VALERIA

The disdainful stares didn’t take long to arrive when they eagerly stood, expecting the King, and only saw his ugly maid.

"Where is His Majesty?" one of them asked, glancing toward the door that had already closed.

"The King cannot come personally. I will be making the selection."

I don’t even know how I managed to get those words out when my throat was drowning in thousands of negative thoughts.

"Seriously? That’s disappointing. What kind of taste could she have?"

"Maybe she’ll pick th