MATED TO THE ONE I HATE

CHAPTER 2

Third-Person POV

Ruby could be seen standing outside the Grand Palace while passing through the various security protocols.

Once they were done checking her bags, they gave her a pass card and sent her further into the palace.

On getting to the next Protocol stand, she showed them the card given to her by the previous guards, and they let her through.

Ruby couldn't help but gaze in amazement at the high-end structure before her.

It was just like the castle her Foster grandma told her about back in her hometown.

Ruby always wondered what the castle of the werewolf royalty would look like.

Her foster grandma always made sure to explain the castle to her and assured Ruby that she was a Princess and someday, she was going to have her own castle.

After Ruby had lost her mother, she roamed around the street for days, hungry and tired. She was found by a simple old woman who fell in love with her and took care of her till she was 17.

Ruby believed that the woman struggled too much and that was why her body gave up on her.

She missed her grandma so much. How wouldn't she? When the woman whom she wasn't even related to had made sacrifices for Ruby to go to school, she would feed well and also remain healthy.

Ruby knew that meeting the old woman was the only lucky thing that had ever happened in her life.

She didn't want to be taken to a foster home and that was why, when her grandma had died, she begged the social worker in charge of her to not allow her to go into a foster home.

The social worker took pity on her, took her in and kept her safe till she was finally old enough to fend for herself.

Soon, she was of age and the reality of life hit her so hard as she worked day and night to make ends meet.

Now, she was here, and she was going to make sure her mission here was complete.

She didn't know how she was going to get justice for what happened to her mother, but her determination was enough to fuel her anger and hate for the werewolves who killed her mother.

As she approached the main building, she noticed how beautiful the exterior was, and she wondered what the interior would look like.

She passed by a small fountain and glanced at the writing engraved on the top.

'The Blueridge Pack'

She knew the name of the community she had entered was Blueridge.

This pack was by far the strongest in the world and were the victors of most of the battles, hence, making them suitable for the throne.

All packs had Alpha's, but from what she had heard and read, this particular Pack Alpha was mostly gifted in Brains.

It was a gift passed on from generations to generations.

They were skilled in battle but even more strategic, and it always gave them an upper hand over their enemies.

As she entered the building, she looked around in awe at the beautiful palace and thought, if the palace itself looked this prestige, then what would the people staying here look like?

She was led into a hallway by a guard and stopped right in front of a gathering where olther young girls like her stood still, waiting for the woman in front of her to begin talking.

It seemed as if she was waiting for all the girls to arrive before she started speaking.

She was a middle-aged woman wearing glasses. She had a very unfriendly look too, and she seemed like the type who didn't take nonsense.

Once the hall was complete, the woman at the front began speaking.

" My name is Madam Rose, and I am the Head Maiden of this fine palace and royalty."

She perched her glasses up before continuing.

" You have all been summoned to the palace based on your application, and we hope to see nothing short of what you have put down there.

You will resume work with immediate effect and the various matrons assigned to each group of maidens will soon join you in a short while. A list of chores and the maidens carrying them out will be announced by the matrons.

As long as you are here, you must make sure to do your work diligently, always keep your head down and make sure you are completely unnoticeable as you are nothing but a mere servant.

Bear that in mind and you will have no problems working here. Am I clear enough?"

She asked while maintaining eye contact with the majority of the girls.

" Yes, Madam Rose" they all answered in unison.

To say Ruby was shocked at her words was an understatement. She soon recovered and realized that she had to be humble and get used to being spoken to like that if she wanted to survive in the palace.

Immediately Madam Rose left the hall, a few women who also looked cold and unapproachable walked towards the new maidens ready to give out their chores.

The first Matron called out the names of the maidens who would be working under her and assigned them their chores. She mentioned that she was accountable for each one of them. Hence, they should make sure to work diligently.

Soon enough, another matron whose name was Miss Helen, walked up to the unassigned maidens and called out the names working under her, which included Ruby.

Ruby affirmed that she was present, and she was assigned to work in the garden.

The new maids were all given the tools and equipments they would use by their various matrons. Immediately, their duties were assigned to them and the appropriate tools to be used in carrying them out were handed over to them, the maidens set out to begin their work.

***

Ruby was doing somewhat well as a maiden in the palace, as she always managed to finish all the tasks assigned to her, and she thought to herself that working in the palace wasn't so bad after all.

Although she did believe there was a particularly difficult place and person to work with. The said place happened to be the Kitchen and the said person happened to be The Royal Chef, Chef Francisco.

Ruby had heard a lot about him in just three days of working in the palace. She thought all had been well until she saw the fright on the maidens' face who were assigned to work in the kitchen.

It wasn't the first time she had noticed how scared someone got when being assigned to the kitchen.

As she wondered why, she couldn't help but ask one of her counterparts.

"That place is the most scary place in the palace. Chef Francisco is very mean and always finds a way to physically hurt a maiden whenever she does something wrongly", her new friend, Lisa, said to her.

Ruby was indeed shocked to hear about this, and she prayed in her heart that she wouldn't be assigned to the kitchen in the coming week, although she knew that was clearly inevitable.

Luckily for Ruby, she was not assigned to the kitchen the following week.

She kept on working in other areas, such as the garden and bedrooms.

The following week, she was assigned to the Library, and her heart leapt for great joy.

She walked into the library, searching for historical books that could tell her about The Revolution.

She found a book and flipped through the pages, but all she could find were human communities subdued by Werewolves and the reasons were quite justified.

As much as Ruby hated to admit it, she knew how vile humans became towards the werewolves, vampires, witches and other creatures. Immediately they found out about them.

They tried to make a pact with the humans, but they wouldn't just accept them.

The creatures had to defend themselves and, from defending themselves, they became angry at how vile the humans were and sought out to take over from them in a hostile way.

Ruby read that till now, battles were still ongoing. Places were still being conquered.

The vampires had an empire of their own and didn't mind not being part of the Royal parliament and, since the werewolves mainly took care of their common enemy, it was agreed that they would rule the land.

The witches were cast out because of their spells to try and take over the throne, although it was said that some of them still secretly lived within the vicinity and did well in hiding their witchcraft.

Ruby wanted to go further but knew that she had to get to cleaning in order to not raise suspicions when she left that place a little late.

She quickly got back to work and once she was done, she picked up her things, gave the room one last glance and walked out into the hallway, with the hope of finding something next time.