Chapter 12 : The Weight of Responsibility
Cassian hand slightly trembled as he scrubbed the marble floor, he had been doing the same work since morning, and now his hands started to feel soar. Who had said life in a palace was good for servants? When they had to actually work from morning to night with little breaks just to eat some food.
Maybe the higher-position servants have a better life because they don't have to do physical labor this much. James and his life in the palace was much harder as they were new here, most of the servants dumped their hard work on them, just because they had been here for a longer time than he and James.
Across the room, James was busy dusting the ornate curtain that lined the walls, his usual chatter absent as he concentrated on his task. The atmosphere in the palace had been tense lately because everyone was aware of the kingdom's ongoing war with their neighbors over disputed land.
Cassian didn't know much about politics and their situation as he was from a very small village and he had never received any kind of knowledge, he was just busy to survive every day. That's why he hardly knew about anything, even the name of this kingdom was foreign to him. His knowledge was limited to only his village name and nothing else.
But after two weeks here, he got to understand more about kingdoms and political situations as the servants in the king's palace were all more knowledgeable than normal servants.
He got to know that this kingdom is known as Aetherlyn. One of the biggest kingdoms in the Rivenhart Empire. He got to know that the Rivenhart Empire is not actually a kingdom where the king governs or they have different populations, it is just a council of different members of every kingdom, representing their kingdom in the Rivenhart Empire. They have the responsibility of keeping peace in the Rivenhart continent.
As Cassian finished scrubbing the last tile, he heard a voice cut through the silence. It was a fellow servant running towards them, he was breathless but still said while huffing, "The steward is asking for all the servants in the king's place. He wants to make an announcement."
Cassian and James exchanged glances with each other, it was not the first time all the servants got summoned by the steward but that doesn't mean it held less significance because every time all the servants were summoned. there will be announcements of new tasks, events or something more important.
Cassian and James both have the same feeling that this time it's more urgent because the atmosphere in the palace was tense from the last week and they wondered what happened now.
But without a word, they set aside their cleaning tools and joined the stream of servants heading towards the designated area. The corridors buzzed with hushed conversations as all the servants had the same thoughts lingering in their minds. Everyone was trying to guess what could be the motive of this summon.
When they arrived, Cassian saw that the steward, the same man who was the first person here to be introduced formally to them, but after their encounter with him, they got hardly any chance to see him again. Headmaid Martha is the one who usually assigns them work.