Mary was agile and the bead flower tossed by Amy could not hit her at all. She was sly enough to pretend to be in fear and she clasped the side consort’s arm. She hid behind her and treated her like a shield. The bead flower then gave a direct hit on the side consort’s forehead.
The side consort’s forehead had just been hurt and was still in pain. Tears sprang into the side consort’s eyes when her forehead was getting another strike by the hard bead flower. She pointed at Amy feeling exasperated and could not utter a word due to the pain.
Afraid that Amy stopped, Mary gave Amy a smile when no one noticed and shaped her mouth to pronounce the word “bitch” without making a sound.
Her action was clearly visible to Amy’s eyes. Amy was already burning with rage, now that her rage had surged to the maximum level and could no longer be suppressed; she pulled out the hairpin on her hair and tossed to Mary.
The tip of the hairpin was exceptionally sharp and could be used as a murder weapon. Initially, Mary was able to dodge it, yet nothing ventured, nothing gained. If she did not force Amy into a checkmate today, not only that all their hard works made for the preparations wasted, she would also feel sorry for Norman who had come to Munashii Temple to help her during late night.
Although she had no idea what Norman’s real purpose was until now, at least he still did not harm her and Mary chose to be friendly to him.
The only way to ruin Amy and make sure she could no longer hold her head high was to let Ralph witness the worst outcome. Therefore, Mary decided not to dodge nor run and even protected the side consort by standing before her.
Nean was clever enough, he had already opened up the doors of the main hall when Amy started to behave recklessly, and those maidens and servants had all witnessed Amy tossing the terrifyingly sharp golden hairpin towards the side consort and Mary.
While it was at this crucial moment, Mary who used to be idiotic in the past and was disliked by the side consort after she had recovered dragged the side consort back and blocked in front of the flying hairpin with her flesh-and-blood body. The golden hairpin then pierced straight across Mary’s shoulder.
“Mary sis!”
With a shriek, Luna dashed towards Mary. Everybody in the hall was startled to witness the scene and even the side consort was at a loss.
Luna quickly tucked out a handkerchief and pressed it against Mary’s wound on the shoulder to stop the bleeding, yet momentarily it was completely dyed red by the fresh blood. Seeing the color on Mary’s face gradually faded, Luna’s blood ran cold and she who had never lost her temper in front of the servants yelled to them who was standing outside, “Are you all dead? Hurry up and get a doctor!”
Mary knew it was only a small wound and she could handle it without even needing the doctor during her previous life. Yet the wound had become a serious matter for her current body which was not yet cleared of the poison.
Her weakness was not pretended as she did feel somewhat dizzy and her dizziness worsened upon hearing Luna’s cries beside her ears. She plucked Luna’s sleeve and said with a feeble voice, “Luna sis, I feel dizzy.” She looked fragile with her tiny voice.
The poignancy stirred within Luna triggered her tears to drop further, yet Madam Barbosa still added fuel to fire at this point of time, “Oh dear, what should we do now? Munashii Temple is far from the city, if we need to get the doctor to come over, it’s going to take about a day. Until then, I’m afraid the fifth mistress would be gone.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Luna was apprehensive that as a noble mistress she swore. “If Mary’s dead, I’m going to take your old life to compensate for it!”
“Stop talking nonsense, Luna!” The side consort immediately responded after the initial shock. Although she had no idea what had gone wrong today and why Gautama Damma did not show up, yet the upshot she wanted had been achieved.
Madam Barbosa’s words had reminded her that if the doctor did not get here on time, Mary’s petty life would be gone today. Even if Ralph asked about it when they returned to the regent palace, she could explain that it was due to Mary’s own carelessness. As for the worst scenario, she could say that it was Amy who caused it by accident during the sisters’ banter.
Nevertheless, no matter how angry Ralph would be, he would not beat Amy to death since Mary had already passed away. He would not keep it in heart after a year and a half when his memory towards the incident slowly faded. Besides, he might not even pay attention to it when Mary was dead since he had not cared for her in the past.
As for Luna, it would be even easier because Concubine Talbert was still locked up at the moment. She could threaten Luna with her mother’s life if Luna dared saying anything unpleasant to her ear. She believed Luna would not risk her mother’s life.
As for the servants, she could randomly find an excuse to shove them to the hamlet and murdered them in the middle of the way without notice. Everything would be perfect after that.
Madam Barbosa was the side consort’s ‘dowry servant’ and the side consort relied heavily on her. Luna knew the side consort would not let her go easily after they returned as she had chastised Madam Barbosa in a hurry.
Yet she could not care much about that as Mary was now in grave danger. She wanted to plead the side consort to quickly send help to get the doctor, yet when she raised her head and met the deep eyes of the side consort, she knew things had gone to the bad side.
