If I had to describe my first day back in the palace in one word, it would be unpleasant.



Not because I missed my family already or because I actually enjoyed my quiet life away from royal chaos. No. It was because everyone in the palace was acting insufferably weird.



The King, for one, was treating me as if I were a random maid—one he barely acknowledged.



"Prepare my tea," he would say flatly.



"Bring the documents to my desk," he'd order.



Not once did he throw an insult my way. Not a single "You're slow" or "Try not to spill anything this time."



And that was terrifying.



The King was acting too normal. Too composed. He didn't even look annoyed when I purposefully took longer than usual to bring his tea, just to see if he'd snap at me.



He didn't.



He simply drank it in silence and went back to work.



I knew something was wrong the moment I saw his guards.



They looked like they had personally fought off an army of demons with nothing but kitchen spoons. Dark circles under their eyes, sluggish movements, the occasional head bobbing as if they were this close to passing out.



What happened here while I was gone?



"Hey," I whispered to one of the guards standing by the throne. "Are you okay? You look like you died and came back to life."



The guard nearly jumped at being addressed but quickly straightened. "I—We are fine, Lady Thalia."



"You are not fine. You look like a walking corpse."



The guard hesitated. Then, in a very quiet whisper, he muttered, "His Majesty hasn't been sleeping properly since you left."



I blinked. "Excuse me?"



The guard paled, realizing he had spoken too much, and clamped his mouth shut.



Huh.



So the King was losing sleep.



Interesting.



Very interesting.



I was about to push for more details when I heard a familiar, exasperated voice.



"Well, well. Look who finally crawled back."



I turned to see Cassian standing there, arms crossed, smirking at me.



"I didn't 'crawl back,'" I corrected. "I was summoned."



Cassian hummed as he looked me over. "And yet you came running."



"I did not—"



"I hope you didn't expect a warm welcome," he continued. "His Majesty has been—how do I put this—a nightmare since you left. If you think he's been acting cold to you, just imagine how it was for the rest of us."



Oh.



I resisted the urge to glance at the King, who was currently pretending I didn't exist.



I wasn't sure how to feel about this new information.



Before I could respond, Duke Adrian appeared, looking far too smug.



"I see you've returned," Adrian said smoothly. "Have you come to reclaim your position as the palace's most troublesome maid?"



"I never lost my position," I replied, narrowing my eyes.



Adrian chuckled. "No, but the nobles certainly wished you had."



I frowned at that.



And then, before I could even process what he meant, Damian—who I had almost forgotten about in all the chaos—walked up to me with a sharp, suspicious gaze.



"You left," he said bluntly.



"...Yes?"



"You came back."



"Also... yes?"



Damian narrowed his eyes. "You must have a reason."



"I—" I stopped.



The way he was looking at me—no, the way all three of them were looking at me—made it clear that they knew something was up.



And honestly?



I was starting to feel it too.



The palace had changed in my absence.



There was an unspoken tension in the air, as if everyone was waiting for something—or someone—to make the first move.



The nobles were watching me like hawks, their gazes calculating and cautious.



The King was pushing me away, and I wasn't sure why.



Something was going on.



And I was going to get to the bottom of it.