Mary nodded, not intending to blame her, she advised, “Do be more careful in the future. As for Bethany Lewis, don’t act rashly that alert the enemy and order the people beneath not to mention about Chelsea and pretend to not know about this matter. Find out more by talking to Bethany Lewis to know who she has been in close contact with recently and inform me secretly without telling others.”
Angelica agreed. After some thought, Mary then asked, “Who’s the steadiest amongst the maidens?”
“Sophia,” Angelica blurted out without hesitation, “Sophia might be the youngest, yet is the stadiest amongst the maidens. She seldom talks, and always does her needlework in the corner after finishing her work.”
“Good. Ask her to help me keep a close eye on Bethany Lewis,” Mary’s look suddenly became stern, “From now on, hide everything from Bethany Lewis regarding Planifolia Garden, I don’t believe she could still do anything without my watch!”
Since then, everyone from Planifolia Garden did hide things from Bethany Lewis, while Bethany still thought nobody would know her doings and did not realize she was already being watched.
A day before the Cold Food Festival, the side consort ordered the maidens to make preparations as Ralph wanted to celebrate Cold Food Festival in the palace tomorrow while she brought the mistresses to Munashii Temple to perform a Taoist ritual ceremony.
The people all adopted Taoism as their belief in the present. Munashii Temple though not a royal temple, was a place with efficacious power. Some said that Gautama Carana from Munashii Temple had become immortal with magical powers. Therefore, although the current abbot of Munashii Temple was Gautama Carana’s disciple, Gautama Damma, there was a still a lot of devout worshippers going to the temple every day.
The side consort had greeted Gautama Damma from Munashii Temple several days ago and informed him that she wanted to bring the mistresses from the regent household to have a few days stay at the temple. Daring not to neglect the family of Lord Regent, Gautama Damma put out a sign earlier to reject other worshippers and to solely welcome the Debeur family.
The guest room had been cleaned, and the young unruly priests were being shoved off earlier just to not offend the Debeur family.
When the day had arrived, the middle gate of the regent palace was opened, and the side consort sat inside an imperial carriage with a canopy, bringing along her close maidens, Tourmaline, Margaret and Madam Barbosa. Another two carriages decorated with colorful tassels followed behind, with the one at the front sitting Grace, Amy and their maidens, Molly, Sandy, Brit and Gwen, and the one at the back sitting Mary, Luna and their maidens, Angelica, Azuki, Jewel and Jade.
Mary brought Angelica and Azuki along, leaving Daisy and Odessa these two big maidens at home was mainly to keep an eye on Bethany, afraid that she would mess things up when she was not around.
Initially, she wanted Angelica to stay and look after the big matter, but she kept feeling her eyes twitching as if something big was destined to happen afterwards. Remembering that the side consort wanted to bring them to Munashii Temple for a few days stay, she made up her mind. The side consort must be planning something evil to harm her; therefore, she brought Angelica who was staid and calm, and Azuki who was clever along.
Mary was anxious along the way, she only replied softly when Luna was being all joyous and cheerful beside her. Luna dozed off when she lost interest and also because of the exhausting journey.
Mary finally felt peace in her mind while Angelica slightly opened the curtain and smiled at her, “My lady, we have finally had a chance to come out and Granny Gordy is not following, so do have some relaxations. Look at all those stalls and hawkers outside, if your Highness has anything in mind, I’ll let the servants following us to buy.”
Mary had some wealth since Ralph had given her money worth of one thousand and two silvers, therefore she could at least buy the food she wanted without having to depend on others’ mood and decision.
Mary was feeling uninterested at all, yet she viewed the scenery outside her through the window. The Cynthian Empire was not too harsh to females, yet girls still needed the company of their family and wore a drapery hat whenever they went out to the street.
Mary was dumb in the past, the side consort did not pay attention to her and she could travel in and out of the palace almost freely. During that time, the side consort had wished she was kidnapped or lost in the streets and never returned.
Mary who was transported back in time had never seen such a street view before, and was intrigued by the stalls and hawkers along the street.
All of a sudden, the clattering of horse hoofs were heard from behind and several strong horses sped past the carriages of Debeur family in just a blink of eyes. A young man on top of a white horse turned and saw Mary face to face when he sped past.
Angelica gasped and quickly let down the curtain, blaming herself, “Aw, it’s all my fault that your Highness was being seen by the perverts.”
Feeling amused, Mary asked, “How do you know that they’re perverts?”
Angelica curled her lips and replied, “Look at all these people, it’s obvious they’re not from some reputable family being able to race their horses at the street. If they are, they must be some rich playboys.”
Mary was feeling better, and she joked on Angelica, “Look at you, when you started practicing physiognomy?” Jokes were jokes, yet she still felt that she had met that handsome man on the horse before.
