Chapter 2

My eyes turned red, my voice choked with tears.

"Your Majesty... I don't know. I was just drifting off to sleep, and suddenly...all my maids were gone. No matter how much I called out, nobody answered..."

Hearing this, the Empress Dowager's face darkened.

One of the elder handmaidens stepped out for a look, then came back and reported, "Your Majesty, all four maids outside have passed out. Looks like someone used a sleeping draught on them."

The Empress Dowager shot Gwendolyn a look as cold as a knife.

"Someone, wipe that off her face for me," she ordered.

The elder handmaidens scrubbed Gwendolyn's face with a wet cloth, smearing the fowl's blood and powder into a messy clump, finally revealing the face I'd hated for two lifetimes.

She slapped Gwendolyn hard, the sharp crack echoing through the room.

"Who gave you the nerve to pretend to be a ghost in the East Palace?" she fumed.

Gwendolyn was slapped so hard her head snapped to the side. Five red fingerprints bloomed on her cheek.

She froze for a moment, then immediately put on her signature look of innocence, eyes brimming with tears.

"Your Majesty, I truly didn't mean to cause any trouble... I just wanted to play a harmless prank on Seraphina.

"You know I've always been mischievous since I was little. I had no ill intentions, it really was just a joke..."

As she spoke, she stole a furtive glance at me.

I recognized that look all too well.

In my previous life, after her ghostly prank cost me my children, she wore this very same expression.

Crown Prince Caspian always fell for her innocent act.

She thought she could pull the same stunt again and walk away unscathed.

After all, she was the Empress's niece. Besides, she and Caspian were childhood sweethearts.

Me? I was nothing more than a Crown Princess forced in by the Redmonts, a mere decoration married to Crown Prince Caspian, only to secure the loyalty of the Redmont army.

But Gwendolyn overlooked one thing.

The Empress Dowager was not only my grandmother by marriage, but also my great-aunt by blood.

Back then, the Empress Dowager and the Empress waged a three-year fight over the Crown Princess position, and to this day, they remain as bitter rivals as ever.

After I became Crown Princess, the Empress Dowager finally had nothing left to worry about.

So she left the palace to devote herself to prayer and meditation.

But that didn't mean she stopped looking out for me.

In my previous life, none of us ever imagined Gwendolyn would be bold enough to play ghost and actually harm my children and me, and even less that Caspian would defend her.

So no one was ever sent to fetch the Empress Dowager.

This time, though, everything was different.

Right after I came back to life, I had Hazel rush out to fetch the Empress Dowager.

Two hundred miles, and yet the Empress Dowager covered the distance and returned in barely half a day.

Sure enough, when Gwendolyn tried to explain herself, the Empress Dowager's face stayed as cold as ever.

"A joke?" the Empress Dowager let out a cold laugh.

"In the middle of the night, hair wild and face covered in fowl's blood, nearly scaring the Crown Princess into losing her child, is that your idea of a joke?" she pressed.

Hearing that, Gwendolyn sobbed even harder, looking utterly pitiful.

"I truly know I was wrong... I was just being playful for a moment..." she cried.

"Just being playful for a moment?" the Empress Dowager cut her off.

"The Crown Princess is carrying twins, a boy and a girl. The imperial physician says it's a rare omen, and even the Emperor is waiting to hold his grandchildren.

"If your antics had disturbed her pregnancy and harmed the imperial heir, how would you ever make amends?" she fumed.

Gwendolyn opened her mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

The Empress Dowager no longer looked at her. "Guards," she said coldly, "Gwendolyn has played at ghosts and demons and frightened the Crown Princess. Take her out and give her forty lashes."

"Your Majesty!" Gwendolyn's face turned ghostly pale as forty strokes of the cane would nearly kill her.

Two elder handmaidens moved in to drag her away.

Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

"Grandmother, wait!"

Caspian burst in, sweat beading on his forehead, his expression full of panic.

Gwendolyn immediately rushed over and hugged his leg. "Caspian, I was just playing a joke on Seraphina, I swear I didn't mean any harm... Please, save me..."

At her words, Caspian glanced at me.

There was no concern or sympathy in his eyes, just a hint of impatience.

"Crown Princess, you know Gwendolyn is just playful. She was only joking with you.

"Why drag Grandmother into this? We're all family. If word gets out, people will just laugh at us," Caspian said.

I looked at him and couldn't help but find it all ridiculous.

In my last life, I was sprawled on the floor, blood soaking the bed beneath me, while he shamelessly flirted with Gwendolyn right in front of me.

To him, my children and I were nothing, just empty air.

"Your Highness," I pressed a hand to my chest, my voice tired, "I'm pregnant. If all this fright had caused something to happen, who would answer for my children?"

At this, Caspian was left speechless.

Gwendolyn jumped in immediately, "Seraphina, I swear I didn't mean it! I just heard there was a malevolent aura in the East Palace, something bad for His Highness."

"I was worried about him, so I came to check if there was anything unclean or dangerous in your rooms..." she explained.

At this, the Empress Dowager snorted coldly. "Oh? So what did you find?"

Gwendolyn stood up, acting like she owned the place, and swept the vase off the dressing table with a single motion.

The vase shattered instantly. From it tumbled a voodoo doll stuck full of silver needles.

Gwendolyn instantly shrieked, "Seraphina! I knew it! It was you all along! You actually used witchcraft in the East Palace!"