Ralph fell into silence; he waved his hand as a gesture for Luna and Mary to follow him to the Dewdrop Pavilion.
Luna drew a long breath of relief, seeing Ralph’s face, she knew she was already halfway there to save her and her mother. She felt truly grateful towards Mary, and secretly pinched Mary’s hand which was held by her.
Mary gave her a smile, signaling her not to panic. Both of them walked towards Dewdrop Pavilion with Ralph.
The appearance of the people inside Dewdrop Pavilion was way different than that of Luna.
Upon stepping inside Dewdrop Pavilion, Ralph saw the maidens of Grace and Amy dressed untidily, their hair scattered apart, there were bloody scratches on their face and hands, and their clothes were covered in dirt. They were crying while holding each other, displaying a mournful scene.
Pushing the door open, Grace and Amy were seen hugging each other with their clothes unchanged, hairs and makeup not tidied up. Both of them were bawling as if attending a funeral, while the side consort on the other side too, crying ceaselessly, screamed, “My two poor children!”
Ralph felt a sudden headache and bellowed, “Shut up! All of you! I’m not dead yet, don’t cry like you’re attending my funeral!”
The bellow finally calmed those people down, but the side consort did not give up yet, she pounced and cuddled up to Ralph, sobbing, “Your Majesty, you have to do me justice! I had worked my fingers to the bone taking care of this household. I thought the sisters would go along peacefully and serve your Majesty well, so that your Majesty could be free of worries and focus on the state affairs. Who knows, my tolerance was seen as a form of weakness in others’ eyes! Some people are bullying me until I feel overwhelmed! Your Majesty, if you do not do me justice, there would be no place for me, Grace and Amy in this palace!”
Ralph pushed away the side consort and said coldly, “Who’s bullying you?”
The side consort seized the opportunity to complain, “It’s Concubine Talbert! She treated me as if I was nobody, relying on your Majesty’s love and her not-much-left charm! She didn’t greet me during normal days, but it was fine, I never paid much attention towards vain courtesy, as long as she could serve your Majesty well, I’m willing to turn a blind eye. Yet, god knows she became spoilt and went reckless, even started to bully Grace and Amy! Your Majesty, do have a look at what Concubine Talbert had done to my daughters!”
The side consort signaled Grace and Amy to lift their heads up to let Ralph have a look. Ralph examined their face, except for a few red marks and their swollen red eyes, there were not any large wounds. He frowned and said, “I heard from Granny Gordy that Grace was also not too respectful towards Concubine Talbert.”
“It was her who had first forgotten her identity!” Grace could not help defending for herself, “She was just half-royal, no different than those servants in the palace, yet she dared to hit me? She must be out of her mind!”
“Shut up!” Ralph went outraged, “She’s still counted as your mother! What have you learnt in class? You can’t even learn how to respect your own mother?”
Noticing that Ralph did not look good in the face, the side consort signaled Grace to speak no more, while she cried and said, “Grace was anxious and had no idea what she was saying. In the end, it was Concubine Talbert who ignored her identity and did not pay the respect first. Even if she did remember her identity, she should teach Grace and Amy nicely no matter what they had done wrong. If not, she could have come to me. As their mother, I could have at least taught them some discipline. Also, not to mention Concubine Talbert is your Majesty’s favorite, she could have at least informed your Majesty instead of hitting my daughters. She’s not their biological mother after all.”
Overall, what she had said was to push all the guilt towards Concubine Talbert.
Almost unbearable with her words, Luna who stood outside the door wanted to rush inside and argue with the side consort, but was stopped by Mary. Mary said with a low voice, “‘Lack of forbearance in small matters upsets great plans’. Wait here, there would be time for you to make your debate.”
Ralph did not even want to care about this matter if the matter had not worsened. Feeling headache towards the side consort’s cries, he said in a perfunctory manner, “Alright, alright, I get it, stop crying. How about this, I’ll lock Concubine Talbert up for a few days time to let her reflect upon her wrong doing.”
The punishment was too light for her, thought the side consort and she continued crying, “Your Majesty, this punishment is quite unfair…”
Ralph squinted and stared coldly at her, “What more ‘fair’ punishments do you want?”
His glance was too cold that she shivered, ‘to quit while you were ahead’ they said, while, she replied, “I just feel sorry for Grace and Amy’s sufferings. God knows what happened to Luna, she dared to ignore their sisterhood and beat her sisters up, scolding them. And also Mary, who only stood aside without helping anything…”
“Enough! If not standing aside, do you want her to go and mess with her immature sisters?”
