The Queen slapped Julia (with a good amount of force if I may add), and glared at the girl who was now on the floor holding her cheek.With teary eyes and a trembling voice, Julia looked pitifully to the Queen.
"M-mother you hit me?"
"Don"t look at me like this, it"s disgusting. This little trick may work on those hairy boys who follow you up and down, but it will only make people who are more mature look down on you"
The Queen continue to stare at Julia with a cold gaze. Because the show was too good I stayed at the sidelines eating melons.
"*sigh* let"s start your lesson earlier. First lesson: little tricks are for Mistress, the legal wife"s should have a strong backbone. Even if you want to cry you must endure it. Cry later in the intimacy of your room or with your loved ones, but never show weakness in front of the others. It"s even worse if you want to be the Queen. You must never show any openings to your enemies. This pitiful appearance will only make you be despised and used. Just like you already are"
"I"m not used"
"Child, that you cant see it, it"s even more pitiful. Honestly abide by my words and don"t make a fuss anymore. Get up for the ground and let me see where are you hurt"
Julia got up with her head low. Although I couldn"t see her face, I knew she was crying since there were small drops of water on the floor.
She pointed where it was hurting, and when the Queen went to see, she of course, didn"t find anything.
"I don"t see anything"
The Queen poked the place indicated by Julia and a new and louder scream permeated on the room.
The Queen frowned at Julia"s reaction. She probably thought that the squirrel was exaggerating, but as the master perpetrator, I"m confident that this was a genuine scream.
"What are you yelling for?! I didn"t apply any force for you to scream like a pig being slaughtered"
"M-mother it really hurts! You clearly want to hurt me"
Faking worry I got close to the duo mother-in-law and daughter.
"Is everything okay? What happened Julia? Is the injury this severe? The other women are also very worried about you now. With the scream you gave, everyone had quite a fright"
The more I talked, more the Queen"s gaze became colder. Not only she has lost face in front of me and the people in this room because of Julia, but the n.o.blewomen would come up with all kind of theories if this wasn"t explained properly. And because of the enmity the n.o.bles had to Julia, the theories would be quite mean.
The Queen turned to me with a fawning expression that it was foreign to me.
"Ceci-chan, you see this..."
As gooseb.u.mps made their way through, I had to control the twitching in my face for having the most powerful woman in the country pleading.
"Don"t worry my Queen, I will handle everything properly. I just hope Miss Julia won"t slander my establishment or myself anymore, when clearly we are not at fault"
"Of course, of course. I will handle this little girl myself. I will make sure Julia won"t affect your business"
"I appreciate Your Majesty"s favor. If you"ll excuse me, I retire so I can explain what has happened. You two, come with me. The Queen and Miss Julia need some time alone"
Signing to both girls who were serving the Queen and Julia, I left the room with them in tow.
Just as the door closed, I could here the sound of another slap.
"Hehe, poor squirrel didn"t I said you would be slap every time I saw you"
After encountering the n.o.blewomen again, I explained "what happened".
"Don"t need to worry my dear ladies. It appears Miss Julia is quite shy and got scared when she was asked to be with minimum clothes in front of her mother-in-law. Isn"t she such a pure lady?"
"Haha. To think this was only a shy little girl! She gave me quite a fright"
"And me! I thought somebody was trying to kill her! She"s quite exaggerated, isn"t she?"
A young girl who was listening to the Madams conversation snorted.
"Tsk. Shy? Exaggerated? She"s quite false, that"s what she is. You Madams may be unaware, but this Miss Julia it"s not even a virgin anymore. She and the Crown Prince rolled sheets almost everyday"
"You are right Miss Lily. I heard that the Crown Prince even missed work because they were together"
"To think... does the Queen knows about it?"
"If we know of course she does..."
"My, my. It"s not our place to talk about royal affairs right?"
I immediately interrupted the dangerous conversation. Although I want to make Julia"s reputation fall, I don"t want her to drag anyone besides the Crown Prince.
"...but if may put you at ease, by His Majesty order she"s not living with Prince Albert anymore. And now even she wasn"t shy, she was probably surprised right? A mean... this is the Queen we are talking about..."
"Miss Cecile you are to nice to that wench. She"s just probably trying to attract attention to herself"
"Yes, yes. She probably feel threaten with your success"
"This... shouldn"t be right? She has Albert after all"
"Miss Cecile..."
And like this, as my reputation became more bright,Julia"s reputation almost went to the abyss.