Chapter 28
Things that grew close to the ground were dug up with a hoe, while the taller ones were cut down with a sickle.
How long had they been bent over working like that?
Cindy straightened her stiff back for a moment and happened to notice someone walking steadily down the narrow garden path. She took a deep breath.
Kitty, who had been happily digging up dandelions, also sensed a shadow fall over her and looked up.
Standing there was Princess Amelia, the spring sunlight crowning her head like a wreath, quietly looking down at Kitty.
Wrapped in layers of a pale pink dress like newly blossomed cherry petals, she looked like the spirit of spring itself.
…Except tears of resentment streamed down her face.
And she had come alone, without a single maid or knight accompanying her.
“This is…”
“Hm?”
“This is all…”
Cindy and Kitty silently watched the First Princess, who had suddenly brought the breath of spring to the shabby palace of the Second Princess.
They watched her trembling shoulders as she struggled to hold back her tears.
They watched her tightly clenched fists.
“This is all your fault!”
“Your Highness!”
Without warning, Amelia raised one hand high into the air.
The next instant—
Smack!
A loud slap echoed above Kitty’s head.
Completely stunned, Kitty looked up at the maid who was now tightly hugging her.
Cindy had bitten her lower lip so hard it had turned white.
Her head had been knocked slightly to one side.
The cheek visible beneath her hazelnut-colored hair was already beginning to swell bright red.
She had been slapped.
Amelia had slapped Cindy!
Frozen in shock, Kitty gasped as Amelia glared furiously and marched toward them again.
She had no idea what had made Amelia so angry this time, but the expression on her face suggested she was about to do something terrible.
Straightening her head, Cindy spoke firmly despite the rapidly swelling mark on her cheek.
“Even if you are a princess, you cannot behave like this.”
Amelia’s glare immediately turned even colder.
“If you don’t want to be beaten until your shell cracks, get out of my way.”
She raised her clenched fist once more.
For a servant, taking a blow meant for one’s master was simply part of the job.
Cindy quickly hid the young princess behind her and squeezed her eyes shut.
But the expected punch never came.
Instead, something flew past her ear.
“Ugh! What is this? Bleh! Bleh!”
Opening her eyes, she saw Amelia sitting on the ground, frantically brushing grass off her face and hair.
Looking more closely…
It was all the weeds Cindy had spent the morning pulling out of the garden with her hoe and sickle.
They had stuck perfectly to Amelia’s tear-covered face.
Dumbfounded, Cindy turned around to look at Kitty, who should have been hiding behind her.
Kitty shouted loudly at Amelia, who was still sitting on the ground brushing dirt and weeds off herself.
“Don’t hit my maid! I won’t just stand by!”
She clung tightly to the hem of Cindy’s dress as she shouted, making her look anything but intimidating.
“Bleh… And what exactly are you going to do if you don’t just stand there?”
“I’ll tell on you!”
Amelia burst into loud laughter.
Then she shouted back viciously.
“Tell on me? Tell who?”
“Who in this palace cares what happens to one worthless maid?”
“Even if I carved her face up with a knife right here, I’d probably get nothing more than a few days of confinement!”
Cindy watched Kitty march over to the basket where she had collected all the dandelions.
The little girl lifted the entire basket over her head and strode toward Amelia as though she intended to dump everything onto her.
“You little idio—”
Seeing the shadow looming over her, Amelia wiped at one tearful eye.
Her eyes suddenly widened.
The insult died in her throat.
Through heavy glasses came Kitty’s angry voice, each word spoken clearly.
“If you don’t want to get hit again, apologize to Cindy and leave.”
Before Cindy could stop her, Kitty tilted the basket over Amelia’s head.
At the exact same moment, Amelia gritted her teeth and lunged at Kitty.
What happened next was so fast that Kitty couldn’t understand it.
Her body was suddenly yanked sharply backward.
The basket flew out of her hands.
The dandelions she had worked so hard to collect scattered into the blue sky.
Somewhere nearby, Amelia cried out.
“Ow!”
When Kitty regained her senses, she found herself hidden safely behind Cindy once again.
Amelia, who had once again fallen awkwardly onto the dirt, stared at them in disbelief.
