Mirek leaving the party was followed by a short silence, an almost ominous calm.

“Miss Mercier, it’s beyond the understanding of this humble servant why the Miss would have the Empress Consort’s name on her tongue as if they were acquainted, respectfully saying,” suddenly said Lili.

“What did you just say to me?” Elodie’s sneer changed into a frown.

“Her Imperial Majesty Consort is not the Miss Mercier’s friend nor social equal, am I wrong?” continued Lili.

Reza watched with interest behind his fan as Elodie replaced her cup with a loud clank.

“You, you dare speak to me like that? You’re just a maid and you dare speak to a Mercier in this way!”

They were waiting for Kamaria to say something, but she just sat and had her tea as if she had no connection to what was happening.

“It’s just a maid speaking with a merchant. How is this any different to when I’m buying out in the market? Oh, no wonder Miss Mercier speaks this way. She thinks bringing vulgar market gossip into this sacred palace is an appropriate thing to do.”

Reza almost laughed at the audacity of the little attendant but where was she wrong?

“Lili, how dare you disrespect a guest in this palace,” said Velia with a hint of surprise while trying to maintain her ladylike demeanour.

“Princess will have to forgive me, but I’ll have to discipline this little slut. If not for myself for the name of my family! If she could speak this way in front of you, what else could she say about the imperial family when you’re not there.”

Remei stood with a small smirk behind Velia. The attendants of the other princesses all looked the other way. Lili always seemed to think herself more sophisticated than them, so it was time for someone to remind her of her status. As to the circumstances of why she had spoken out, it was none of their business.

Elodie’s attendant walked to Lili with the intention of teaching a smug maid a lesson. She raised her hand struck with force, aiming to hit Lily with the back of her hand.

Phaaa!

Then there was pin drop silence.

Elodie’s attendant put her hand over her mouth in surprise. Everyone else was too stunned to move. Only Kamaria looked at her hand after the receiving the blow. It had all happened too quickly. Kamaria had swiftly risen from her seat and protected Lili’s face by pulling her into her arms, but it was too late for the attendant to stop the swing of her hand.

Fortunately, the blow hadn’t landed on anyone’s face since Kamaria had blocked it, but it still looked as if her hand would hurt due to the fingernail scratches. Thinking about it reaching anyone’s face…

Absolutely vicious.

“Princess, are you hurt?” loudly asked Raisa alarming the maids outside.

“I’m fine, just a few scratches,” calmly insisted Kamaria as she sat down again.

“Someone call for the inner court guards, the princess has just been assaulted!” shouted Lili as she kneeled by the Kamaria’s side to observe her hand. A few maids went off to call the guards.

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It was only when Lili requested the guards that everyone suddenly snapped out of their stupor, and they realised things were serious enough to call for the guards. It made no sense for a master to take a physical blow for a servant, so it was not a possibility any one of them considered.

Yes, Kamaria was a little runt, but she was a princess nonetheless and this was a capital offence. Elodie’s maid couldn’t help but fall to the floor in front of Kamaria when she realised what had happened.

“Y-Your Highness, it was a mistake, Princess please this humble servant begs for mercy. It was that bitch’s fault please…” sobbed the girl while pointing to Lili who simply ignored her while attending to Kamaria.

“Little girl, who are you to call a palace maiden any type of name and in front of the Princess no less? Are you really repenting or are you trying to shift the blame?” asked Reza from behind his fan.

The girl didn’t know why the man was making the matter worse. How exactly had she offended him? Sadly, she couldn’t ask such questions while still begging for mercy from Kamaria. Female guards promptly arrived, and the crying girl was picked up on either side. This girl had dared to attack a princess?

“No, she’s my attendant! There’s been a misunderstanding!” shouted Elodie as she got out of her seat.

“Princess Kamaria, should we take her as well?” asked the head guard pointing to an angry Elodie.

Kamaria turned and glanced at Elodie who instantly kept quiet, almost scared stiff by the look in the youngest princess’s eyes.

A few moments later, the princess shook her head and the guards understood that Elodie was not to be implicated in this matter for now. Velia worked on subtly calming her friend down.

“Princess please, this humble servant begs for mercy! It was a mistake!”

“A mistake? The Princess and the Empress Consort were insulted, and you proceeded to want to slap Lili, a palace maiden then called her names when she was simply issuing you a warning,” said Reza.

The girl widened her eyes and shook her head at the accusation. How were these her crimes? After desperately looking towards Elodie and having her look away, a certain realisation dawned on the attendant’s face.

“Please your Highness! This subject knows she was wrong!”

“Looks as if this will swell a little,” gently mused Kamaria at a volume they could all hear.

Lili was still fussing over the hand but then she suddenly turned to the guards.

“I’ll report to Her Majesty Consort, escort this girl to the prison and await the punishment decision.”

Lili wasn’t someone who spoke a lot but having grown up in the palace and being the princess’s personal attendant, her words had some weight behind them especially since Kamaria wasn’t objecting.

The girl unfortunately had way too many capital offences on her head now with the way Reza had phrased it. Elodie gritted her teeth even though she was on the verge of tears more from anger than being upset about her attendant.

She couldn’t allow herself to cry in front of this little girl though. Everyone else was still trying to make sense of how the situation had escalated.

Kamaria stood up and grabbed the handle of her custom cane. Fortunately, the injury was not on the hand she used to balance.

“Lord Reza, it seems our meeting will have to be cut short. I already had a bit of a headache now I’m in definite need of rest after all this excitement. Perhaps we’ll have this tea another day.”

Reza stood up and bowed to Kamaria and she softly nodded before turning to leave with Raisa and Lili on either side of her.

This was one of the most interesting shows Reza had watched. No doubt he had picked the right day to come back to the palace.

There were a few strange things about the situation. The reaction to the slap was almost too fast.

Although she didn’t need to take extra steps to get to Lili but from the time that she stood up to her pulling Lili closer and blocking her face, it was so fluid as if practised. This little princess was more interesting than he thought.

Her attendants also didn’t miss a beat throughout the entire episode.

They did seem a little surprised that she physically defended but they followed through with the performance.

What a beautiful way to show them that although they looked down on her, in the end she still had the type of power they did not. He just didn’t know if they realised it yet.