However, the door was gently opened, and a clueless Paulina, who had just entered the room to clean Amber's body, found this scene before her.
Tyra was pointing the sharp tip of a hairpin at Amber's back and looked like she was going to harm her with it. Tyra looked so determined, and the gleam in her eyes made her look like she was in a trance, that even Paulina's entry hadn't been noticed by her.
Paulina let out a startled gasp and unconsciously threw the bowl of undiluted hot water which she had carried in at Tyra's body, burning her back and the side of her left arm.
Tyra let out a painful scream and turned to her as she wiggled about, the hairpin falling off her second hand.
Paulina also screamed in shock and fear, wondering why she had done that to Tyra without confirming what was exactly happening.
While Amber fell to the floor beside the window, whining in pain.
"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?!" Tyra exclaimed at her.
"I'm... sorry. I don't... I don't know what I was thinking." Paulina cried to Tyra as she looked at her guiltily. With everything happening in the palace, her fear was heightened, and it was most likely the reason she had done it.
She didn't exactly think Tyra could harm her mistress. In fact, she had heard several things this morning about Princess Tyra, but she didn't believe them because Tyra was not that kind of person.
Tyra cried in pain while looking at her arm where the burn was more obvious. It had turned red, and it hurt terribly. Even though her back was also burned, it didn't feel this bad since she was wearing a lot of garments.
"I will... I will go get the physi— MY LADY!" Paulina exclaimed when the shock of hurting Tyra had worn off and she finally realized that not only was Amber awake, but she was on the floor and looked like she was in pain.
Just as she was about to hurry toward her mistress, Tyra pulled her by the hair roughly, taking Paulina aback.
"Even a lowly maid had the guts to treat me like this?" Tyra asked darkly.
In pain, Paulina tried to reach for Tyra's hand to pull it away from her hair, but with every move she made, Tyra's fist tightened and yanked it even more, causing her great pain.
"I'm... I am sorry. Please... let me just check on my mis—"
"COLIN!" Tyra yelled with all her might as she dragged a squealing Paulina by the hair toward the door.
"COLIN!" She yelled again as they stepped out and check the hallway just as the two guards appeared from the right end, and Tyra pushed Paulina at them. Both men quickly caught her and restricted her.
"She dared hurt the one with the golden token." Tyra said with a burning anger as she yelled, "AND THAT IS TREASON!"
"NO! I DIDN'T! I'M SORRY." Paulina cried out in fear and disbelief as she tried to kneel but found it impossible with both men holding her up by her arms. "YOU KNOW I WOULD NEVER COMMIT TREASON. IT IS ME, PAULINA! I WOULDN'T DO SUCH!"
"Why would I know what is in the mind of a slave like you?" She sneered at her before looking at the guards.
"Beat her to death," Tyra ordered with a wave of her hand and turned to return to the room, ignoring Paulina's cries and pleas.
The guards looked at each other for a brief moment, both hesitating. They knew how important Paulina was to Princess Amber, and they knew how important the latter was to Prince Harold.
"My Princess... is that a good... idea?" One of them asked her.
"JUST DO AS YOU'RE TOLD OR YOU WILL BE NEXT!" Tyra turned to snap at him.
They could only bow curtly before dragging a wailing Paulina out.
When Tyra returned to the room, she found Amber standing now. But not only that, one of Amber's palms was dripping blood, and on the other hand, she held the hairpin, which was bloody now.
She had used it to cut her palm so the pain could keep her conscious and it seemed to have worked a bit. However, she still looked awful and her eyes looked soulless.
"You must be desperate to live," Tyra spoke in a mocking tone, not even fearing the sight of Amber with the sharp hairpin.
"I can say the opposite for you. You must really want me to kill you." Amber said in a tight voice as the grip around the hairpin tightened.
Tyra let out a laugh. "I am surprised the first thing you didn't whine for is Paulina. You really have changed." Tyra blinked her eyes at her cutely before she said, "Everyone would know that she tried to kill me. So it is a justifiable reason for her to die. As for you..." she pointed at Amber.
"Since you do not want me to quietly kill you, you should just jump out the window and kill yourself." Her finger moved from Amber to the window.
Amber smiled at her even though it was very weak, and she also dropped the hairpin in her hand to the floor.
"Just like you can never kill me. You cannot harm Paulina, either. Even a mere maid of mine cannot be killed by a weakling like you—"
"HOW. DARE. YOU?!!!!!" Tyra yelled as she forced another hairpin out of her hair and charged towards Amber with the intention to kill her.
Amber cannot live. Not only did she know too much, but she had insulted her more than anyone else.
She could tolerate the royal family looking down on her. She could tolerate the kingdom looking down on her. But she would never tolerate this witch.
Everything happened very fast. They were closely facing each other, looking into each other's hateful eyes.
Time suddenly slowed and the only sound they could both clearly hear was the sound of blood hitting the floor. It was quiet at first, but the sound of the drop soon became very frequent as it hit the floor repeatedly.
That was when the door urgently opened again, and Harvey entered the room to witness this scene.
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