Chapter 38 The Jade Glow and the Wooden Staff
?The last thing Arielle saw in the Maldives was Lucian trying to wrestle a half-eaten pineapple away from Sir Butts-A-Lot.
?"Arielle! The light! You’re—"
?Flash.
?The salty sea breeze was replaced by the heavy, suffocating scent of sandalwood and old dust. The sound of waves was replaced by the frantic sobbing of a young girl.
?Arielle blinked. Her vision cleared.
She wasn't holding a cocktail; she was gripping a heavy, dragon-headed staff made of dark ironwood.
Her hands were no longer those of a youthful CEO—they were the elegant, wrinkled hands of a woman who had seen decades of winter.
?"Grandmother! Please! Don't let them take me back to the Marquis's Manor!
They... they call me a 'stone hen'! They say I am barren and have brought shame to the General’s lineage!
"
?Arielle looked down. A beautiful girl in a torn lilac dress, Su Lan, her eldest granddaughter, was clutching her knees.
?Standing in the courtyard were four servants from the Marquis of Ding’an's household.
They looked arrogant, their chins tilted so high they were practically looking at the sun.
?"Princess Dowager," the lead servant sneered, not even bowing properly.
"Our Master, the Marquis, is a generous man.
He only asks that you take this 'useless' woman back.
A wife who cannot produce an heir after three years is fit only for the ancestral hall—or the streets.
"
?Arielle felt a familiar heat rising in her chest. It wasn't the Maldivian sun.
It was CEO-level rage mixed with Imperial Royal Blood.
?Arielle didn't say a word. She stood up.
Her back, which the "Original Princess" had kept hunched in grief, straightened until she looked seven feet tall.
?She walked toward the lead servant.
?"You... what are you doing?" the servant stammered, losing his smirk.
"I am the head steward of the Marquis—"
?WHACK!
?The ironwood staff connected squarely with the man’s shins.
?"ARGH! MY BONES!" The steward collapsed, clutching his legs.
?"A 'stone hen'?" Arielle’s voice was like a whip cracking in the silent courtyard.
"My granddaughter is the descendant of a General who died for this Empire. She is the niece of the Late Emperor’s brother.
And you, a slave whose life is worth less than the mud on my boots, dare to bark in my house?
"
?WHACK!
?She hit the second servant across the shoulders.
?"Grandmother!" Su Lan gasped, her tears stopping in pure shock.
"You... you mustn't! The Marquis will be angry!
"
?"Let him be angry," Arielle said, her eyes flashing.
"I’ve spent ten years in another life—I mean, in mourning—being 'fragile. ' That ends today."
?"You!" Arielle pointed her staff at the remaining two servants who were trying to bolt for the gate.
"Go back. Tell your 'Master' that the Princess Dowager is coming.
And tell him to gather every doctor in the capital.
We are going to have a public viewing."
?"A.
.. a viewing?" the steward groaned from the floor.
?"If my granddaughter is barren," Arielle smirked, "I will burn my Royal Decree and move into a convent.
But if she is not... then the Marquis will have to explain to the entire city why his 'seeds' are as dry as the Gobi Desert. "
?Inside the inner chambers, Arielle sat Su Lan down.
Her other grandchildren—two young boys and another girl—peered from behind the curtains, trembling.
?"Stop shaking," Arielle snapped. "From now on, the General’s Manor does not tremble.
We make others tremble."
?She looked at Su Lan’s dull, stressed skin.
"And you. You’ve been crying so much your pores are clogged.
How can you fight a husband when you look like a wilted cabbage?
"
?Arielle called for her maid. "Bring me pearl powder, honey, and the finest ground charcoal.
And a bit of mint."
?"Grandmother? What is this for?
"
?"This," Arielle said, mixing the ingredients with the precision of a chemist, "is the first step to your new life. It’s called a 'Deep-Cleansing Charcoal Mask.' We’re going to make you look so radiant that when we go to the Marquis’s gate tomorrow, the Emperor himself will wonder why he wasted a General’s daughter on a man who can’t even grow grass. "
?The next morning, the gates of the Marquis's Manor were surrounded by a crowd of thousands.
The news had spread: The "Mad Princess" was coming to prove her granddaughter wasn't a "stone hen.
"
?Arielle arrived in a grand carriage, but as she stepped out, she wobbled.
She leaned heavily on her staff, her face pale (thanks to a bit of white rice flour).
?"Oh! My poor granddaughter!" Arielle wailed, her voice loud enough to reach the next province.
"To be treated so cruelly! To be called names while her husband hides his own 'weakness'!
My heart! My old, fragile heart!"
?She "fainted" right into the arms of her grandsons.
?The crowd gasped. "Look! The Princess Dowager is so heartbroken she’s dying!
The Marquis is a monster!"
?A high-ranking official stepped forward.
"Princess! Please! This is a scandal!"
?Arielle "woke up" instantly, her eyes sharp.
"Scandal? No, Minister. This is a medical inquiry.
Doctors! Check the Marquis! Check the concubines!
If my granddaughter is the only one who hasn't conceived, I'll apologize.
But if none of them have... well, I think we know who the 'stone' is.
"
?The results came back an hour later. The Marquis’s face was the color of a beet.
None of his six concubines had ever been pregnant.
?Su Lan, however, was declared perfectly healthy by three Imperial Physicians.
?"Barren, you said?" Arielle stood up, perfectly fine now.
She leaned in close to the Marquis, whispering so only he could hear.
"Next time you want to blame a woman for your 'shortcomings,' remember: I have enough charcoal to blacken your reputation for a century.
Now, give me her dowry back. Double. Or I go to the Emperor with a list of your 'debts'. "