I Became The Extra King With Seven Wives

Chapter 64: Regina Bullied

Regina did not waste more than a fleeting glance on the three maids before calmly lowering her gaze back to her chipped plate.

She recognized them easily enough.

They were general servants relegated to the outer wings of the castle, tasked with maintaining the guest chambers. Unlike Regina’s specialized position, these girls were merely floating hands, entirely at the mercy of the Head Maid’s daily whims and assignments.

They spent their days catering to the endless influx of visiting courtiers, stationed far away from the white and gold gilded corridors of the inner royal quarters. In contrast, even when Regina had first arrived as a lowly scullery maid, she had been immediately stationed within the royal wing. That unprecedented placement was the main reason she was so deeply resented and envied by the rest of the staff.

Thanks to Roland’s clandestine influence, she had bypassed years of hierarchy the very moment she was employed. To the other maids, her sudden elevation left a profoundly bitter taste in their mouths. Traditionally, only the most experienced, highly educated servants possessing impeccable backgrounds were ever permitted to breathe the same air as the royal family.

While Regina was a former aristocrat and certainly possessed the requisite education, she had zero formal experience as a maid. Moreover, she was no longer a noble; she was a destitute commoner from the slums. Her peers simply could not understand how she had climbed the ranks so easily, let alone how she had recently managed to secure the ultimate prize of becoming King Lumiel’s personal maid.

For girls who had broken their backs scrubbing floors for years, watching a beautiful newcomer leapfrog over them was definitely infuriating.

"Look at her, ignoring us now. Did you grow that arrogant just because you managed to warm His Majesty’s bed?" Yhe ringleader, a harsh-faced girl named Mony, sneered, her eyes burning.

Regina did not even dignify the insult with a response, chewing her food.

"You arrogant little whore! Learn to answer your betters when they speak to you!"

Shatter!

One of Mony’s cronies swatted the wooden plate from the table, sending Regina’s meager meal scattering across the cold stone floor.

Regina stared down at the ruined food, entirely dumbfounded for a fleeting second, before her hands curled into tight, trembling fists. She had done nothing to these women. She had never once insulted them, so why were they so sadistically hell-bent on making her life miserable?

"What sort of manners do you honestly expect from a wretched girl whose cowardly father hung himself because he couldn’t pay his debts?" The third maid snickered cruelly.

Regina simply stood up, smoothing the wrinkles from her apron, and began to walk away. It simply was not worth the trouble. She would endure their petty torment in silence, just as she always did.

However, the three maids immediately fell into step behind her, refusing to let their prey escape.

"See? She is not even denying it."

"Well, then I suppose the rumors about her mother spreading her legs in the slums must be entirely true as well."

The moment those words left the girl’s mouth, Regina stopped dead in her tracks. Pivoting sharply on her heel, she closed the distance in three blindingly fast strides and delivered a strong open-handed slap across the maid’s face.

Smacckk!

The sharp crack echoed loudly through the empty hall.

"Keep your filthy mouth shut," Regina let out, her eyes blazing.

Mony, who had watched her crony get struck down in shock, instantly recovered, her surprise melting into rage.

"Who the hell do you think you are?! You are nothing but a filthy peasant from the slums!" She shrieked, lunging forward and twisting her hands into the crisp fabric of Regina’s collar.

Regina attempted to wrench herself free, but the other two maids immediately swarmed her, brutally pinning her arms to her sides.

"Let go of me! I am the personal maid to His Majesty—nghh!"

The maid whom Regina had just slapped dug her nails into Regina’s ribs, cutting off her protest with a gasp of pain.

"You are just a cheap whore! Stop pretending you are anything better than the dirt on our boots!" Mony spat.

Together, the three of them forcefully dragged the struggling Regina out the side door, hauling her into the secluded, shadowed alleyway behind the girls’ bathhouse. With a heave, they hurled her against the rough wooden siding.

Regina let out a pained groan, her knees buckling as she hit the ground. She immediately tried to push herself back up, but Mony ruthlessly grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her head back before slamming her shoulder into the wooden wall once more.

A thin line of crimson blood began to trickle down from a fresh scrape on Regina’s forehead where she had struck the rough wood.

The three girls simply loomed over her, snickering with delight.

"Your mother is a cheap whore, and every single soul in the slums knows it, Regina."

"It’s true. I sent my own brother to her miserable shack yesterday, and he bragged that your dying mother didn’t even hesitate before spreading her legs for a copper coin."

"Like mother, like daughter, I suppose. I am certain you spread your own legs just to get past the castle gates, didn’t you?" Mony sneered, stepping closer.

