Mary quickly pulled Luna back, after all, they were just here to see Amy making a fool of herself, thus there was no need to start a conflict at this time. Ralph might be suspicious about them when he knew about the conflict.
“What Amy sis said was weird enough. It’s only a jade, is there any need to fight with your younger sister for it?”
Mary caressed the jade on her neck, to be honest, she did not have much desire towards the jade, if Amy was asking for it, she would give her, but not that easily.
“What you said was right, I’m the elder sister, could you, as the younger one, refuse when the elder sister wants your thing?” Amy was the perfect example to define the word “arrogant”.
Mary smiled, and gave the jade on her neck to Amy generously—God would make someone crazy before making him or her doom.
Amy was so arrogant now that she even fought for an ordinary jade, therefore she would suffer a great deal in the future.
Luna still wanted to argue, but Mary said with a soft smile, “It’s okay, Luna sis. If I do not like the string bag of the jade, I’ll let Bella to make a new one for me.”
Luna could only give up although she was still angry.
Amy, as if not wanting to let Mary get away, pointed outside and said, “Also, who asks you to nose into other people’s business? They’re my maidens, my people! Who gave you the right to punish them?”
Amy thought Mary had lost in term of momentum when she gave her the jade, she thought when she spoke, Mary would apologize obediently, but she thought wrong, Mary would not give in for a bit this time.
“What are you talking about, Amy sis. I was being nice to help Amy sis discipline the maidens, and yet Amy sis does not thank me, but criticizes me instead.”
Amy startled, and then sneered, “They’re my people, there seems to be no need for you to discipline them?”
“No matter who does they belong to, they’re the servants of this palace after all. As the master of this palace, I have the right to discipline them when they’ve done something wrong.”
“How dare you!” Amy wanted to sit up and argue with Mary, but her movement was too big and she gasped out of pain.
“Looks like Amy sis is not convinced,” Mary sneered, “How about this, we ask someone to be the judge to see which one of us is correct.”
Amy had no idea what had she gotten up her sleeve, she then also sneered, “Well I do want to see which god are you inviting here!”
Amy was emboldened. She was whipped hard by Ralph, and therefore terrified whenever she saw him. However, Ralph was still at the royal palace during this time and not yet back. Amy was very familiar with Ralph’s schedule, there would be a large meeting once every five days and he could only return in the evening from the meeting, and today it was it. As long as Mary did not invite Ralph to come over, Amy would not be scared, there was still the second concubine having her back anyway.
Mary turned and said to Jennifer, “Find Amber in the front court and tell her to invite Granny Gordy to come over, ask her to tell Granny Gordy that Amy sis and I have something to ask her and are waiting for her at Spring Court.”
Amy had never been concerned to Granny Gordy, but she still called for the maiden in Spring Court just in case, “Go and ask my mother to come over from Prosperity Hall.”
With sarcasm, Luna instantly replied, “What, is Amy sis feeling guilty, knowing herself to be unreasonable?”
Amy straightened her neck and debunked, “Who says I’m feeling guilty?”
Luna clicked her tongue, “If Amy sis does not feel guilty, why does she need to invite her mother to come over? Who doesn’t know that mother loves you the most, it’s obvious that you’re asking her to come over to help you out.”
Amy, still wanted to argue her way out, replied, “What Mary sis did was not fair too. Granny Gordy used to serve her biological mother in the past, who knows if she still misses the old feelings or not. How could you know Granny Gordy would not be biased towards Mary sis when she comes over?” She addressed the queen, Lenroe as “Mary’s biological mother” instead of “mother” due to taboo and also as a sign of contempt towards Mary.
Mary suddenly felt a heartbeat, Granny Gordy was actually her mother’s old servant? She had no idea about it before! It looked like it would be easier to subdue Granny Gordy if she still missed the old feelings.
Not long after that, the second concubine and Granny Gordy arrived almost at the same time.
Granny Gordy bowed at the second concubine humbly. The second concubine hated Lenroe the most in her past, because Granny Gordy used to be Lenroe’s servant, she would not give her a good face when she saw her. Not to mention Granny Gordy had built up a strong dignity besides Ralph in the regent household during these ten years, therefore it was hard not to dislike her.
Ralph was not at home today, and she was here to support her own daughter, therefore the second concubine gathered her energy and deliberately let Granny Gordy bend standing. She only nodded after a while and replied, “Rise up, Granny Gordy.”
Granny Gordy stood still neither humbly nor arrogantly, with a partly indifferent voice, she said, “Just now, the fifth mistress asked someone to call for me, asking me to judge for something. May I know what is the matter?”