His great looks seemed to be only found in heaven but not on earth. With only a glance, Mary felt that her eyes were attached to him. She could not believe that there would be such nice-looking people in the world! Mary hated herself for having such scarce vocabularies that she was unable to describe the man’s beauty. If she was asked to describe, she could only say that the young men was a divine creature came down from heaven.
The parade consisted of solely womenfolk, and the side consort had specifically asked the coachman to slow down the carriage due to the crowds going for trips during Cold Food Festival, therefore the convoy of the Debeur family only managed to leave the city at noon.
Realizing that it was impossible to reach Munashii Temple on time, the side consort ordered the people to have a rest outside the city first, and continued their journey after having lunch.
Thanks to Cold Food Festival, the food prepared was cold. Linda from Planifolia Garden was excellent in making desserts. Mary and Luna felt slightly comfortable after having the desserts and also the rose dew made by Luna herself. Both of them did not leave the carriage and dozed off inside, snuggling to each other.
When they were sleeping, Mary heard someone from outside calling to pay their respect, she then woke Luna up and both of them quickly tidied themselves up with the help of their maidens.
If there was someone calling to pay their respect, out of courtesy, the side consort would let Mary and the others to pay their respect to the elders of the person too.
After a while, noticing that there was no more commotion outside, Luna opened the curtain of the carriage out of curiosity and covered half of her face with a handkerchief. She peeked outside and saw a footboy pushing a wheelchair. The young man sitting on the wheelchair, with delicate eyes and finely chiseled features, had a sense of sorrow between his eyebrows and he was whispering something to the footboy.
Luna was intrigued by the sorrow between his brows and thought that this wonderful young man should not be depressed. She hoped she could chase his depression away this instantly.
The young man noticed that someone was staring him and looked towards Luna’s direction. Luna who did not expect that was shocked and her handkerchief was blown away by the wind when her hand loosened.
Luna exclaimed and stuck herself out, wanting to grab the handkerchief but was held tightly by Mary, “Luna sis, what are you doing?”
Luna panicked until she wanted to cry, “Handkerchief, my handkerchief!”
Seeing the handkerchief being blown far away by the wind, Mary pulled Luna down and asked, “Luna sis, is there any mark on your handkerchief?”
A handkerchief was a woman’s intimate object. If there was any mark on top and was picked up by other people, Luna’s reputation would be ruined. Last time, during Ralph’s birthday, there was indecency between Luna and Sebastian Stuart in front of the crowd, but luckily it was the fourth prince Sebastian, so Ralph managed to forbid anyone present at that moment to spread it around, thereby saving Luna’s reputation from deadly harmed.
However, if someone with bad intentions had accidentally picked up the handkerchief with her mark, Luna’s reputation would be gone completely. Until then, she could only choose between two pathways, either taking the tonsure or to commit suicide.
Luna calmed herself down and thought carefully, she then let out a sigh of relief and replied, “No, thank god that handkerchief was just made yesterday and not yet embroidered with my mark, because I thought I could still go to Munashii Temple and finish it. Just now I was searching for a handkerchief and that handkerchief was on top of the luggage, I was lazy to dive down for another one so I took and used that handkerchief. Who knows it was blown away by the wind.”
The carriages of the Debeur family had started to move forward slowly and there was no time to ask the servants to get the handkerchief back. Mary then consoled Luna and said, “There’s no mark on the handkerchief after all. And it’s only a handkerchief so let it be.”
When the carriages of Debeur family had gone far, the man on the wheelchair whispered to the footboy beside him and said, “Sage, go get me that handkerchief.”
Sage obeyed his order and handed the handkerchief to him. The man flipped the handkerchief around and noticed it was just a plain white silk handkerchief, what was different was the edge was already purled, leaving only the embroidery to be done. He smiled and waved it, and a sweet fragrance of rose diffused into his nose.
With a deep inhalation, he smiled and asked, “Does this belong to the fourth daughter of the Debeur family?”
Sage replied with a low voice, “Yes, I heard it with my own ears. Another mistress addressed the mistress just now as ‘Luna sis’.”
The man frowned and asked, “I heard that the fifth daughter of the Debeur family was an idiot?”
Sage explained to the man patiently, “Your Highness must have not known the news since your Highness fell sick a few days ago. It was said that the fifth mistress had encountered a miracle-working doctor that managed to treat her illness, making the fifth mistress who awoke able to read ten lines at one glance and retain what she had read in her memory, talented as if being possessed by spirits.”
“Interesting,” The man smiled, but soon depression crawled up his face, “Unluckily, we don’t know where that miracle-working doctor is, and also don’t know whether he is able to treat me or not.”
Sage consoled the man, “Don’t worry, your Highness. His Majesty and her Ladyship have sent people to search for the doctor.”
With an indifferent look, he stared at the handkerchief inexpressively for a long period time, then kept it under his sleeve and whispered, “Let’s go, Sage. Don’t make the princes wait.”