# The Serpent'sSmile
"Why is Neril here?"
Marieu's voice cracked with disbelief.
She should be gone by now. Thrown out of the palace, discarded like garbage.
Marieu had known about the head maid's plan to eliminate Neril. She'd been waiting eagerly for news of its success.
"You weren't even in the palace," Medea said, voice sharp as a blade. "Yet you speak as if you witnessed everything yourself."
"No, Your Highness! I went to the laundry room—there was a problem—I couldn't sleep or eat, I stayed by your bedside the entire time you were unconscious—Your Highness?"
But Medea had already turned away, addressing the line of maids standing rigid as soldiers awaiting judgment.
These faces hadn't existed in her previous life.
You came running in quite a hurry.
"Fetch the court physician. Have him examine Neril immediately."
"Y-yes..."
The maids shifted uneasily. Their eyes darted between each other, trembling with uncertainty.
It was because Marieu stood beside the Princess, her gaze boring into each of them like hot coals.
"By the way, Your Highness," Marieu interjected, voice honeyed with false concern. "Neril shouldn't be here. She committed a grave offense and deserves punishment—"
"Quiet."
The single word cut through Marieu's protest like a knife through silk.
"I've been far too lenient with you."
Medea's eyes were winter-cold.
"The nanny's daughter should know her place. You follow my commands, not the other way around."
"Your... Your Highness..."
Marieu recoiled as though struck. The Princess had never spoken to her this way before.
"Do I need to repeat myself?"
"No!"
The maids exchanged glances, reading the shift in power. Whatever favor Marieu had enjoyed was clearly crumbling.
They made their choice.
Bowing hastily, they moved to carry Neril to the physician's chambers.
"Your Highness." Marieu's voice trembled with wounded innocence. "How can you say such cruel things to me..."
Medea stifled a bitter laugh.
In her past life, she had cherished Marieu. Treated her like a sister. Believed she was the only person in the entire palace she could trust.
Until Marieu had repaid that trust with the sharpest of betrayals.
"Over here, Your Highness! This way! Hurry!"
"Forgive me, Your Highness. But I had to survive. You understand, don't you?"
When civil war had engulfed the capital, Marieu had pretended to help Medea escape—only to lead her straight into the hands of rebel forces.
The rebels had paraded her through the streets, proclaiming that the cursed Princess was abandoning her country to save her own worthless life. They'd dragged her before crowds who spat and threw stones.
By the time Peleus had returned and crushed the rebellion, Medea had been broken in body and spirit both.
Her reputation destroyed. Her dignity trampled into mud.
Medea studied that familiar face—the face that had smiled as it condemned her to torture.
"Now that I think about it," Medea said slowly, as though pulling fragments from distant memory, "you attended that tea party as well, didn't you?"
The casual tone made the words more chilling.
"Yes? Yes, I was there." Marieu nodded eagerly. "Do you remember now? After Neril injured you, I was the one who brought you safely back to the palace."
"Then go to the head maid."
"What? Why would the head maid suddenly—"
"Do you have something to say? Then send another maid—"
"No. You go."
"Go tell Madame Cuisine that you were present at the tea party that day."
"But... what does that—"
"I believe in fairness, you see."
"Fairness?"
Marieu's question hung in the air, unanswered.
Medea had already turned away, her silver hair cascading like moonlight as she walked back toward her chambers.
"Why is she acting like this? Did she eat something that disagreed with her? She's probably waiting for me—how annoying!"
Still grumbling, Marieu made her way to the administrative palace where Madame Cuisine held court.
She had no idea what awaited her there.
"Oh my God, what happened?"
"Shut your mouth before I tear it off!"
Marieu returned past midnight, limping on swollen, brutalized legs.
The head maid had descended on her like a wildfire the moment she'd arrived.
"What is the meaning of this? Neril returned to the Princess's palace unharmed! How did you fail so completely at your one task? Does the Duchess know about this incompetence?"
If Marieu had possessed even a shred of awareness, she might have noticed the barely-controlled fury in the head maid's voice, the unnatural stiffness in her movements.
But she hadn't.
"Your Highness told me to inform you that I was at the tea party that day. She said something about liking fairness. What does that mean?"
"The Princess said that?"
The head maid's voice had gone dangerously quiet.
Fairness.
The meaning crashed over her like ice water.
She's saying she'll watch to see if I punish Marieu the same way I punished Neril.
The head maid's patience, already worn threadbare, snapped entirely.
"Seize her!"
"What—what are you doing?!"
Before Marieu could comprehend what was happening, servants had grabbed her arms with bruising force.
"You! If you had done your job properly, the Princess would never have left her chambers! I gave you one simple task—keep your eyes on her at all times!"
"Why are you doing this?!"
"Oh, I'll show you fairness. I'll live up to your precious Princess's expectations perfectly."
