An Invitation To The Royal Palace

“Sh-Shirley! What on earth are you saying!?”

The moment I said I did not want to, Father cried out with his face gone pale.

“Huh? But Father, weren’t you two just trying to refuse a moment ago…?”

“Being invited to the royal palace is an unbelievable honor! And being allowed to serve His Highness the Prince is an honor beyond measure! F-for commoners like us to refuse such a thing…! M-my deepest apologies, Lady Claire!”

“She is an ignorant girl who knows nothing of the world. Lowly people like us sheltered our daughter far too much… Please forgive us, please forgive us…!”

With that, the two of them abruptly prostrated themselves and pressed their foreheads against the floor.

All I could do was stare blankly at them.

…Wait. Did I just seriously mess up?

Then Mother grabbed my hand, forcibly pulled me down onto my knees, and whispered into my ear.

“You idiot, Shirley, she serves at the royal palace…! The authority of the palace is absolute. Commoners like us don’t have the right to refuse! At worst, our whole family could be executed on the spot for insolence…!”

Eek. That was serious!

Right. Now that I thought about it carefully, she was absolutely right.

There were plenty of nameless extras in period dramas who got cut down for disrespecting their lord.

And in this particular scene, that nameless extra was me.

I had instinctively refused, but apparently the moment I was invited, I was supposed to say, “I humbly accept”!

“I-I’m terribly sorry!”

I hurriedly dropped into a full prostration beside my parents. My first prostration in this life.

After staring quietly at our pitiful forms for a moment, Lady Claire spoke in a calm voice.

“Enough. Raise your heads. I am not going to punish you simply because you refused. I merely have the privilege of serving at the royal palace myself. I have neither the authority to punish you nor any intention of forcing you.”

“I-is that so…? W-we are deeply grateful for your generosity…!”

My parents visibly relaxed.

I’m sorry. I’m sure I just shaved several years off both your lives. That was my fault.

As I thought that, Lady Claire continued.

“However, may I ask why you refused? Being allowed to serve food at the royal palace is among the highest honors imaginable. This is truly the first time anyone has ever turned me down.”

“Ah, well, that’s…”

Since I had just been terribly rude, I struggled to decide how I ought to answer.

Lady Claire then prompted me.

“You may answer honestly. There is no need to worry about my reaction.”

“Yes. Then, if I may… I only cook because I enjoy doing it for myself.”

That was my genuine, absolutely honest answer.

I cooked because I longed for the flavors of Japan, where I had once lived.

Everything I did was for myself. Nothing more.

“So cooking at the royal palace, and even serving His Highness the Prince, feels… somehow wrong to me. I only cook as a hobby. I’m not a professional chef.”

My dishes might certainly have been unusual, but I could hardly imagine them being worthy of serving to a prince.

And more importantly—

(If I’m stuck cooking for other people at the royal palace, I won’t have any time to research food for myself!)

That was right. I did not particularly enjoy feeding other people in the first place.

Everything I cooked was for my own entertainment. To me, that was what cooking was about.

Working at the royal palace might pay well. And admittedly, having lots of money would make my research much easier.

But if it cost me all of my free time, then there would be no point. That would defeat the entire purpose.

So if I had the option of refusing, this was an offer I wanted to refuse.

Therefore, Lady Claire, please try asking someone el—

“Then it cannot be helped. I cannot force you to work here against your will. Still, what a pity… Had you joined the royal palace, you would have had access to the finest cooking equipment and an abundance of ingredients, allowing you to research cooking to your heart’s content. I thought it would be a very attractive offer for you as well.”

“Lady Claire! I wish to begin working at the royal palace immediately!”

I sprang forward, seized Lady Claire’s hands, and declared it with delight.

…And just like that, my employment at the royal palace was decided.

“Wow! The royal palace is as beautiful as ever!”

Dragging a large bag behind me as I followed Lady Claire, I could not help raising my voice when we reached the palace entrance.

Yes. Having been completely won over by Lady Claire’s words, I hurriedly packed my belongings, said goodbye to my tearful parents, and arrived at the royal palace that very same day.

Please forgive me, Father, Mother.

I was the kind of woman who would descend into hell itself if it meant being allowed to continue my culinary research.

Now then, the royal palace was surrounded by castle walls, and its beautiful white exterior glittered beneath the sunlight, almost like a Dis○ey castle.

It looked as though an enormous mouse might come out to greet me at any moment with a bizarre laugh.

The gardens were meticulously maintained, and there were all sorts of statues standing around that I did not really understand.

And the size of the grounds! The Royal Palace of Eldoria was famous for its vast scale, and countless facilities stood throughout the estate.

Even with just a quick glance, the gardens stretched far into the distance.

As I gazed at this place that seemed to concentrate all the prosperity of our kingdom into a single location, my eyes sparkled and I could not help shouting inside my heart.

“Wonderful! So this is my home starting today!”

“This is not your home, Shirley.”

Crap. I said that out loud.

Lady Claire promptly corrected me as we entered the royal palace.

The interior of the palace was every bit as extravagant, with plush carpets, expensive-looking furnishings displayed everywhere, and some enormous paintings that were, well… extremely enormous. Such eloquence.

However, once we passed through those areas and headed deeper inside, the scenery abruptly became much less impressive.

As we walked through a clean but sparsely decorated corridor, Lady Claire spoke without looking back.

“The front sections are decorated that way to preserve the dignity of the royal palace, but His Majesty does not favor excessive extravagance.”

“I see.”

If the entire royal palace were decorated that lavishly, no amount of money would ever be enough.