“You… you pushed me!”
“You… a mere maid… dared to push me?”
Her shock at being shoved by nothing more than a servant quickly transformed into blazing rage.
“I’ll never forgive you!”
“I’ll have you whipped until you’re nearly dead!”
“I’ll skin you alive!”
She leaped to her feet and charged again.
But with nothing more than a light push from Cindy…
She landed flat on her backside once again.
“Ah!”
Kitty quietly looked up at Cindy.
The maid who was always so kind and gentle now pressed her lips tightly together, as though she had made up her mind.
Every time Amelia tried to stand…
Cindy shoved her back down.
Once when Amelia lost her balance trying to throw a punch.
Again when she stubbornly tried to get up.
Eventually…
Cindy simply gripped one of Amelia’s shoulders tightly, pressing her painfully to the ground so she couldn’t stand at all.
“Let go!”
“How dare you touch me!”
“You filthy…”
“You lowborn…”
“You stupid little maid…!”
Amelia clawed at Cindy and tried to punch her away.
Then her face twisted in pain.
From the outside it looked as though Cindy was merely holding her shoulder.
But apparently it hurt far more than it looked.
“I-if my shoulder breaks…”
“You’ll…”
In an instant Amelia’s face turned deathly pale.
Beads of sweat formed across her forehead.
Yet Cindy showed no sign of letting go.
Only after Amelia finally relaxed and stopped resisting from the pain did Cindy release her shoulder.
It was a restraint method once used to subdue and train hunting dogs.
Humiliated beyond words, Amelia bit her lip, yet she no longer dared to stand up carelessly.
Slowly, she looked around.
She had been born the noble daughter of House Somel.
With her exceptional divine power, she had even been adopted by the Emperor.
Yet after suffering such overwhelming humiliation…
Not a single person stood beside her.
Meanwhile…
In front of Kitty—the princess Amelia had always mocked and looked down upon—
stood the loyal maid Cindy, resolutely shielding her mistress with an expression that said she was prepared to face any consequence.
The contrast struck Amelia deeply.
Her lips trembled.
“Hic…”
“Waaah!”
“Mom!”
“Dad!”
Only then did she burst into tears like a little child.
It was a cry that seemed to wash away all the hatred and anger that had been building inside her.
Setting aside everything that had just happened, Kitty quietly observed Amelia as she sobbed on the dirt.
The bright orange hair she had probably spent all morning arranging was in complete disarray.
The beautiful dress that had made her look like the spirit of spring was wrinkled and dirty.
Even her silk shoes were caked in mud, as though she had walked all the way here herself.
For someone officially recognized as an imperial princess—even an adopted one—
her appearance made little sense.
…It wasn’t as though she was useless and despised like Kitty.
“Sister…”
“Did you get lost?”
Kitty asked cautiously.
Amelia only cried harder.
“Waaah!”
“Why is it always me…?”
“Why only me…?!”
Kicking her feet as she cried, Amelia looked less like someone older than Kitty…
And more like a five-year-old child.
“Do you want us to take you back to the First Princess’s Palace?”
“Cindy knows the way…”
Amelia continued shaking her head while crying like a little girl.
Then Kitty remembered.
Today was Amelia’s birthday.
Her birthday banquet should have been in full swing at the First Princess’s Palace.
So why had she suddenly appeared here all by herself?
“Or…”
“Should I call Brother Evan?”
“The maids at his palace are—”
“No!”
“I said no!”
“It’s all because of that stupid carrot cake!”
“It’s all your fault!”
Kitty had been about to say, “…They’re all really kind and helpful.”
Instead, Amelia suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs, leaving Kitty utterly bewildered.
The carrot cake?
My fault?
“Ever since that carrot cake, nothing has gone right!”
“I was supposed to be the Saintess!”
“I worked so hard!”
“I endured everything!”
“I trained every day!”
“I studied every day!”
“So why…”
“Why does everyone keep taking everything away from me?! Why?!”
Kitty and Cindy exchanged silent glances as they listened to Amelia’s incoherent outburst.
They didn’t know the full story…
But it was obvious that something truly shocking had happened at Amelia’s birthday banquet.
