Chapter 44 (1/2)
Chapter 44
Lisbeth’s hands trembled visibly. She couldn’t hide the fact that her eyes were quickly filling up with tears. The dowager empress was watching the emperor and I with annoyance when she noticed Lisbeth.
The dowager empress looked at her with interest.
Then suddenly, a commotion was heard from outside the reception room.
Crash!
I heard something breaking sharply.
What’s happening?
The noise became louder.
“Nooooo! My Cuuup!”
“… a!”
“Plea…. calm d…!”
“The dowa… is…!”
I couldn’t hear clearly, but I did hear a young child crying.
“No!”
The emperor and I looked at each other in confusion. When I turned around, I noticed the dowager empress’ face crumpling in anger and frustration.
“M, mother!”
The child outside was crying out desperately. It was clear the dowager empress’s daughter was outside.
What I found most disturbing was the fact that her own child was crying out for her, yet the dowager empress looked annoyed.
It was such a cruel expression I almost screamed in shock.
The dowager empress ordered sharply, “What are the maids and the nannies doing!? Can’t they even take care of one child!?”
At her anger, the maids bowed apologetically. None of the maids seemed surprised at how the dowager empress was reacting to her own child’s distress.
The dowager empress said coldly, “Make it go away!”
I could still hear the child crying. Any mother would feel heartbroken hearing a child’s suffering, but not the dowager empress.
“Yes, your highness.”
One of the maids bowed and quickly walked towards the door. When she opened it, something unexpected happened.
A small girl about seven or eight stormed in before anyone could stop her. Her hair was beautifully red, just like her mother’s.
When she entered the room, the child looked around and brightened after spotting the dowager empress. She ran towards her mother.
The little girl grabbed onto the dowager empress’s yellow dress and looked up with tear-filled eyes.
“Mother!” The child explained, “I brought a cup of raspberry juice for you… But I dropped it and broke the cup. It was so delicious…! I brought it for you because sis said you like raspberries!”
The child’s hopeful face clearly wanted to be either praised or consoled by her mother, but when she saw the dowager empress’s face, she became pale with fear.
I felt cold. The maids were watching nervously at the mother and the daughter.
The dowager empress was looking down at her own child as if she was looking at an annoying bug. She looked resentful at her daughter.
The dowager empress raised her hand. And…
SLAP!
She pushed her daughter away angrily.
The little girl fell backward on her butt. She looked up at her mother and finally started to cry.
The dowager empress didn’t even blink an eye. She ordered her maids again.
“Get her out of here. Punish the maids and the nannies responsible for this shenanigan.”
“Yes, your highness.”
When the principle maid in waiting waved, the maids from the outside ran inside.
A middle-aged woman who looked like the child’s nanny tried to lift the girl, but the young princess wasn’t quite done yet. As soon as she realized what was happening, the princess stood up quickly and grabbed onto the dowager empress’s dress again.
“MOTHER!”
“Princess!”
“Princess Roselia!”
The maids exclaimed anxiously. The dowager empress looked like she was about to lose it.
This was the first time I had ever seen the dowager empress showing such a strong emotion. She looked hysterical.
She screamed uncontrollably, “Let it go!”
She raised her hand.
Was she going to hit a child? Her own daughter?