Chapter 2: Audrey Frankie
The sound of hoofs rumbled across the Atalaric Kingdom. Hugo and his army spread the leaflets at high speed. The villagers received leaflets that fell from the sky.
"Maid Blind Selection"
The writing is clearly printed on the flyer. A man with a white beard got the flyer. Quickly, he read line by line in the leaflet. The flyer wrote clearly.
"Any girl who is still pure and has maid skills can apply. Whoever is chosen to be a royal maid, then she will be freed from the bondage of debt and royal taxes."
The sentence kept ringing in Loye Frankie's mind. Loye was a commoner who only took care of the noble land's fields. Instead, he can not pay royal taxes, just to make a living is difficult. In the fact, his debt to the kingdom was very huge amount. For four years he never paid the royal tax because his money not sufficient to paid it. Worringly, the royal penalty limit is this year. If the Frankie family were in arrears, one of them would be beheaded and witnessed by the people of the Atalaric kingdom.
A form of defiance against the Atalaric Kingdom.
With the flyer in his hand, Loye headed home.
"Where's Audrey?" he asked to his wife, then he put his farming tools in the corner of the house.
His wife, Barsha Frankie glanced at him, then replied, "Audrey is farming across the village. Maybe she'll be back this afternoon."
"Honey, I found this on the trail earlier."
"What's that?"
"Maid selection announcement."
Barsha stops her activities. He also read the announcement. At that moment she looked at her husband.
"What do you mean give this?"
"I want our eldest child, Audrey to be sent into maid blind selection. Because, this is the only chance for us to pay off the debt."
*
"DAD, DO YOU THINK THAT I WANT TO JOIN THAT RIDICULOUS MAID ELECTION?" cried Audrey when her parents asked her to become a royal maid.
At that time, Audrey had just returned from the fields in the opposite village. Her body was still covered in sweat and dirty. However, the hunger gnawing at his stomach was unbearable. So, when she came home, she washed her face and hands, then immediately rushed to the dining table. She ate the cheap rye bread, damn! It was so hard! When she tried to enjoy the horrible bread, her father made an announcement, that she had to register for the maid selection.
"Are you kidding me?" Audrey asked with a sharp look.
"No. I'm not joking. The selection is just a blind election. They don't look at your physique, but your skill and ability to win the prince's heart."
"I dont care! It is very disgusting. I don't want to be the servant of that evil prince."
Barsha, the mother heard Audrey's words. "HEY!! Be careful when you speak. You could be beheaded in the middle of the city with your venomous mouth!"
"Mom, Dad, I don't want to be that damn maid! Once they get in there, the prince could just lick the maid's body! We don't know!"
Hearing her eldest son's words, Barsha hit her son's back hard. "I told you, be careful when you speak. We don't know whether the neighbors hear or not. If the neighbors hear what you say, you could die!"
Audrey let out a long sigh. "Even when we are away from the prince, we are also haunted by his cruelty. Mom and Dad asked me to come there?"
BROKK!!
Loye pounded the dining table. He stood up from his seat. Loye's gaze turned so intense. "Audrey, you are the oldest child in this family. Pruistine and Nissim still need a lot of money. They are still young."
'Bastard!' Audrey yell it in her heart.
"We also have a debt to the kingdom. Can't you understand?"
Audrey exhaled. She know that her family have a big debt to the palace, but please, she didn't want to be a maid. She was disgusted by the maid girls who exalted beauty as everything. When they came home, they were so beautiful as a display.
Audrey was sure, while in the palace, they were all enjoyed by that bastard Rhysand. The prince slept with the maids, of course. Otherwise, why would Prince Rhysand so complicate the selection of maids?
"Disgusting."
"Audrey please understand it," this time it was Barsha who spoke pitifully.
"Fine. I'll take part in the maid selection. However, if I'm not accepted this year, I'll be living as freely as I want. Either farmer or being a jungle adventurer. I don't care." Audrey hissed.
"This is your father's last order before you grow up."
*
Audrey held tightly to her knee-high skirt. Damn, in this maid selection, they were all given uniforms upon entering the palace. They are not allowed to wear clothes from home. Feared, they brought objects that could harm the Prince's safety.
During her life, Audrey never wore a skirt. As the eldest in the Frankie family, she had to work. She has worked in the fields since she was twelve years old. It is very young age. Meanwhile, other girls are still learning to read and write.
While Audrey, never learned to read and write. She is illiterate. Audrey didn't care. As long as wheat bread is served on the family's dining table, that's more than enough.
"MAKE UP QUICKLY!" cried a woman so loudly.
She set the line. In the front of the prince's room, lined up beautiful girls. Their bodies were as soft as silk, shiny with white skin. Not only that, but also so graceful. They were all much more mature than Audrey. Obviously, they were twenty years old and above. While Audrey was still eighteen years old.
Audrey was one hundred percent sure, the prince would not choose her.
"NEXT!" the woman shouted again.
Okay, it was time for Audrey to enter the room.
Audrey put her hand on her chest. It was his father's last order. Before she would leave their family and be given freedom.
'Audrey, calm down.'
She just needed to mess things up and make Prince Rhysand ignore him. Then he will be free.
Holding on to that belief, Audrey Frankie, the youngest contestant in the maid selection, entered Prince Rhysand's room.
*
Hugo and the rest of Rhysand's palace maids were blindly handling the maid selection equipment. Hugo put up a jet black curtain in front of him.
"My lord Prince, allow me to explain the selection of this maid."
"Okay."
"A maid candidate will enter this room. The Prince is free to ask him anything. From there, the Prince can understand their character."
Rhysand showed his displeased face. "What if I want to see their faces?"
"My Prince, we will not be allowed to see it. So, I asked the Prince to ask to their heart, you can not think about their faces at all,"
Rhysand nodded. And…, the election begins.
Various kinds of women entered into the dark curtain booth in front of him. Their voices were high-pitched. Sometimes laughing teased him.
Unlucky. Nothing caught his attention.
Just as Rhysand was about to give up, a girl came into his room. The girl smelled of flowers and grass. The girl who carries the scent of summer. scorching sun.
Reflexively, Rhysand straightened himself. Her scent was so intoxicating.
Rhysand swallowed his own saliva. The scent lingered in his nostrils unbearably. "What's your name, sweet girl?"
"My name is Audrey Frankie."
*
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone