Curses

Chapter 2.

Bai Shen Ting's pov:

"Who allowed this disfigured wench to serve the royal family?!".

It was good to know that at the tender age of nine, the crown prince already knew how to properly curse like a shrew.

This sentiment was shared by everyone who sneaked peeks at the Queen causing her and the King to blush red with shame.

The first ranked maid who'd given her the robe slowly came out and bowed. "Your highness the crown prince, this maid wanted to serve but this disfigured maid jumped at the opportunity to serve you, this servant begs the crown prince for punishment".

Bai Shen Ting wanted to laugh at this. After all they've done to her, they're making it seem like she's a maid trying to seek favor from the royal family.

Knowing nothing good would happen if she kept mum, she boldly walked to the front of the royal family and bowed, "Your highness this disfigured maid is sorry for serving you, but this maid was ordered by the head maid to serve today and only maids with the head maid's clearance pass could enter today and serve in the banquet. This rule was made to ensure the safety and quality of the food and entertainment of the royal family".

The guests all sighed with pity, if not for the Prime Minister being charged with regicide and treason, his daughter would not be reduced to a lowly disfigured slave. Even with a life filled with vicissitudes she remained eloquent as ever neither servile nor haughty.

Suddenly the Queen started to cough and grab at her chest loudly. Her eyes became tear streaked and she coughed out blood before falling back on her chair and fainting, alarming everyone.

"Guards! Summon the royal physician immediately!!". The King thundered.

The hall was brought to a hush with everyone trying to minimize their presence. Nobody wanted to suddenly be accused of harming the Queen .

Bai Shen Ting looked at her former cousins and step sisters but they shrunk their necks and looked away. Even after ten years they still avoided her, probably from their shameful act of cutting ties with their ancestral name to avoid being charged by the court like her father.

An incense stick later*The physician arrived and quickly diagnosed the Queen after checking her pulse and her orifices.

"Your Majesty, I regret to inform you that the Queen has been diagnosed with Dragon Orchid Essence poisoning."

"Dragon Orchid Essence? I've heard of its potency. But how did it find its way into her system?" The King was fuming at this point.

"This essence is said to be sourced from the depths of the southern forests of An Ping, your majesty. It's a rare and lethal poison that can only be fought with the ganoderma mushroom, an ingredient found in the wine of Northern Da Qi"

The physician bowed to the king

"Your highness, the Queen is now ok, luckily thanks to the wine"

"Guards!" The king's guards all presented themselves in a long file

"Investigate!"

The whole banquet drew to a hush as no one wanted to be the unlucky noble used as a scapegoat by the royal family again.

After another stick of incense, the head guard bowed to the king "Your majesty, after careful investigating this servant alongside with the royal physician found out the poison came from the wine"

It suddenly dawned upon Bai Shen Ting that she was naive to think the Queen would let her be even on the last day of her servitude. She burst into maniacal laughter stunning the nobles and servants alike.

"What is the meaning of this!!"

"Are you admitting to your guilt of poisoning the Queen?!, we all know you're from AnPing county which is in the south" The Queen's favorite lackey, the Duchess roared.

"Duchess Fu Ming, esteemed lady of the third rank*, what a lovely rank and title, I seem to remember that was my mother's title before she died, so why is it now yours when you and I are not related?" Bai Shen Ting shot back at her.

"Oh yes" not even allowing the duchess to respond Bai Shen Ting continued,

"You married my brother, the scum illegitimate son of my stepmother, and poison? Poison?!!!'".

Bai Shen Ting lifted the veil she always wore to expose her mottled face.

Her facial skin was filled with bumpy, scaly flesh mottled with scars, melted flesh and pus.

"If I wanted to kill the Queen , why wait ten years just at the end of my servitude term to do so?!! Why didn't I just do it when she took a coal brazier and marred my face?!!"

She raised her gown to expose her legs in an improper manner not befitting a lady but at this point she did not care "Or I could have done it when the Queen assigned me to clean the stables and paid off the stables hands to lock me with drugged horses causing them to go berserk causing my legs to look like this!!"

The guests turned away at first but after hearing what she was saying they looked closer to see that her legs were having scars and they looked mangled,broken and deformed with one of her feet facing an unnatural angle causing them to feel pity for this unlucky miss.

She pulled her sleeves showing her arms with parallel thick white scars

"Or when I was lashed with whips dipped previously in poison all in the name of a mistake made by someone else why didn't I poison the Queen then?!, Or even when my elder brother sent messages from the war front even when he was crippled to my father which was leaked by the Queen stealing the messages and selling to the enemy kingdom,causing my family to bear the sin of treason, tell me duchess why did I not kill the Queen then?!".

At this point the whole banquet hall felt sorrow for Bai Shen Ting , she was not responsible for anything other than having bad luck.

"Those are all lies…"

"Even when the Queen stole my fiance by drugging him at the Cherry blossom winter festival I did nothing! The whole kingdom saw me as a joke, as a Lady whose peasant friend stole her marriage to the royal family yet to ensure peace and stability between my family and the royals, I did nothing!".