Regina kept her gaze pinned to the dirt, clenching her trembling fists against the fabric of her apron.

Mony reached down, seizing a thick handful of Regina’s silken, copper-brown hair.

"Was it this pretty hair you used to catch the nobles’ attention?" She taunted, tightening her grip.

Regina immediately grabbed at Mony’s wrist, gasping in pain.

The older maid merely smirked, yanking the hair even harder.

"L—Let me go!" Regina screamed.

"Nobody is coming to save you! Every single one of us despises you, you little wretch!" Mony spat, while the other two maids watched with deeply contented smiles, as if they had been waiting an eternity to witness this exact humiliation.

"Stop this."

The three attackers instantly froze at the sound of the voice.

Pivoting around, they found Alice standing there.

Seeing that it was only Alice, Mony and the others immediately released a collective sigh of relief. Mony quickly regained her smirk.

"Do you genuinely want me to stop, Alice? Take a good look at her. This is the wretched whore who stole the royal duties you faithfully held for years, simply by spreading her legs for the entire castle guard. I wonder exactly how many knights she serviced to get where she is?"

"Probably a couple hundred, just like her filthy mother."

Regina glared up at them, her muscles tensing as she prepared to pounce once more, but Alice intervened, stepping forward and gripping Mony’s forearm with startling strength.

"I said, release her, Mony," Alice said, her gaze as cold.

Mony grunted in pain from the bruising grip, immediately letting go of Regina’s hair and taking a hasty step back.

"W—What was that for?! Why in the world are you helping her?" Mony snapped, glaring incredulously at Alice.

Ignoring the question entirely, Alice stepped toward Regina and extended a hand.

Regina looked up through her tangled hair, one hand pressing against her bleeding forehead. She stared at Alice’s stoic, unreadable expression for a long moment before finally accepting the offered hand, allowing her to pull her upright.

Once Regina was steady, Alice turned her piercing gaze back toward the three girls.

"Regina is the personal maid of His Majesty, King Lumiel. Did you completely forget that fact in your blind jealousy?" She asked sternly.

"She only obtained that duty by bewitching the knights and nobles, Alice! This little whore cares nothing for His Majesty, and she certainly will not be faithful to him! She crawled out of nowhere, for all we know, she might as well be an enemy spy!" Mony shrieked defensively.

Behind Alice, Regina instantly went entirely rigid at the terrifyingly accurate accusation.

"His Majesty personally selected Regina to serve as his maid. Yet here you are, brutally beating her in a dark alleyway," Alice pointed out. "What exactly do you think will happen to you when His Majesty gets word of this? If Regina simply returns to the royal quarters and informs the King that you attacked his personally chosen servant?"

Mony’s face instantly drained of all color, turning an ashen, sickly white. The other two maids looked equally horrified, blinded by their own malice until the reality of royal retribution was spelled out for them.

"Just leave," Alice sighed, thoroughly exasperated by their cowardly expressions.

The three women shot Regina one final glare through gritted teeth before hastily retreating, scurrying out like frightened rats.

Alice watched them flee until they were entirely out of sight, before slowly turning her attention back to Regina.

"You should properly treat that head wound before returning to His Majesty’s side," Alice advised. Turning on her heel, she prepared to walk away.

"W—Wait," Regina called out, hastily reaching forward to grasp Alice’s sleeve. She looked at her with a complicated, guilty expression. "Thank you... for your help."

"It was only the right thing to do," Alice replied simply, attempting to pull away and leave, but Regina steadfastly maintained her grip on the sleeve.

"But why did you actually help me?" Regina asked. "They were right... I stole the position you faithfully worked for years to maintain. Are you truly not upset with me?"

"I refuse to be upset over such trivial matters..." Alice replied, glancing back over her shoulder with a serene, unbothered expression. "If His Majesty is happy having you by his side... then I will be perfectly happy for him."

"Are you truly not angry with me?" Regina asked, her tone dead serious. She found it impossible to believe that Alice harbored no resentment toward the woman who had usurped her life’s work.

Alice paused for a moment, turning her body fully to lock eyes with Regina.

"I will only be angry with you if you ever hurt His Majesty in any way," she said, her gentle voice dropping to deliver a cold warning.

Without another word, Alice gently pulled her arm free and walked away.

Regina stood alone in the backway, staring after Alice’s retreating figure with wide, trembling eyes. Slowly, she lowered her gaze to the dirt, clenching her fists, fighting back the hot tears threatening to spill over her lashes.

"I... I do not want to hurt him..." She muttered to the empty air, biting her trembling lip until she tasted blood.