Aiko bowed her head "Yes, your highness" before sprinting out the room with Yumi tightly cuddled in her arms.
Once Aiko departed, the silent chamber seemed to exhale with relief. Cheng finished removing her outer garments and tossed them carelessly onto a chaise lounge. Her silk under shift clung loosely to her frame as she poured herself another cup of wine, from the side table, paying big mind to the tea she was drinking earlier.
The afternoon sun streaming through the windows cast long shadows across the floor where the discarded crown lay glittering near the wall.
"Tomorrow," she murmured to herself while sipping wine directly from the goblet, "I'll have Kenji assign additional guards to monitor those servants spreading tales. Their superstitions are becoming inconvenient."
Her eyes drifted toward the window where earlier today she'd sworn she saw movement in the gardens below. Perhaps Aiko's warnings about strange appearances weren't entirely unfounded after all.Having finished the cup of wine, she walks towards the crown on the floor.
Cheng stared dumbfounded at the fallen headdress for a moment before bursting into incredulous laughter that bordered on hysteria. "My imperial crown thrown like common garbage by a baby barely old enough to walk! What kind of sorcery is this?"
The Empress scooped up the crown roughly, inspecting it with growing fury. "First those ghosts haunt my chambers, then my own daughter disrespects me openly. Is there no end to these insults?". She lazily walked to her dresser.
Cheng's laugh echoed strangely in the empty chamber, a sound of disbelief mixed with rising anger. She examined the golden crown now resting precariously on her dressing table, searching for scratches or dents from its violent journey across the floorboards.
"My ancestors would be rolling in their tombs if they knew our future empress was throwing crowns around like broken toys," she muttered sarcastically while brushing her fingers across the jewel-encrusted band.
Her reflection in the mirror showed a woman whose composure was cracking visibly - dark circles beneath her eyes from lack of sleep and stress carving hollows into her cheeks. The silk shift clung to curves usually concealed by heavier formal wear, revealing a body tense with frustration.
"Maybe I should just leave it off permanently," Cheng mused aloud while pouring another glass of wine without bothering with a cup this time. "Since everyone seems determined to treat it like worthless junk anyway."She looked at her messed up hair.
"That brat made my beautiful hair to now look like strands of partially cooked noodles" she hissed to the empty room irritated as she inspected her brown hair in the mirror.