As expected, the side consort spoke with a mournful voice, “Luna, I know you’re close to Mary, and I feel pity towards Mary too. Yet you have to know, Madam Barbosa was right. We’re now at Munashii Temple, until we manage to get a doctor from the city, I’m afraid that Mary would already be…”
She tucked out a hanky and started to wipe her invisible tears with a sorrowful look.
Luna was outraged, she bit her teeth and replied, “If so, how could we still do nothing and just see Mary dies like that?”
The side consort’s lip curved up and put up an indiscernible smile. “Of course not. How about this, I’ll send people to rush back to the city this instant, as for whether the doctor manage to get here on time, it all depends on Mary’s luck.” Yet her heart was filled with hatred. People said that Mary was fortunate that she was able to recover from her illness. She would love to see if her luck was truly that good this time!
“There’s no need for that, I’ve brought a doctor by chance,” a polite voice appeared from the outside of the main hall.
The crowd immediately turned to see who the comer was. Luna spotted Kace who was sitting on a wheelchair beside a group of people, color flared in her cheeks and she lowered her head bashfully. Yet when her eyes saw blood disgorging from Mary’s shoulder, she forgot everything and braved herself. She raised her head and pleaded with cries in her voice, “Please do save my sister, your Highness.”
It was the ninth prince, James Stuart who spoke just now. All the princes had arrived too, with Gautama Damma following after them.
The side consort was completely baffled. Hasn’t Damma said that the main hall was specially set up for her? Then where did these people emerge from?
Of course, the side consort had joined the banquet of the palace before and she was still familiar with the princes. After she had recovered from the shock, she quickly bowed and threw a curtsy. “Greetings, your Highnesses.”
The side consort was still regarded as the hostess of the regent household since Lord Regent did not have a formal queen, therefore the princes all stooped slightly to show her some respect.
The side consort was satisfied, she had already laid her eyes on the eighth prince, Leonard Stuart and intended to let Grace, who was renowned for her gentle nature and modesty, marry him. She wanted to let Grace display her good sides in front of Leonard therefore she motioned to Grace with a smile on her face. “Grace, come over and the meet their Highnesses.”
Grace had already known the side consort’s plan; she took dainty steps towards the princes with a blushing face and performed a curtsy in front of them. She specifically gave Leonard a gaze when she rose.
Leonard was already an adult, not only that he had a discipline granny to teach him the etiquettes, he was already adept at handling women too. Although he appeared virtuous, yet he was actually an adept in terms of romance. He quickly understood upon seeing Grace’s behavior and he was extremely happy at heart.
He had discussed with his aides and staff and they all agreed that the best way to compete with the crown prince, Henry was to draw Lord Regent to their side. Unfortunately, Ralph was a stubborn guy and to change his mind, he was afraid that he needed to lay his hand on his daughters.
It was said that Ralph treated his daughters as his lifeblood, if he managed to marry one of his daughters; Ralph was compelled to lend him a hand for the sake of his daughter’s dignity.
Ralph had four daughters in total and Leonard was picky in terms of his choice of wife. Although the fifth mistress was the formal daughter, yet she was idiotic before and he could not guarantee that her disease would not recur even though she had recovered, therefore marrying her would be a risk.
The fourth mistress though obedient and docile, yet she was given birth by a peasant and her mother had a very low dignity. He was afraid that Ralph would not care much about her even though she was married to him.
As for the side consort, the mother of the rest of the two mistresses, she was now basically the hostess of the regent household and naturally, the position of the two mistresses would be higher than anyone else. Sadly, the third mistress who was renowned as the top talented mistress in the city was engaged with Kace, that paralyzed waste, therefore he needed to seize the second mistress no matter how.
Luckily, the second mistress and the side consort had laid their eyes on him according to the current situation he saw.
Leonard’s lip curved and let out a smile. His smile made the fourth prince, Sebastian who was standing beside him extremely uncomfortable.
He had heard that the mistresses of the Debeur family had godlike beauty except the idiotic fifth mistress before. He had thought that Luna was already pretty enough when he first saw her, now that he saw Grace and Amy with her tear-streaked face, his body had already gone numb.
As for Amy, she was in a trance upon seeing the masculine and handsome princes, especially the ninth prince who was standing at the front with a dazzling feature. She felt unsatisfied when the side consort only let Grace to greet them. She then grabbed Madam Barbosa’s arm, limped forward and deliberately squeezed Grace to the side while beaming at the princes. “Amy’s here to greet your Highnesses.”
“Kace, so this is your dainty fiancé?” the sixth prince suddenly laughed and spoke with malicious intention.