Only after every cane in the punishment room had been shattered across her legs was Marieu finally released.
"Oh my God, Marieu..."
The waiting maids gasped at her appearance.
Angry welts crisscrossed her calves—the pale, beautiful legs she'd taken such pride in now striped with vicious red lines.
Her face was blotchy with dried tears and snot. Her hair hung in wild tangles. Her dress was torn in several places, dark stains marking where blood had seeped through.
Anyone could see she'd been savagely beaten.
"What on earth happened?"
It was exactly what Marieu wanted to ask.
*Why?*
The head maid had simply ordered her seized and beaten without explanation. Without mercy.
She didn't understand, but one thing was crystal clear—the head maid's fury had everything to do with the Princess.
Resentment flooded through her like poison in her veins.
"Let go of me!"
She slapped away the maid attempting to tend her wounds, sending the medicine clattering to the floor.
"Move. I'm going to my room."
"About that..."
The maid's hesitation made Marieu's temper flare hotter.
"What now?!"
The maid squeezed her eyes shut, as if speaking would be easier without seeing Marieu's reaction.
"Your room has been changed. You need to go... over there."
"What nonsense! This is my room!"
"Her Highness ordered the change."
"What?!"
Marieu's mouth fell open. The revelation hit her like a club to the skull.
Is Medea insane?
"Because of *whom* did I end up like this?!"
Her hysterical scream echoed through the corridors.
The next morning, Marieu—who'd spent the night tossing restlessly in her new, inferior quarters—bolted awake and stormed into the Princess's chambers without so much as knocking.
"Your Highness! What did I do to deserve this treatment?"
"What's all this noise?"
Medea glanced up at Marieu's disheveled entrance with utterly indifferent eyes.
Though it was barely dawn, the Princess was already dressed in outdoor clothing, as if she'd been somewhere.
No one noticed—too focused on Marieu's wild appearance—but there were faint grass stains along the hem of Medea's gown.
"Do you know what happened to me?"
Marieu immediately launched into her grievances, painting herself as the victim of incomprehensible cruelty.
"The head maid beat me! Look at this! See? She grabbed me the moment I arrived and did everything she could to—"
"..."
But the reaction she'd expected—the Princess running to her with tears, demanding to know who dared harm her beloved Marieu—never came.
The Princess remained eerily quiet.
"Your Highness, are you even listening? Madame Cuisine *struck* me!"
Medea finally turned her head. Marieu realized with a start that the Princess had been gazing out the window at something far away.
"Oh my."
The tone was flat. Utterly unmoved.
"That must have hurt."
Medea gestured absently toward a nearby maid.
"Bring her some medicine."
Then she simply walked past Marieu as though the conversation had concluded.
Is that all?
Marieu grabbed the Princess's sleeve without thinking.
"Your Highness?"
A terrible suspicion began to take root in Marieu's mind.
She didn't... she couldn't have sent me there deliberately, could she?
"What is it?"
The response was so natural, so utterly unconcerned, that Marieu found herself speechless.
"I... that is... Your Highness, they changed my room last night while I was gone! If they're trying to harass me without your permission, they should be severely punished—"
But Medea looked thoroughly unimpressed.
She had no intention of allowing Marieu to continue her parasitic lifestyle.
"I ordered it."
"What?"
"I'm told we need more space to treat Neril properly. You'll stay in the other room for now."
Marieu couldn't believe her ears.
"You... you gave *my* room to *Neril*?"
Why that girl? Why her?
"Why would you—without even telling me first—"
The Princess's green eyes turned glacial.
"Do I require your permission to care for my own people?"
"N-no, I only meant—"
"Enough. Your impudence knows no bounds."
Marieu flinched as though slapped.
Before she could recover, Medea delivered the final blow.
"Marieu, you seem unwell. Unable to grasp your position. Take time to rest. You're relieved of your duties until further notice."
The Princess's fingers moved with deliberate casualness, peeling Marieu's grip from her sleeve the way one might remove an irritating insect.
The dismissal was absolute. As though even these few moments were more attention than Marieu deserved.
This can't be happening. She shouldn't treat me this way.
Marieu's face flushed crimson with humiliation and rage.
A Princess who only has that title because of blood! How dare she disregard me like this!
Deep resentment toward the Princess—who showed no care for her dignity whatsoever—coiled hot and venomous in Marieu's chest.
"Wait."
Marieu started after Medea's retreating figure. Silver hair cascaded down the Princess's back like a waterfall of moonlight.
Her fingers twitched with the urge to grab that delicate, shimmering hair and *pull*.
"Your Highness, wait—!"
Marieu lunged forward, hand outstretched to seize Medea's arm—
And in that moment, the door to the chamber swung open.
End Chapter 6 ## The Serpent's Smile
"Some serpents only show their fangs when cornered."
[ Continue to Chapter 7 ]