There were plenty of stories about kingdoms declining because their rulers indulged in too much luxury, so moderation was probably important.

Eventually, we arrived at a hallway lined with many doors, and Lady Claire opened one of them.

“This will be your room from today onward, Shirley.”

“Wow! So this is my new home. How wond—”

I swallowed the word wonderful before I could finish saying it.

After all, this was a room in the royal palace, so I had imagined a spacious chamber with a lovely fireplace, elegant furnishings, and perhaps even a princess-style bed.

Instead, the room was… well… extremely small, with barely enough space to live in, a somewhat shabby bed, a token little fireplace, a chair and desk, and a full-length mirror. That was it.

Worse, the room was faintly grimy here and there, giving it the appearance of a broke university student’s apartment.

“…I admit I may have expected too much, but this is certainly a very modest room…”

“What are you talking about? You should be grateful that a maid receives a private room at all. Our royal palace is famous for its generosity even toward those of lower station.”

Was that how it worked? To me, this looked almost exactly like a slave’s quarters.

…Hm? Wait. I felt like Lady Claire had just said something that bothered me…

“Now then, you should not remain in your ordinary clothes forever. Hurry and change into that uniform.”

At Lady Claire’s urging, I looked over and saw some clothes laid out on the bed.

Aha. That must have been a chef’s uniform.

Well, as an invited cook, I supposed I had every right to wear it.

I was slightly worried about whether it would suit me, but I supposed I could humor them and put it on.

Humming cheerfully as I began changing, I soon found myself standing before the full-length mirror and screaming at the top of my lungs.

“…This is a maid outfittttttttttt!!!”

Yes. What had been prepared for me was what one would commonly call a maid uniform.

It had plenty of frills and had been designed to allow easy movement.

However, it was not one of those flashy, short-skirted outfits worn by the stereotypical maids in Japan, but rather a proper traditional one with a long skirt and subdued design.

“Oh my. It suits you reasonably well. You’re fairly attractive, so I thought it probably would.”

“This isn’t about whether it suits me or not!? What is this, Lady Claire!? Wasn’t I invited here as a cook!?”

I lunged toward Lady Claire as she spoke with perfect nonchalance.

Lady Claire looked surprised and replied.

“Who ever said such a thing? Why would we hire an inexperienced girl like you as a chef? The royal palace already employs renowned master chefs. How presumptuous.”

“But you invited me because you approved of my cooking, didn’t you!?”

When I protested with a desperate expression, Lady Claire sighed.

“You did not remember how I introduced myself, did you…? I told you that I was the head maid.”

Ah. Come to think of it, she had. Head maid.

In other words, Lady Claire was the boss of the maids.

…Wait. Which meant… No way…

“If the person responsible for managing the maids went outside to recruit someone, what position do you imagine that recruit would be given?”

“…A mai…d…?”

“Correct. I recruited you to become a maid. I assumed you understood that.”

“Nooooooooo! Then I won’t be able to coooooook!”

I wailed, nearly in tears. I’d been tricked!

So all that talk about researching cooking to my heart’s content had been a lie!

I was going to spend the rest of my life being worked to death as a maid in this palace without ever being allowed to cook…!

“Calm yourself, Shirley. You will still be able to cook. You are not going to be an ordinary maid. You will work as a culinary maid.”

“Huh…?”

Lady Claire spoke while I lamented my fate.

Culinary maid… That was not a term I had heard very often.

It was true that maids in Japan sometimes made omelet rice or other simple dishes too, I suppose. Though most of them seemed to just microwave frozen food.

But I could hardly imagine the palace maids serving food while going, “Moe moe kyun♡!”

…And in any case, I would die of embarrassment if I had to do something like that!

While I reeled in confusion with my thoughts spinning in circles, Lady Claire spoke solemnly.

“Listen carefully, Shirley. Here at the royal palace, meals for members of the royal family are normally prepared by the chefs. However, there is one exception… His Highness the Prince’s snacks.”

“His snacks…?”

“Yes. It is tradition in this royal palace for the prince’s snacks to be prepared and served by maids. For that reason, we bring in girls confident in their confectionery skills and have them constantly compete and improve themselves.”

“Ah, I see…”

Hearing that explanation, everything finally made sense.

In other words, because I made unusual sweets, I had been invited to become one of those culinary maids.

“Precisely. His Highness the Prince… Prince William, the sole prince of our kingdom. Our mission is to provide him with an enjoyable snack time.”

“Prince William… He’s the exceptionally intelligent prince currently acting in His Majesty’s place, correct?”

Yes. I had heard that Prince William was a child prodigy who had taken over the king’s responsibilities after His Majesty fell ill, despite being only ten years old.

Apparently, far from declining under the prince’s administration, the kingdom had become even more prosperous.

“Exactly. Lord William is now indispensable to our kingdom. Naturally, that means an enormous burden rests upon his shoulders. We must provide him with moments in which he can relax and enjoy himself. From now on, that will also be your duty.”

“Ah, so that’s what this is all about! Understood!”

I answered energetically as I swished the skirt of my maid uniform.

If that was all, then there was no problem. I knew countless sweets capable of delighting a child.

And when I looked at it that way, this maid outfit was not so bad either.

I would serve delicious sweets to His Highness at the palace, win his favor, receive a generous salary, and conduct all the research I wanted using someone else’s money.

Why, this arrangement was perfect!

“Woohoo! Yes! My dream life is finally beginning!”

My great joy, however, lasted only a short while.

“…Nobody told me I’d spend an entire month learning etiquette!”

And before long, that was what I found myself screaming.