Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 27: Discipline and Permission

"Luciana, halt this instant!" Prince Nicholas commanded, his voice booming like a storm. Even though she didn’t want to obey, she knew better than to resist. With his men behind him, the gravity of his authority was undeniable, and she couldn’t afford to dismiss his presence.

"Your Highness, I assure you, Dora is not that kind of person. She would never push Lady Evelyn, no matter the circumstances," she implored, her voice steady yet tinged with urgency.

"You must believe me—Dora and I have shared countless moments through the years. I know her heart and her character better than anyone. She is truly innocent," she insisted as Nicholas approached.

Nicholas had never seen her worried about someone so much before; it even made him jealous seeing her caring so deeply for someone who wasn’t him. But seeing her this worried and on the verge of tears, he felt like giving her everything she wanted; he wanted to lay the world at her feet. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"I understand; let’s see the situation first," he said. Luciana wasn’t appeased by his vague answer, but she gently nodded her head.

~~~

The sight Luciana saw made her boil with rage; there in the middle of Lady Evelyn’s courtyard was Dora, who was on her knees as whip after whip fell on her back with enough force to rip the skin apart.

"How dare you?!" Luciana yelled, her voice booming with authority. She ran towards Dora and knelt beside her, hugging her and causing Rhoda to pause.

"Dora, are you alright?" She asked Dora, feeling aggrieved by what she was going through.

"How dare you lay a hand on my maid without my permission?" She thundered.

"I told her to discipline the maid and straighten her out because of her viciousness," Evelyn weakly said before reclining lazily on a couch she was lying on with her hand gently caressing her still-flat stomach.

"Rhoda, continue," Evelyn said in a weak voice, but it was full of authority.

"Who dares? On your knees!" Luciana commanded.

However, Rhoda stood her ground and refused to obey,

"Hmph...Rhoda will only follow her mistress’ order to discipline her for her malicious intentions against the prince’s heir," she said; there was no sign of respect in her voice.

Rhoda knew that even though the prince wasn’t very fond of her mistress, she was carrying his heir after all. Besides, she had also been there earlier today in the empress’ courtyard; the primary suspect was the princess consort; she was sure that the prince wouldn’t be so accommodating to her after what happened with his mother.

"Slap!"

Luciana slapped Rhoda, who swayed and looked at her in shock. She had yet to come back to her senses when Luciana slapped her other cheek, causing blood to spill from the corner of her lips.

"My, my, lady," Rhoda cried to her mistress, who was too speechless to speak.

"You must have forgotten who I am. How dare a lowly maid speak to me so informally? Could it be because of improper training from her mistress? Maybe some lashes would straighten you out," Luciana said and yanked the whip from the already disoriented Rhoda and kicked the back of her legs, causing her to fall onto the ground in a kneeling position.

Everything happened so fast that by the time Rhoda realized it, a harsh whip landed on her back, followed by another, and another. Her whole body shook from the impact; the pain spread all through her body. Who knew that this petite woman possessed such strength?

"Princess Consort, what is the meaning of this?" Evelyn, who had been lying weakly on the couch a few moments ago as if she was on the verge of dying, shouted, finally finding her voice.

"I’m straightening her out and impacting some manners..."

"What is happening here?!" A voice booming with authority demanded, and all the maids and everyone present bowed to show their respects. Concubine Yvonne and Concubine Sheila were also present.

"Greetings to your Highness," they said, paying their respects.

Even though they were all in the same manor, the distance from one courtyard to another wasn’t that close; Luciana could say that her courtyard was the closest to Nicholas’ courtyard. Maybe because she was the main wife.

She had been coming with Nicholas when a guard intercepted them to report something to Nicholas; she, however, couldn’t wait and had taken the lead; who knew this was the scene she was going to witness?

"Your Highness, this servant was teaching the maid to repent of her sins after she tried to viciously cause me to miscarry, but the Princess Consort arrived and would have none of it. Could it be that in her eyes, her maid is more important than the royal heir?" Lady Evelyn said in a demure voice.

"Yes, Your Highness, it was so scary; her intentions were clear; she really attempted to kill the royal heir," Yvonne said with a frightened look on her face. After that incident, the last time in the princess consort’s drawing room, she had been trying to kiss up to Lady Evelyn again because she was angry at her. So when Lady Evelyn had summoned her to come and keep her company, she had happily obliged.

Nicholas saw how Luciana stood at the side, still holding the whip in her hands and breathing heavily, and saw the two maids who were still kneeling on the ground and already had an idea of the situation. Why was she always so impulsive? He had said he would see the situation first and give her a satisfactory answer, but here she was not listening to his words and making everything worse.

"What happened?" He asked the fuming woman.

"Your Highness, Lady Evelyn framed my maid and whipped her for something she didn’t do; I only told her maid to kneel, but she not only refused but she also disrespected me. I was simply teaching her some manners," she said simply.

"Where is the imperial physician? I thought you had summoned him," Nicholas asked.

"Thankfully, the Imperial physician arrived in time to stabilize the fetus; it would have been bad, Your Highness," Lady Evelyn said. The meaning was clear: the fetus was no longer in danger, and the imperial physician had already left.

"Did the physician say that himself, or are you the one putting the diagnosis into his mouth? His Highness had just heard about your fall a few minutes ago, but even the imperial physician had already come and left," Luciana said, her tone laced with accusation.

"Is the princess consort insinuating I purposefully targeted her maid and asked the imperial physician to lie? I knew after everything that happened today, his highness would be very disappointed for keeping such malicious people around him, so I didn’t want to burden him at first. It was only because I didn’t want to keep things from him that I later asked the maids to inform him; who knew what she might have said to cause his highness such worry?" Lady Evelyn said with a wronged expression on her face.

’Did something happen today? What did Evelyn mean by Nicholas keeping malicious people around him?’ Luciana thought in confusion.

"I didn’t say anything; you are the one who said it yourself. Could it be because you’re guilty? It was already night time. What was Lady Evelyn doing outside her quarters? Didn’t she know she was going to endanger the royal heir?" Luciana asked, and Lady Evelyn’s heart skipped a beat. She had indeed gone to find Dora on her own; she must not let Prince Nicholas find out; she gave Concubine Yvonne a look, telling her it was time for her to speak.