6. Emma.
"Follow me," Amelia relayed as she walked to the door. Damien squinted at me as I walked past him but I only avoided his eyes.
Maybe he was trying to intimidate me in some way, because I was the new rookie.
It was only after we had walked past four corridors and climbed two flights of stairs that Amelia spoke to me.
"Your name is Emma?" She stopped in front of a large door, her back to me.
I nodded quickly. "Yes, it is."
Amelia glanced at me, with a curious frown on her face. "What is your relationship, with the Alpha?"
Her question was so random, that I twitched my neck. It tilted my neck awkwardly and she must have seen it. "Sorry, I don't understand."
"Forget I asked about it, come in." She walked into a large room.
"Okay..." I muttered and followed.
We stopped in a giant locker room and she gave me her full attention. "My name is Amelia, I'm not the head maid or anything if you are wondering. I'm just the girl that cleans the Lord's room and living area." she introduced herself and spoke like she was exhausted. Now that I got a clear look at her, she wasn't far from my age—if she were older, possibly two years or four years and nothing else.
"You will be my assistant and—" she stopped and fiddled with a locker, unlocked the door and reached inside to reveal a uniform—a black dress.
"About time I finally had someone clean with me, I was thinking of quitting a while back but the Lord pays really well and he's a nice guy overall. The problem is he forgets to do what I ask him, like getting me a partner—" she walked across the locker room, giving me a tour of the place.
I followed silently, as she led me out of the locker room and stopped before a large door in the corridor. Two guards at the entrance suddenly made way, and Amelia nodded as she walked through. I felt nervous as I strutted past them, their eyes trained on me like I was some kind of alien.
"Don't mind them, they will eventually get used to seeing you." She pushed the door and waited, a sigh for me to continue inside.
"Oh," I let out as I followed after her. I slowly stopped in my tracks as I took in the grand splendour of the master bedroom.
It was at least one and a half times larger than the dining room back in the orphanage, if my memory did me justice, and the ceilings were very high up. A large golden chandelier was suspended in the centre of the room, with a bed at the far corner. Despite the luxurious feel to the room, it was clear that Alpha Mason liked a minimalist approach to his room, going with mostly white colours, and a little black at the corners and ends.
In all that space, only the bed, the chandelier and the desk at the bedside were the notable large objects.
"This is where, the cleaning materials are kept," Amelia's voice echoed. She stood before a closet with a black door in the wall. "I guess I will be on bathroom duty, while you clean his living area."
I turned and clenched my teeth in dread. "Clean all this, alone?..."
"Yeah." She closed the door and walked past me to the toilet. She went about unbothered as if cleaning the large bedroom with a broom was normal.
She glanced at her watch. "Ah, it's getting late. We don't have much to do today anyway. Did you bring your things?" She stared at me.
I shook my head. "No, I thought I would go home and come here every morning—"
"What?"
"I thought I would—"
She rolled her eyes. "What's your name again?"
"Emma."
"Evangeline I—"
"Emma, the name's Emma." I corrected her immediately.
"The problem is, you have to be here so early and you have to leave so late. Going to and fro is out of the question."
I thought hard about it. "Are you saying I should rent an apartment close by?" I barely had enough money to survive the month.
Amelia slapped her face, rubbing her hands on her face before she moved closer. "How old are you, Emma?"
I was embarrassed by her question. "I'm—I will be twenty in a few months—"
"Nineteen it is. That explains a lot," she said. "You will have to live here, Elsa—Emma."
My eyes lit up. "But, I can't. This is the royal palace."
"Sheesh, grow a backbone. I'm trying to help you here. There's a literal living quarter. You will have to stay here with me while you work. Don't worry, we do get days off so we can ship in the market when we need to."
I felt nervous about it. Apart from my apartment, I have never stayed anywhere else before. But this was an opportunity like never before.
"Fine, I will do it."
Amelia briefly clapped and suddenly brought out an envelope from her clothes and handed it to me. "That's your contract. Your pay and everything is written there, you read and sign it when you are done, then hand it to me." She folded her arms and rested against the wall.
Now that I got a closer look at her, she didn't seem that bossy. She seemed pretty confident in herself and didn't want to get bothered much.
I opened the envelope and Amelia pointed at the bedside table. "I will only allow it this time. Don't do it when he's around."
I nodded and went to the table, brought out a pen and read the details. My eyes went wide as I counted the number of zeros for my base pay, with allowances aside.
Amelia has started whistling a tune, while staring at the door.
I swallowed and blinked several times. It was twice the money I made from my previous job in a year! I signed with shaky hands and returned the contract to the envelope, then handed it to Amelia.
"You took your time? You like the pay? Is it too little?" She cocked her brow. "You can talk, I will try and convince management to increase it—"
"Oh no, it's more than enough!" I smiled nervously.
She raised her brows and nodded slowly. "Right. Go home and prepare yourself. We resume at six tomorrow."