Bai Shen Ting shakes her head with wry "When the Queen who was my sister back then came to me after the festival begging that it was a mistake I foolishly believed her thinking my best friend, my dear sister! Would never jeopardize our relationship for a man. Oh how wrong I was! I regret it. I truly regret it! If there is a second life then I would make Shen Li Hua and the King pay double for what they did to my family!".

"Guards!" At this point the king was anxious to shut her up lest she reveals more of what he and the Queen had done.

The guards held Bai Shen Ting and stuffed her mouth with a cloth and dragged her away.

The guests all pretended not to see this but they all knew this would be the last they ever saw or heard from the sad maid.

Bai Shen Ting opened her eyes and spat out blood, it felt like years but she knew she had only been here for hours. Flashbacks of how she grew up as the favored daughter of the Prime Minister went through her mind, after undergoing the tortures bestowed upon her by her former fiance,her heart once again went cold. How naive of her to think she could appeal to her guilt of the way she had treated her and her family.

Blood was dripping from every part of her body, even her private part, the torturer had branded her down there after mutilating her. She smiled in mockery but winced from the pain on her face.

All of the guards took turns with her not minding the state of her body.

They all wanted to see what the woman who almost became the Queen tasted like.

Footsteps were approaching and she winced but straightened to see who it was and burst in a wide smile regardless how painful it was. She was covered in blood and white suspicious fluid seeping from the side of her mouth and her nether regions with her hands being chained up separately to a corner of the thatched house.

"Your highness the Queen , fancy seeing you here,I seem to remember you were bedridden but recuperating from your poison,the physician is really a divine one to make it possible to heal you quickly" her very tone was dripping with sarcasm.

The Queen huffed and looked at her maid who stepped forward to pick a brand and handed it to the Queen .

"You know Shen Ting or Bai Shen Ting , whatever you call yourself, you were always a very dumb and selfish princess".

She placed the brand in the fire and thrusted it into Bai Shen Ting 's face causing her to scream loudly whilst the Queen just laughed.

" When we were just children and I was always with my father as he entered your mansion to deliver goods I would always see you, the unruly princess of the Prime Minister's mansion, always a ruckus and everyone just adoring whatever you did".

The Queen sighed and continued "Even when you were introduced to me you were so meek and humble I was happy, I mean me, a lowly commoner with a merchant father, friend to the Prime Minister's daughter I would sleep with a smile on my face everyday".

Bai Shen Ting scoffed in mock against Shen Li Hua

"What happiness? All you did was envy all I had, everything I shared with you, even my rare blood coral I split in halves just to make you feel safe and secure about our friendship and all you did was stab me where it hurt!"

"Hurt?! Hurt?! You stole the prince from me!! I begged you many times to take me with you whenever you entered the palace just to catch a glimpse of the seventh prince and it happened to be a matter of convenience that the only time you took me with happened to be the time the king betrothed you to him!!".

"Even after knowing how much I loved the seventh prince you went ahead to get engaged to him!!". Spittles were being fired from the Queen 's mouth at this point.

"As if I could go and refuse the king, my family would have been in trouble if I had rejected the marriage decree! Even beheading would have been a lenient punishment for defying the king's imperial decree!".

Bai Shen Ting grew tired of exchanging words with the Queen; she already accepted her fate of having a miserable life.

The Queen grew bored after seeing Bai Shen Ting become indifferent to her taunts and tortures, she smiled and left with the brand.

At the gate of the thatched hut she turned back and threw the brand on the thatched roof causing sparks which started a fire.

Shen Li Hua laughed and left.

"Bai Shen Ting, greet your parents in the underworld for me" her voice rang out as she left.

"Shen Li Hua I curse you!, with the pain you've caused me, I curse you and your son to never bear fruit. I curse this kingdom to fall to ruin and shame whilst you're still in power. You'll be torn apart by the masses and suffer tenfold what I already suffered"

Bai Shen Ting opened her only good eye to see smoke and the roof falling in parts ablaze causing fire to start in the room.

"Shen Li Hua!!! You better hope I never see you again". She burst into tears ,she was formerly a noble child with a sunshine life, a silver spoon and now she's facing death. The fire grew as the smoke started to cause her to choke for a long time. Due to her coughing, her pendant was hanging out and started glowing but she didn't seem to notice as her only eye was tearing up.

She struggled with the chains for a long time before she gave up. Slowly,she grew weak and sleepy with the last vestiges of her willpower.

"I don't know who exists anymore"

She coughed loudly and long .

"Who's there? Who's listening, I beg of you in exchange I sacrifice this body and this soul to you, give me one more chance."

She struggled to breathe one more time before she fainted. The hut fell apart in flames and was destroyed alongside Bai Shen Ting.

"I won't repeat the same mistakes I did…"

*Lady of the third rank– (gung-ni jui gege), translated as "Lady of a Village" or "Lady of the Third Rank". It was usually granted to the daughters of dukes with eight privileges or daughters born to a secondary consort of beile

Stick of incense- a way to tell time back then usually ranging about 15-40 minutes.

A/N: Hello lovelies. Don't forget to like, comment and refer my story to everyone you know.