Ralph was definitely exasperated. Just a while ago, he met Mary and Luna. Both girls were sensible, especially Luna. She had cried her eyes out, and her maidens were badly beaten up, yet she struggled to come and apologize to her two sisters, even went as far as to take full responsibility towards the matter. He did not expect the side consort to still wanting to punish her, even dragging in Mary who had not much relationship with the matter.
Ralph was greatly disappointed towards the side consort, and also began to despise her, “I’ve met Mary and Luna during my way here, Luna said she must apologize to Grace and Amy. Both of them are standing outside the door now.” After finishing his words, he called out for Mary and Luna to enter the room.
Mary held Luna’s hand and whispered, “Remember what I’ve told you.”
Luna nodded, with a deep breath, she entered the room with Mary.
Upon seeing her, Amy burst into anger and yelled, “Who had allowed these two sluts to come in? Chase them out now!”
“Shut your mouth!” Seeing Amy blustered, Ralph strode forward and gave her a hard slap in the face.
Ralph knew martial art and had immense strength. That slap was given with force, and Amy’s cheek swollen instantly.
“Father, how could you hit me?” Amy was the most loved daughter back then, now that she was being slapped, she felt unhappy.
“Father, you’re biased! It’s obviously Luna that slut’s fault, but why did you only hit me? And also Mary, Granny Gordy would not have come if she didn’t tell her!”
“So you’re saying that Granny Gordy shouldn’t inform me when you’re having a fight with your sisters?”
Ralph squinted his eyes forming a threatening look, with a fierce glare at Amy, he sneered, “You kept on repeating the word ‘slut’, did you know who were you addressing? They’re your sisters! As a daughter from a prestigious family, your mouth was foul and dirty, who did you learn it from? Luna was pleading hard for you a while ago, but look at yourself!”
Ralph pointed at the court and continued angrily, “Look at your maidens! Every single one of them, disheveled and disgraced, was crying as if attending someone else’s funeral! And look at you two, complained to me the moment I got here, as if everything was Luna and Mary’s fault, could you two, as elder sisters, be completely free from the blame? How could you beat your younger sister up just because she didn’t agree with you? Even worse, you were beating her two to one. If not for Concubine Talbert, Luna would have been beaten to death!”
“Who said that? It was Luna relying on the help of that pathetic peasant Concubine Talbert to bully us two! And also that Mary, who only stared at us getting beaten up!”
“Looks like you didn’t have enough beating!” Ralph was angry until his hand quivered. Aiming at Amy’s face, he gave her another hard slap. Now Amy’s other side of the face had gone swollen too.
Amy could not take it anymore and burst out crying.
Mary immediately poked Luna. As if awakened from her dream, she quickly rushed and hugged Ralph’s legs, crying on the floor, “Father! I beg you to not beat Amy sis anymore! It was all Luna’s fault! Luna should not have provoked her two sisters! Father! Come at Luna if you want to hit or scold!”
Ralph held her up, “My child, rise! What happened today was not your fault. There’s nothing more for you now here, take your younger sister back. Both of you had gone through a lot today. I’ll let the kitchen cook something good for you at night. Now please go, you guys have classes to attend tomorrow.” His voice was extremely gentle, forming contrast to his look just now when he hit and scolded Amy.
As Luna was trying to say something else, Amy lifted her head and glared, “I don’t need your crocodile tears here! You hypocritical slut!”
Seeing Amy did not have a single repentance, Ralph’s whole body quivered out of rage and yelled, “Someone give me my horse whip!”
Mary quickly pulled back Luna, pretending to be afraid and left after greeting him. To be frank, she would love to stay longer for the show, but staying there might cause her trouble. Nevertheless, her aim had been achieved today, as for the results afterwards, she would ask Chloe to inquire about that after a while.
On the other hand, when the side consort heard that Ralph was getting his horse whip, she was shocked and quickly wrapped around Ralph’s arm, crying and begging. As for Grace, she shrieked out of terror, hopped down her bed and dived into Madam Barbosa’s chest.
It was Amy who clenched her teeth and refused to beg for mercy.
Everyone in the palace knew about Ralph’s horse whip, that whip could kill a man back in the wars. It was only few years ago, when Ralph was dealing with a traitor, he whipped the traitor to his death, and the whip was stained red with blood.
Now that the whip was taken out again, it was clear that Amy could not escape from it. She might be whipped to death when Ralph had a sudden rise in temper. If not dead, she could have been bedridden for almost half a year.