Dragon Under the Bed - Chapter 1

In the center of the rugged Hale Mountain, lies an infamous tower. The tower was known as the tower of the red flame, otherwise known as the evil dragon’s precarious abode.

Dozens of soldiers were marching towards the so-called tower, but their journey wasn’t a smooth one. They needed to defend themselves from monsters lurking in the vicinity and suffered from the rough paths. As a result, they were all exhausted before the actual battle even began.

‘This could be our last battle.’

Christian thought as he felt a foreign energy and look up to the sky, beyond the tower of the red flame.

The sky was unusually clear that day. Without the cloud in his sight, he could see it. A dragon, better known as the evil dragon Liliecel, which was said to be the mightiest creature on earth, was roaming freely in the sky.

“Oh my God…”

“Oh, God!”

Despondent sighs, wails, and cries came from all over the place as fear was apparent in everyone’s countenances. The same was true of Christian.

‘There wasn’t any hope in the first place. We couldn’t beat a creature like that!’

The overwhelming giant in the sky had enormous claws that could crush their ironclad shield in seconds. Its distinct reptile eyes were also devoid of any emotions. Christian’s forehead was already covered in sweat. His heart was beating furiously as if it was going to erupt any time soon. He wanted to turn around and run away, but…

‘I need to do this.’

The notorious dragon had captured Princess Caroline, the only heir to the throne. If she died because of it, the bloody war which had instilled trauma in countless minds 13 years ago might begin again. Christian gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on the sword.

‘Even if I die here, she must return safely!’

Christian held the sword up and exclaimed,

“For Princess Caroline’s sake!”

The soldiers came back to their senses and said in a chorus.

“For Princess Caroline’s sake!”

“For Princess Caroline’s sake!”

They marched towards the tower of the red flame. Christian, who was leading them, kept his eyes on the dragon.

The dragon sensed it and glanced at him.

……!

An unusual emotion flashed in its vertical pupils. Feeling its menacing gaze, Christian’s body shuddered involuntarily as the dragon abruptly opened its mouth. When Christian saw flames about to blast from its mouth, he cried out towards his comrades,

“Brace!”

***

“Do you want to clean up alone today?”

Lynn’s eyes widened in surprise as she stared at Milena. When she realized this, she quickly deviated her attention elsewhere. Milena said the other day that she could read her like an open bookㅡher emotions ubiquitous in her every muscle.

Her heart was pounding intensely in excitement, but she suppressed her emotions as much as she could and asked back,

“Do I have to clean this spacious room all by myself?”

Furthermore, this was their master, Christian Riossy Ezenge’s bedroom. His private space needed to be supervised well. Hence, experienced servants were required to ensure the best result. A maid like her is not fit for the job. Even though Milena knew it better than anyone else, she just glanced at her and said again,

“Why? You don’t want to?”

If someone was that straightforward, people would have a hard time lying to her, especially Lynn, who was a terrible liar. Fortunately, she was good at learning and memorizing. When she remembered how important this room was for Milena, she replied craftily.

“I don’t think I could live up to the expectations if I clean the room by myself.”

“Don’t worry. Why do you think I’m giving you this important job when you’ve only been here for a month?”

Milena looked down to her finely trimmed nails and continued,

“I’ll be back in two hours. That’s enough time, right?”

Her nails were like the embodiment of her self-esteem; it was always clean and trimmed, unlike Lynn’s, even though they were both maids. Of course, Milena always passed the rough tasks to her.

“Oh well, I’ve been doing everything all by myself anyway.”

As Lynn mumbled thoughtlessly, Milena immediately glared at her.

“Hey, Mrs. Molly’s compliments are a big deal, aren’t they? If anyone heard it, they’d think that I’m not lifting any hand.”

But that’s true… isn’t it?

Lynn tilted her head. Milena said it so confidently that she was confused for a moment. Milena was Christian’s exclusive maid and was tasked to clean his bedroom specifically. Yet Milena complained to Molly, the housekeeper, that she was having difficulty doing it alone and needed someone to help her. Because other maids were already tasked with other jobs, Lynn was picked shortly after entering.

‘Now that I think about it, she indeed lifted her hand sometimes.’

She was always pointing here and there, instructing her and saying things like ‘Put it away, wipe it like that, move it here, put it there.’ so her words were partially true.

“I’m doing this to help you, I’m already used to it, but you’re still in the middle of learning. You’ve never been a maid before you came here, right?”

“That’s true.”

“Think before you speak. If Mrs. Molly is looking for me, say that I went to the bathroom for a second. You know what to do, right?”

“I know. I have done this many times.”

“Oh my, you’re very sensible today. Then good luck.”

As Milena left, Lynn turned her head and looked at her master’s magnificent bedroom. The spacious room also had a bathroom and an office next door. From now on, she had to clean her master’s private space, which Milena complained was hard to do alone. But Lynn didn’t think so and shook her head as she clenched her fists.

The emotions that she tried so hard to suppress in front of Milena were about to burst. At last, she shouted in glee, lifting her fists to the sky.

“Yahoo! I did it! I finally did it! I could clean this room all by myself!”

Every time she jumped in place, her lustrous pink hair bounced in harmony. It was so frustrating to clean this place under Milena’s guidance. She didn’t like how Milena instructed her to do things her way. She often said that Lynn needed to follow Milena’s way as she was more experienced. But she was joyful not only because of that.