Luna blurted out the whole incident. Having the effort to maintain the authenticity of the whole incident, she still could not help but to be slightly biased towards Mary.
Amy could not refute her words, Luna though biased towards Mary, but what she said was true.
Upon finishing her sentence, the second concubine answered, “It was clearly Mary’s fault. Spring Court belongs to Amy, it is of no doubt Amy is the one giving orders. Even if Brit and Gwen did do something wrong, it should be Amy who discipline the servants herself, when has it become Mary’s responsibility? Also, Mary is the younger sister, how could her order the servants of her elder sister? Plus, Brit and Gwen had not done anything wrong. Amy was injured, Spring Court should be in silence to let her rest and heal her wounds……”
“Mother,” Mary interrupted the words of the second concubine lightly, “allow me to disagree mother’s words. The reason why Mary took the place of Amy sis to discipline the maidens was because seeing her incapable of handling the stuff in Spring Court due to her illness, therefore making the maidens lazy. Mary only took the initiative to discipline them because Mary was afraid that the maidens did not serve Amy sis nicely.”
“The problem is I do not even need you to poke your nose into my business and become a busybody about it!” Amy was confident to herself when the second concubine was around.
Mary, still neither humble nor arrogant, replied steadily, “Amy sis was right, that is the problem. I thought for Amy sis and discipline the maidens for her, and it is correct. Or else, Amy sis would not keep on saying that she does not need my help to discipline her maidens but would say that it is wrong to discipline her maidens. The reason I invited Granny Gordy here was to judge whether the fact that I discipline the maidens was right or wrong. Now that Amy sis has agreed that it is right for me to discipline the maidens, please do make me an apology.”
“Why should I apologize to you?”
Amy instantly raged, and was even baffled. Why should her apologize to Mary? She was nicely lying down on her bed, ready to have a nice afternoon nap, yet she was not able to sleep, and had a whole bellyful of grievance. Her maidens were forced to kneel down until now, yet she still needed to apologize to Mary? No way!
Mary sneered, “Alright, it’s fine if Amy sis does not want to make an apology. Granny Gordy is here and not dare to speak because of mother giving her pressure with her identity, but no matter how high is mother’s position, there’s no way to surpass father, right? Amy sis, wait until father is back in the evening, let’s ask him whether it’s you or me who has done wrong.”
Hearing that she wanted to seek for father, Amy trembled in fear, she stared at the second concubine with tearful eyes and called her like a pampered child, “Mom—”
Yet the second concubine threw her a look and said, “What your sister said was reasonable. You’re the elder sister, yet you don’t act like one, and is even worse than your younger sister. Hurry up and apologize to your sister!”
Seeing the second concubine’s look, she apologized to Mary reluctantly.
Mary, with a serious look, replied, “Since Amy sis had made me an apology, I would not talk about this in front of father, but I think Granny Gordy would. Right? Granny Gordy.”
Granny Gordy nodded without a single hesitation and said, “Yes, your Highness. Everything in this palace, no matter large or small, would be reported to his Majesty as long as I am notified. Also, his Majesty had specifically asked that any matter regarding the four mistresses must be reported.”
Amy was in complete despair, she glared at Mary hatefully and said, “You must be doing it on purpose, you must be doing it on purpose! Right?”
Mary took up the only jade left in the case which was tied with amber strings and said lightly, “Amy sis, I just want to use this matter to tell you that it’s not that easy to take others’ thing, randomly.”
Amy was so angry that she wanted to hop up and beat Mary up, yet she was stopped by the second concubine.
The second concubine said with a false smile, “It’s already spring, and your sister’s temper has gone worse and worse. I’ve decided to send your sister to Munashii Temple a few days later so she could rest peacefully. It’s also time for a trip, so I want to bring you sisters there too. What do you think?”
Mary squinted and kept staring at the second concubine. Her behavior today was abnormal. Except her criticism to her at first, she did not even burst into anger when she was bullying Amy, yet she wanted to bring them along for a trip and move Amy to a temple to rest? These did not like her usual doings. How strange.
There must be something fishy going on when there was abnormality.
This statement was Mary’s dogma. If she could discover her best friend’s abnormality earlier in her previous life, she would not have had such a tragic death.
The second concubine was having goose bumps all over her body staring by Mary, she held back her desire to escape and asked, “So what do you think?”
Luna, of no doubt, would not give up her opportunity to travel and she agreed instantly, while for Mary, she was feeling bored being kept inside the palace learning all sorts of things, and also wanted to see what trick the second concubine was going to play, she then agreed too.
The second concubine was clearly relieved, and she gave Luna and Mary an amiable smile. She even said to punish Brit and Gwen for neglecting Luna and Mary by not giving them a whole month of salary.