"Father!" Beth exclaimed excitedly when she saw him standing beside the lake with his hands behind him while staring into the distance. She quickened her pace to meet him since she didn't want to keep him waiting. He hated that the most. Wasting time doing nothing while waiting for someone.
He turned around just as she got closer, and instead of the happy reunion Beth had imagined since she had not seen her father in a long time, what she received was a harsh slap across her face that made her fall to the ground, breaking her already broken body that was still trying to heal.
She gasped and looked up at her father's angry face in shocked confusion while touching the cheek he had slapped and wondering why he seemed so angry.
Her father had never hit her in this manner before, and so she couldn't imagine what she could have done to warrant such harsh treatment.
"Father?" She asked as she blinked back the tears that stung her eyes.
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"What is this that I hear you did?" He asked in a calm tone that would make anyone else wonder if he had been the one who had just hit her.
She immediately bowed in front of him as she tried to swallow the fresh humiliation that washed over her when she remembered what she had experienced. When was this humiliation ever going to end?
"Stand up!" Her father commanded harshly, his disappointment evident in his voice.
Hearing the disappointment in his voice was more painful than the sting of his slap. Her father had never spoken to her in this manner or hit her before, but she was experiencing both and it was all because of that witch.
With shaky feet, she managed to stand up, but she couldn't bring herself to look into his face.
"Now look at me and answer my question! What did you do?" He barked at her.
She raised her head as she tried not to let her tears drop. Her father didn't raise her to show weakness, "I made a mistake. I thought she was pretending to be ill," Beth tried to explain, hoping that her father would at least hear her out and understand where she was coming from.
"You thought? Is that how your mother and I raised you to serve the royal family?" He growled at her, and she took a step back.
"The greatest honor our family has ever received is serving the royal family. My father, your mother, me, and now you. Do not ever forget that." He reminded her harshly.
Beth's eyes flashed dangerously, and she quickly looked down to conceal it. Serve? Wasn't he tired of serving? How about being served instead? How could he just be okay with that even after losing his wife?
Long after her father walked away from there, she remained where she stood with her hands clenched beside her. Her head was down as she finally let her angry tears flow down her cheeks with all the veins in her head and neck standing out.
Amber. As much as she honored her father, she would have to disobey him now. He was okay with his life heading warriors, but she was not. Her father had sacrificed a lot for him to be made a minister, but no, he was still beneath the Minister of War. Her mother had served as a maid, and now it was her turn. She could not go on with this useless life.
She needed to do something. Unfortunately, she didn't know how to go about it, especially with Prince Harold and the king protecting her.
As she made her way back to the servant's quarters, every other maid fled when they saw her approach and sensed the aura all around her. They knew it would be terrible to be in her presence. She looked like she wanted to kill someone.
After she entered her private chamber in the servants' quarter, she closed the door and began to think deeply. The more she delayed, the more time she lost. Prince Harold seemed to be getting fond of Amber and she was not going to let that happen.
Her eyes immediately went to the door when she felt something, and then she saw a note that had been slid inside the room from under the door outside.
She watched it with narrow eyes before she hurriedly went to open the door without picking it up. She looked out but found no one and even tried to get a smell but got nothing.
She closed the door and picked up the folded note before she opened it. Seeing her father's writing, she was surprised and quickly read the note.
At first she was confused, especially when she could not get any smell from the note to convince her it was her father, but as seconds passed by, she was convinced that it was from him. When sending this kind of note, it only made sense that he would be careful.
There was no way he would have been comfortable settling for just that position. They were flesh and blood after all. The note almost made her smile happily.
She had patiently been waiting. She could wait a little longer. An evil smirk curved her lips. Just a little more, and everything would go as it should be.
The night seemed to be going well for a lot of people because the queen could not hide her pleasant mood at how well everything was going as the maids dressed her up for dinner. If Ivan married Benedicta, they would have solid backing in the internal court. The king was also not feeling too well and, as usual, he was turning a blind eye to everything, and she hoped it would continue like this. As for Harold, the heavens were helping them without their putting much effort into it.
"You're all dismissed," she said sternly to the maids when they finished dressing her up, and they all left her dressing room quickly.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror and smiled at herself. Just as she stood up and turned towards the door, a note slid inside the room from the bottom of the door, making her raise an eyebrow.
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