Lynn put on a slipper that was on the floor.

“I’m wearing the warrior’s slippers!”

She kissed the teacup on the table, “The warrior’s teacup!” Then, she proceeded to dramatically jump to the bed.

“Sheets with the warrior’s body odor!”

As she took a whiff, she could smell Christian’s odor faintly alongside the scent of citrus. Feeling as if she was being held by the warrior, Lynn shut her eyes and was intoxicated with happiness.

“Ah, warrior…”

She met Christian about a year ago. He was wearing silver armor and a blue cape at that time. The color of his cape perfectly matched his eyes. At some point, her eyes met Christian’s.

Her heart was about to burst as his piercing eyes stared at her. They might not really look at each other in the eye because they were at a fair distance, and it could all be Lynn’s illusion. But it was true that her heart fluttered when she saw Christian.

‘It was the first time I felt that way towards someone.’

She couldn’t forget him. He was already deeply embedded in her heart right at that moment. Lynn even went to the capital to find him. At that time, a blue-eyed knight became famous for his accomplishment in saving the princess. He was famously known as the warrior.

It was easy to find out where he lived because everyone knew where the warrior resided. Lynn was originally satisfied with looking at him from afar but soon wanted to learn more and get closer to him. That’s why she applied as a maid even though she had no clue about the job itself.

“Come on, since I got a chance for the first time, I need to make it perfect!”

After a while, Lynn came out of her stupor and continue doing her tasks. By getting employed in his mansion, she got a step closer and got a chance to show her affections. She was delighted to get this hard-earned opportunity and didn’t want to waste it.

Lynn removed the sheets that Christian used last night. Originally, she would only replace it with a new one, but that alone wasn’t enough, so she lifted the mattress from the bed frame.

The mattress was so heavy and massive that only two adult men could lift it, but it was not the case for her. She effortlessly lifted the mattress and put it on the sunny terrace. This was the only reason why she could be hired as a maid with no prior experience. No one could imagine the incredible strength and stamina the weak-looking girl had inside of her.

Lynn showed Mrs. Molly, who wasn’t happy with her resume, how she could carry firewood better than the male servants. She immediately passed the test with flying colors.

“Phew, I wanted to disinfect it properly at least once.”

After dusting the mattress, she started cleaning the bedroom. She wiped the furniture and shelves to every nook and cranny. She doesn’t have cleaning as her hobby, but she naturally worked harder when she imagined the warrior relaxing in the shiny space.

“Why is this mirror here?”

Lynn took down the full-length mirror on one side of the bedroom. There was a nail stuck in the wall, but Lynn pulled it out with her bare hands without any difficulty. It was then nailed about 5 centimeters above its original location.

She moved the position subtly that no one would notice it. Only then, she looked relieved.

“Perfect.”

Next, it was time to clean the bathroom. When Lynn entered the bathroom, she could see traces of Christian. She put the used towel in one place and cleaned the bathtub and sinks diligently. But there was also something here that bothered Lynn.

There were too many bath products displayed on the shelves around the bathtub as if it was a woman’s bathroom. Lynn, who carefully examined dozens of bath products, chose only one of them and put it back on the shelves.

“Great!”

Lynn smiled brightly, satisfied with the result.

“The office is next.”

Christian’s bedroom became spotless overnight due to a special touch of a girl in love.

***

After dinner, Christian returned to his room. Milena was at last dutifully doing her job as she filled the bathtub with warm water. Christian stood in front of the full-length mirror and waited for her to finish preparing the bath.

“Huh?”

He suddenly notice that something had changed and looked at the mirror suspiciously. He felt like he could go blind seeing the spotless and shiny mirror.

‘Is it cleaner than usual?’

No, I don’t think that’s the reason.

Christian is not particularly sensitive to changes, but he was susceptible to the cleanliness of the mirror. He couldn’t even allow a speck of dust in the reflection of his beautiful self. He often warned Milena several times specifically about it. Thus, the mirror was always pristine. So it has nothing to do with it.

“Hmm…”

Christian put his hand on his chin and agonized. Something appears to have changed, but he couldn’t tell what had changed.

“By any chance?”

When Christian notice something, he stepped back. After carefully looking at his reflection in the mirror, he stepped forward and return to his original position. There, he realized something for sure.

“It’s higher.”

Before this, he couldn’t see the top of his head when he stood in front of the mirror. If the mirror was too low, he would have adjusted the height earlier, but it wasn’t too disturbing, as he only needed to lower his head slightly. To be more precise, he had not even notice that he had to lower his head every time he look into the mirror. Yet, someone noticed it and changed the position to match his height.

‘Who?’

It wasn’t Milena. She wasn’t such a detail-oriented person. “Master, the bath is ready.” When Milena came out, Christian inquired about it immediately.

“Milena, who cleaned my bedroom today?”

“Pardon?”

Milena’s eyes were darting back and forth in guilt as she thought she would be scolded when he asked her a question out of the ordinary.

“Is there any problem?”

“No, I wanted to compliment whoever cleaned my bedroom today.”

“Ahh, is that so?”

Milena continued with a smile,

“Of course it was me. Who else would clean your room?”