouldn't happen to know what's happening with the war?"

"What? Why?"

"One of the places she's marked is Fort Lorparrel. Last I heard, that was the location of the last major battle."

I took a look at the map and saw a mark on the side of Fort Lorparrel, on the plains next to it. "It isn't the fort, though. It's the field next to it."

"That's the problem. That should be the battlefield," Mel sighed, "I could be sleeping, but instead, I have to deal with this shit."

"You can deal with that later. For now, let's deal with this one." I showed Mel the map and pointed at a mark in the middle of a castle, "It's a castle! I want to see it!"

"That's… that's the castle of Sacre Pla, where their royalty lives. What makes Merida think we can get there? Tell me where the third mark is."

I looked at the map, eventually finding it in the middle of a heavily green area, with its name in bold, bright red lettering. "It's in the middle of a place called Toxicity Itself."

"We're going to Sacre Pla."

Hey there, Madeleine here. I wanted to add the usual extra detail about myself, but I can't think of anything. In exchange, I'll say two different things next time. Mel and I have successfully infiltrated the castle. Well, I have. I'm currently in the castle's Royal Maid Dress and acting as a maid. I'm currently stationed in the kitchen, making tea and preparing sweets for one of the younger princesses. Man, my teacher was right. Say I'm a Maid School graduate, and you can get a servant job almost anywhere. Except for in Hamblin. You have to be kidnapped or a slave to get a servant job in Hamblin.

As for where Mel is… no idea. She told me I could handle this part on my own, saying then I could find her whenever we had to leave to go to war. She reckons that I'll do something in the castle that'll end up with me being sent near Fort Lorparrel and that I should pick her up when I do. The logical person in me says that's stupid, so it's fortunate there is no logical person in me.

"Make haste, new maid. The princess does not like it when her servants dally around, especially when it comes to her tea and sweets."

Guess I'm taking the stuff. I grabbed a tray, put a cup of tea and a plate of sweets on it, and made my way towards the princess' room. This reminds me of the times I had to infiltrate the homes of nobles back in Hamblin, except I did those at night and with easier clothes to sneak in. Speaking of clothes, this maid dress is really annoying. It's the type of maid dress with short sleeves and skirt, which means less space for hidden daggers, mask collections, or surprise dirt. I'm definitely discarding this dress… or maybe storing it inside my main Maid Dress. Collecting maid dresses sounds fun.

I arrived at the door, placed the tray on a small table beside it, and knocked on the door. It's routine to knock on the princess's door, place the sweets down, and then dismiss yourself. The actual maids and butlers of this castle say she dislikes the idea of any soul, even family, stepping foot into her room. I was about to make my way back to the kitchen when I heard a faint 'Come in' from behind her door. Ooh… an invitation.

I picked up the tray with one hand and then opened the door. I quickly closed the door, making sure no one saw me enter, and quickly examined her room. It was quite bare for a royal's private quarters. Just a simple bed, a simple wardrobe, and a simple table with two chairs. The floor is weirdly littered with cards, though, but then again, the cleaning servants aren't allowed in here to clean. The princess was sitting in one of the chairs, wearing a simple nightgown. I can see why she doesn't want anyone else in this castle to see the state of her room. It's the most unroyal thing I've seen in my life, besides that one day, the king of Druena came and visited Hamblin. What a terrible day.

"I welcome thee." The princess stood up and knelt towards me, "I am Princess Carte Grande, daughter of King Napo and Queen Impera, and the third in line for the throne."

"No need to kneel, princess. I am a servant. It should be I bowing." Oh man, I actually remember servant etiquette. Then again, I am a maid. I forget that sometimes. "What happens to be the reason for your summoning?"

"The cards reveal a lot to me," the cards on the floor started levitating, then all made their way towards the princess, circling around her. "I know you are not of this house nor this nation, but the motives behind your infiltration elude the cards and I. Your mind is nothing but confusion from mine perspective, so I have invited you to learn."

"Oh, so this is an interrogation." I made my way towards the table, setting down the tea and sweets, and then took a seat. "So like, I was sent here because there's a Sacred Power holder in this castle. Actually, I was given three options, and I chose this castle cause it was a castle, and castles are cool."

"You are surprisingly open. I expected resistance." She took a seat, grabbed a sweet, and ate it. "How can you be so sure there is a Sacred Power holder within this castle?"

"Because Merida said so, and she's always right. You might know her. Her title is The Seer."

"So the rumours of the Seer aiding that heinous Demon Empress are true. I assume thou have deduced I am the Sacred Power holder and thus now here to assassinate me."

"Eh? Assassination? Sure, it's part of my skill set, but that's not why I'm here. By the way, Merida ain't helping the Demon Empress."

"So why art thou here?"

"I just want to look in your eyes."

She started blushing. "W-why such a lewd thing? D-do you perhaps d-d-desire me?"

"Nope. Sorry, I'm infatuated with someone else."

A disappointed look appeared on her face before she returned to a neutral one. "Very well. If you will leave hastily as soon as you look into mine visage, you may peer into it."

"Deal." I leaned over the table to get a better look into her eyes. She hesitated for a bit, a light red blush filling her cheeks, before eventually making eye contact with me.

"If that is all, leave this nation. Your job here is done."

"Aye aye, princess!" I stood and walked towards the door. My hand was on the doorknob when the princess called out to me.

"Wait, are thou a graduate of that school of deceit and obedience?"

"If you mean the Maid School, then yes."

"That school, if I remember correctly, teaches its students to obey any and all Royal Decrees, right?"

"That is the case."

"Then I shall make a Royal Decree. Using my name as the First Princess of the Sacre Pla Nation, I, Carte Grande, command thou to save a displaced child from a faraway land who found herself near Fort Lorparrel. Bring her to my quarters safely, so I can mend mine heart."

"I, Madeleine, Sole Graduate of the Cursed Year, swear to uphold the Royal Decree, and blah blah blah, whatever the teacher said was the ritual. Something, something, bind my soul to this sacred order, lest I fail. Or some shit. Whatever it was." Chains appeared around my wrist. Man… what a nostalgic feeling. "Consider it done, Princess Carte." And off I went, to find Mel, and make my way to Fort Lorparrel to find the next Sacred Power holder and fulfil the Royal Decree. I'd rather not die, after all.

Character profile: Carte Grande

Sacred power: Card Magic

Favourite card: 7 of Spades

Description: The First Princess of the Sacre Pla nation. She is a member of the Sacre Pla royal family, which consists of her father, two older brothers, and a younger sister. She spends her days locked inside her room, with not a soul knowing what she does, nor when she will ever come out. Her shut-in life was caused by events that happened in her youth. When she was young, she attended the Luminescence Academy, a school that  was for children of the most influential people in the world. She just so happened to attend the year the Maid School was attacked by a Demon Lord. Said Demon Lord would go on to attack other schools, alongside his corp of corrupted maids. His final and biggest attack was on Luminescence Academy, widely considered one of the greatest tragedies in the history of Mendass, and the creation of the lands called Toxicity Itself, one of the 72 Calamities of Mendass.

Chapter namesake: Two of Hearts by Stacey Q

pojlk

So it turns out I've forgotten my own lore. If I miss a chapter release or two, then assume I've ended up devoting my entire mind to reading through everything then compiling it together into one convenient place. Although knowing myself, I'll probably forget that's something I want to do, and just end up forsaking a lot of things I've previously set up.