The Sultan's son

9. Hard work

After a few days, she was still struggling to pick up the pace. She woke up at 6, got ready, and had breakfast at the bar, where she often met Barska, who persistently courted her.

By 6.55, she was standing in front of the kitchen, well groomed and wearing an ironed uniform. As usual, she found the chef sharpening his precious set of knives, he kept doing it for an incredible amount of time, even half an hour in a row, barking orders continuously. She gradually became proficient at cutting vegetables, but as soon as she mastered one task, another, more difficult one appeared. Now, it was time to learn how to knead the dough, and the scolding followed."The dough is horrible, it crumbles! If you cook it like this, the noodles will flake off during the cooking and will turn into horrid rubbish! It must be completely redone! What are you doing? Don't throw it away, everything can be reused in the kitchen. I want you to salvage it with a recipe of your own invention, and if it is good I’ll forgive you. You have to make the noodles all over again. By the way, do you know what you call a fake noodle? Nobody knows? "

"No chef, what do you call it?" said Raessa.

"An impasta!" he laughed heartily, looking up.

"Oh no, that was terrible, chef!"

“You are terrible! Now, debone those quails!"

Raessa smiled and approached Regina, asking, "Do you have any idea how to salvage the dough?"

Regina, feeling discouraged, shook her head no.

“Since it crumbles, you can break it into small pieces, let them dry, and blend them to make a kind of semolina. You can add them to a good broth to create a cream that can accompany meat or fish. If you want, I can help you."

"Thank you so much Raessa, you are a lifesaver!"

After the shift, the kitchen had to be thoroughly cleaned from top to bottom, and the chef checked to make sure everything was sparkling clean. If anything fell short, the work had to be redone until the surfaces were spotless.

At 11, they all took a break for a snack, and at 12.30, they served lunch and cleaned up the kitchen. At 2:00 pm, the morning shift was over, and the next shift took care of the remaining cleaning. She had a two-hour break during which she ate something and threw herself into bed to rest. Then, at 4 pm, she started her service as a maid.

She was assigned to Iris, who showed her how to do the job and gave her tasks, and she didn't go easy on her.

“Are you serious?” Regina asked incredulously.

“Of course, Regina. We value cleanliness throughout the boat."

"But you said I only had to clean all the visible surfaces!"

“Can you extract the washing machine drawer?”

“Yes, but...”

“Then you can look inside the slot, right?”

“Well, theoretically...”

“That's why the slot must be clean.”

Regina grumbled some complaints, thinking that these people were crazy.

After a whole hour of cleaning with a toothbrush and toothpicks, she was pretty sure she had done a good job and proudly declared that she was finished.

The maid inspected her work. “And what about this?” she asked, lifting a plastic lid that Regina hadn't noticed. It was covered in grime.

The realization that there was still work to do made her whimper in distress. "Oh no, I've been on my knees for over an hour, I swear I can't feel my legs anymore!"

"Get on with it and clean it already, you lazy girl! Do you prefer scrubbing toilets on your first day?" Iris scoffed.

With a groan of protest, Regina fell on her knees again mumbling all her disappointment. Initially, Regina thought that, being the new girl, it was only logical for others to try to offload the most tiresome housework onto her. However, she soon realized that Iris had a soft spot for Barska, and the fact that he was always sticking to her bothered her a lot. Once, she went down to the lower deck with a trolley of laundry collected from the rooms, and overheard them bickering: “Barska, get out. First, you get all cozy with me, then you go and harass the new girl!"

“What are you saying, honey? I only have eyes for you! Give me a kiss..."

"No. Go satisfy your cravings with that skank! "

"Come on, love, I prefer you much more, she has got a stick in her butt, it's clear ... she doesn't know how to have fun, and then she is not even attractive, you, on the other hand, are splendid!"

"That's not what you said to her, though, I heard you!"

"But I just wanted to make her feel welcome! Look, she is the one who has the hots for me, but you are the only one in my mind ..." And continued with a list of things he wanted to do to her.

