Chapter 54: Live To Sienna Pt.54
Arya asked for the release of her arms with a wink. Sienna let go of her arm.
“Yes, I have no reason or right to discipline her. Instead!”
With a slap! Empress Arya struck Sienna in the face with her palm. Her behavior shocked the faces of those in the room because no one expected it. Sienna also stood absentmindedly, unable to say anything to the pain and insult that suddenly came to her face.
With a slap! Empress Arya’s palm struck her opposite cheek before Sienna could even come to her senses. Sienna held onto her hot-tempered cheeks and stared at Arya.
Her cheeks were so hot that water formed in her eyes. This was a physiological phenomenon that reacted to pain to every degree. Sienna looked up because she didn’t want to show tears in front of Arya. It was insulting enough even now.
‘Who are you crying for their enjoyment?’
“I have no choice but to teach you, the crown princess of the crown prince. I thought you would be like this, so I brought your etiquette’s teacher with me.”
‘It’s a mountain after a mountain.’ (Translator’s note: This is a Korean idiom meaning hardship after hardship.)
Sienna found someone she had never seen before in Arya’s presence. She was the one who handed Arya the whip. When she saw the etiquette teacher twinkling his sharp cat eyes, a sigh came out of her mouth.
The etiquette teacher, Minyu Kitrol, was a nightmare for Sienna.
“I’m called Minyu Kitrol. This is my first time seeing you, Your Royal Highness.”
She greeted her politely with a light green skirt on.
“Ah...”
Sienna was so surprised that she couldn’t respond properly to her greetings. Arya saw such a sight of Sienna and said to Kitrol,
“As you can see, Princess Sienna is like a thunderbolt. Since you’ve been stuck in a mountain valley in the north and learned nothing, you’re going to have to train more carefully. Otherwise, it would be a big shame for the imperial family.”
To neglect her comment of having grown up like a thunderbolt, Sienna struggled to contain the nasty curses from her mouth. She wished she could pull her hair out and release everything on her mind from curses to trash talking her, but now was the time for her to have to put up with it.
“Then get ready and come out. We’ll wait outside. Let’s go, Mrs. Kitrol.”
Sienna stamped and shouted, only after confirming that the door was properly closed.
“Oh! It’s annoying.”
She felt like she lost to Empress Arya from the first day already. Originally, her goal was to lower her guard by giving Arya the perception that she was as easy to play with as before and to put a dagger in her throat when the appropriate time was near.
“I’m doomed.”
“Your Royal Highness.”
Sienna looked back at the sound of herself being called for. Hain was standing there. She had a look of ten years old during that meantime.
“Because of me...”
She replied with a wave of her hand.
“What are you talking about? I’m the one who took off my wedding dress. More than that, are you okay? It’s so red. Ugh... there’s blood formed here, too.”
“Your Majesty also has a red face.”
Sienna answered her words, rubbing her cheek.
“Well, this is nothing. It’ll be back and sink in a minute. I think it’ll be better if Hain goes to rest.”
“No, I’m fine. You shouldn’t make the two of them wait outside so long, so you’d better change your clothes right away. Also, you never know, you might get on the nerves of the Empress again and get in trouble.”
“Clothes?”
Sienna looked at herself with something to say. Carl took off his shirt for her yesterday and so she was wearing his shirt’s undergarment.
“What’s this... I’ve been like this the whole time?”
‘Somehow, Arya’s expression of derision, emphasizing her like a thunderbolt.’
“I want to die because I’m ashamed. Ah!”
Sienna struggled with her face on the bed.
She managed to pull out of herself out of her mental distress and into some clothes, exiting out of her room. Kitrol was sitting on the couch drinking tea. Sienna smiled even more brightly to conceal her earlier disgrace. Her left cheek was so sore that she had a strange smile.
She sat opposite to Kitrol. Kitrol deftly poured tea into the glass in front of Sienna. Originally, it was manners for Sienna, the owner of the room, to personally make the tea and serve it, but she seemed to think that Sienna was still not enough to do that.
“What you did a little while ago...”
“Yes, I know. I did it wrong.”
She thought she had done nothing wrong, but she replied in a sulky voice. If she asked her what she did wrong here, it’ll be a lot of nagging from Kitrol.
Kitrol was as tough as she looks. It was really difficult to be an example of courtesy. It was never an easy task for Sienna to learn imperial etiquette from Kitrol when she came straight into the palace without any socializing. If she had even just made a few mistakes, it was a matter of time before she would go straight to the back of her hand without any remorse in the attack. Sienna crept under her skirt and hid the back of her hand.
“You’re in the knowledge of it yourself, I see. It is wrong to stop the Empress, who trains her herself. Discipline is not a bad thing. This is an education that makes sure that your subordinates don’t make the same mistake again. It’s an act of generosity that our superiors should have.”
How can it be education and generosity to wield a whip in the face of others not be a mistake? Sienna wanted to refute what she said, but she kept her mouth shut.
Sienna knew. Today’s events were not about Arya but on her behavior rather that would condemn and ridicule her actions. As she had failed to keep one’s dignity as a noblewoman.
“But even so.”
Kitrol quietly put the teacup she was holding down on the pedestal and pulled out her words.
“It’s not just about discipline. It is also discipline and dignity that one behaves worthy of respect in the presence of one’s superiors. The actions of the Crown Princess are highly respected, as you tried to prevent her subordinate from being punished for her fault.”
Kitrol’s sharply torn eyes gently painted arcs. She thought she looked fierce, but she was the one with a pretty smile. For a moment she said to Sienna, with her expressionless face,
“Most of all, it’s all the more important that we don’t let this happen in the first place. It wouldn’t have happened if your Royal Highness had observed the royal tradition properly and hadn’t taken off your wedding dress.”
“Yes, I’m sorry.”
She was sure the ending ends with a nagging sound.
“Education...”
Sienna expected her inner education to begin tomorrow. She couldn’t sleep well, and she had a fight with Arya from the early morning rush, and she was very tired. She felt like she could fall apart if she leaned her head onto something somewhere. But her wishes did not come true.
“Let’s start today. Your Royal Highness will have to eat breakfast, so let’s start with table manners.”
She thought she’d get a stiff stomach for her breakfast this morning.
“Should I tell Hain to prepare some medicine in advance?”
*
She thought it would be easy because she had already received the training once, but she was not imbued with it, so every time she moved, Kitrol wielded a lash towards her.
Sienna’s hands were red hot.
‘You said discipline isn’t just discipline itself!’
“That’s not it. You have to be softer and more feminine. You have to be the shadow that follows Carl more gracefully.”
When Kitrol winked, Hain replaced the teacup in front of Kitrol and the teacup held by Sienna. It was already the sixteenth time they’ve changed teaware on this table.
The tabletop should be used from the outside, the used table should be placed on an empty bowl, or the leftover bread should be left on an empty plate in front of the right hand, if the bread should be torn open by hands, with no arms on the table. It was annoying that there were all kinds of rules for a sip of water, but it was okay because it was something she had remembered.
The problem was this.
“You have to move your hands like a bluebird flapping its wings. But at the same time, it has to be like wildflowers swaying in the wind.”