I'm Not Cinderella

Hi, my name is Cindy. Just Cindy, since I'm a commoner, and commoner's here has no last name. I worked as a maid for Baron Fruydur and his family. The Fruydur's are neither generous nor unforgiving to their workers. As long as we get the job done, that is more than enough for them. The good thing about my line of work is that I rarely see their family since they love to go out and enjoy the nightlife as the other nobles do.   At a very young age, I started working here as an errand girl. Then an apprentice maid and finally an official maid. I'm an orphan, so working in the Fruydur is all I know.   "I heard he left."  I stopped sweeping and turned around to my coworker, Sarah.   "Who left?"   "Well, who else? His Highness, the Prince!" Sarah answered while sighing dreamily. There she goes again.  Sarah is two years younger than me and is a lovesick fool. Don't tell her I said that. Sarah always knows about it whenever there's small news about nobles and royalties here in the Baron's territory.  Well, it's not just Sarah. Almost everyone here in the Baron's household loves to keep track of whatever they find 'interesting' because other than cleaning, life here is quite dull.   "Can't you just imagine? Meeting a royalty would be a dream come true." Sarah continued rumbling about how she's willing to quit working on the Baron's household to touch the hem of the Prince's cloak.   I rolled my eyes at her idiotic thoughts and continued sweeping the floor.   "I wonder what he was doing here though." Sarah wondered.   "Maybe he's here for a vacation?" Sarah laughed. "As if he goes here for a vacation. Other than the night market and vineyard, there's nothing fun to go around here. The capital is much more interesting."   I gave her a weak smile and started sweeping the stairs going down.  "But what if His Highness is looking for a bride, there should be a rumor about that by now."   "Oh... Well... Yeah, true..." I mumbled, no longer interested in that subject. I focused on cleaning the stairs.   "What's with that reaction?! You're no fun."  I gave her a shrug. "Don't you have work to do?"   "Aren't you curious about the prince at all?" Sarah pouted.   "Haha..." "Well whatever, I'll just ask the girls in the kitchen." Sarah left then shortly.  I am not going to lie. I was a bit interested. However, my sense of responsibility for work is much greater than gossip about the Prince, who I will not likely meet. Oh well, it's none of my business.  ***   "Ah, I heard he left at dawn!" Fia, another coworker who is also around the same age as Sarah, said.  "Do you think he is looking for a bride?" Sarah asked, her head resting on the palm of her hands.   "Probably not...?" "From what I've heard nothing actually happened. He's just here to check the territory." Lottie, the chef's assistant, answered.   "Well, that's just boring. Can't anything exciting happen around here?" Sarah grumbled while grabbing a piece of bread.   I sat beside her and grabbed her bread.   "Hey!" She turned to me, slightly slapping my shoulder.   "The bread does not deserve your sorrows and complains about your dull life, Sarah. That's just bad manners." I said while taking a massive bite from the bread.   "She's right Sarah," Ian, who drives the Fruydur's around, entered the dirty kitchen. "Don't you just feel bad for the bread, the undeserving loaf of bread who will be eaten by a very sad little maid?" Ian dramatically cried.  "Well, what do you know about my sadness Ian?" Sarah grunted and crossed her arms. "I can feel it in my heart, Ian. That one day I will marry a nobleman, who will shower me with gifts every day. You never know I might become a princess."  "There she goes with her head up in the clouds," I said.  "Well, a girl needs to dream because what else is she good at?" Ian jokingly said, earning a glare from Sarah.  Lottie and Fia looked at each other and laughed.  "You two are such a bully, don't worry Princess Sara. Here's a piece of cookie. A leftover from yesterday's tea party." Sarah's eyes lifted and ate the whole thing off from Lottie's hand. "So much for being a princess, where did your manners run off to? The capital?" Sarah grabbed a spoon and threw it at Ian, who swiftly dodged it.  "But is it true all men in the capital wear such flashy clothes?" Fia changed the subject.  "Remember that yellow scarf? With a red strip at the end?" Everyone chuckled. The conversation continued about fashion in the capital. Everybody laughed, and everybody noticed.  Everyone has noticed the quiet new worker who gracefully entered the kitchen and leaned on the window.  She looked at us with an unreadable expression. It was the first time I saw her. From what I heard from the gardeners, she looks like a goddess who was cursed to become a maid. Not noticing I was openly staring at her, she caught my eyes. We had a short staring contest when Lottie cut it off.  "How about you? You're from the capital right? I hope we didn't intimidate you or something."  Lottie chuckled, standing in front of her with a loaf of bread in her hand. She stretched her hand and placed the bread on the new girl's hand. The girl mumbled a 'thanks' and slowly nibbled the bread.  The chatter on the table stopped, and all eyes were on the new girl. "Your name is Rosilyn, right?" Fia asked.  The girl smiled and nodded. She's completely different from what I imagined her. She comes off cold but is shockingly shy than she let on.   "Well, I'm gonna call you Rose, because Rosilyn sounds so mouthful." Sarah cheerily said.   "Don't be shy and sit with us!" I offered.   She stared back at me and slowly sat right next to me. Upon having a closer look at her face, she looks beautiful. There were no blemishes on her skin. Her cheeks have a natural rosiness while mine is pale.  I'm not the type of person who gets insecure about my looks, but I would be lying if I said I'm not a tiny bit jealous of hers. If someone told me she is a noblewoman, I would instantly believe that. But there is something off about her that I can't point out.   Then my eyes fell on her hands. When she saw me staring at her hands, she immediately placed them under the table.   "So where are you fr-" Before Sarah finished her question, the head maid entered, and we all immediately stood up.   The stern look she gave us made us all look down. For a woman in her 50's she sure is scary. There were also rumors that she was not human and she ate children for dessert. It was an absurd rumor, but I, too, can't help but believe that it's true.  "I didn't know the household servants were all such a lazy bunch! The Fyurdur's generosity is wasted on you lot!" She angrily said. The silence was softly suffocating me, and I could feel Sarah shaking behind me.   "You, new girl come to follow me." Rose quickly went behind her, almost tripping in the process.    "Well, what are the rest of you waiting for? A bonus paycheck? Get back to your positions, NOW!" We all hurried out of the kitchen except for Lottie, who was stationed there.  As soon as the head maid went out of our site, we finally let go of the breath we were unknowingly holding.   "I thought I'll get used of our head maid after working here for almost a year, but she just keeps scaring us every time," Sarah said.   "Well I've already worked here for as long as I can remember but she still scares me," I said while shivering at the thought of her.   "Seriously, that woman is giving me nightmares." Fia fidgeted. "Well, we better hurry and get our supplies before she bites us off," I said.   While heading to the cleaning room, Rosilyn's hands popped into my mind. I tried to think what was wrong with it. Then a realization hit me. There are no blisters or even a tiny callus. And that's what's wrong. What kind of commoner has no calluses on her hand and even works as a maid here. Just who is she?