Regina walked away as quietly as possible, feeling hurt. She had started to develop feelings for that boy, believed his compliments, and thought he was falling in love with her. She wiped away a tear. How foolish she had been! Fortunately, she realized in time that he didn't care about her, maybe he was just pursuing her hoping she would give in to his advances. All men were the same! In the following days, she tried to act as usual with him, but she was already disillusioned, and he noticed that his courtship was no longer having an effect. However, this did not discourage him; on the contrary, he persisted with renewed hope. But by now, Regina had seen his true colors. Occasionally, Bernard asked her how she was doing, but even though she was very tired all day, she never complained. She didn't want him to think she couldn't handle the job and fire her. She was making progress in the kitchen. She didn't like cleaning the decks and windows, not because it was more tiring than tidying up the rooms, but because she happened to encounter Quarin, and each time, she felt terribly uncomfortable.

One afternoon, while washing the windows in the lounge overlooking the pool area, she saw him with Charmant, enjoying the sun on the deck chairs. The little dog Numa was crouched next to them. Damn, she had to go outside to clean the windows, but she stayed inside as long as possible, hoping they would leave. Some windows opened from the inside, she decided to start with them. She tried to open them as quietly as possible, hoping that the piped music of the kiosk would cover any noise.

"Quarin, could you put sunscreen on my back?"

"No, I don't want to get my hands greasy."

"But I can't reach it. If I get sunburned, it's your fault."

"Why don't you stay under the umbrella then?"

"What a silly question, I want to get a tan, isn’t that obvious?"

"At this time, the sun is not that hot; you don't need sunscreen."

"But yes, I’ll get wrinkles prematurely!"

"On your back?"

"Everywhere! Anyway, will you put it on, or should I ask a waiter?"

"Ugh ... okay, give it to me."

‘Mmmm, he’s even considerate with his fiancée,’ Regina thought. She had finished cleaning inside and now she had to go outside. She tried to be as silent as possible, hoping they wouldn't notice her. She managed to clean almost every glass. Quarin had dozed off, and Charmant was reading. She felt elated. ‘That is! Only the last glass is left.’ She was going to make it! But suddenly the dog started growling. ‘Oh no! Numa spotted me!’ She hurried to finish quickly, no longer concerned about being silent. Numa started barking, and Quarin woke up. They had seen her! She pretended to ignore them and finished cleaning, but her heart was pounding like a hammer. She heard Quarin say, "Numa, attack!" and in an instant, the little dog ran towards her and managed to bite her, just as she was gathering things to leave. He laughed, “That's what you get for eavesdropping. The next time I catch you, you will regret it!"

It was useless to explain that she was just doing her job, so she ran away before they noticed the tears in her eyes. As she fled she nearly bumped into Iris, who scolded her: “Be careful where you are going! Why the hell are you running?!"

"Numa bit me," she said with her head down, pointing to her calf. She was embarrassed to show her tears.

“But you're bleeding! Get off the carpet right away, if you drip blood, you'll ruin it! That's insane, you also manage to provoke dogs ... Go to the bathroom, there's the first aid box, and come back right away. It’s just a scratch!"

"I know, I know, I'm going," she said, but inside she felt terrible. Not even a little sympathy? Evidently not. They didn't want her there. Nobody really wanted her there. Even the Sultan had taken her to work to pay off a debt, perhaps he had also pitied her. She really wanted to go home. But she couldn't, not right away. It would have been a failure. So she pulled herself together, washed her face, and resolved not to feel like a victim anymore. Maybe the Lord was putting her through this discomfort to give her something good in return. She remembered that the chef had finally complimented her for recovering the dough she had ruined. She was learning something useful. Perhaps this was the price to pay. Besides, there were only 10 days left until the Canaries, and Quarin would be leaving the ship. She just had to endure a few more arguments, and she would try to suffer without provoking him. She also had to figure out how to neutralize Numa. She had a plan. Who knows if it would work.