Oh! My Empress

"Ah miss!" Anna cried as she saw the face of Emmeline Whittemore. For some reason, her miss had cried herself to sleep after coming back from her father's chamber. Anna wanted to comfort the young lady but she was just a maid, how could she hug her mistress?

Young master Christopher had already slept by the time they had arrived, perhaps he got tired of waiting for the two of them. Her mistress had caressed the young kid's cheek so lovingly but her gaze was somewhere else.

Over the past few days, since her miss had woken up, there were so many times when Anna could not distinguish whether she or her miss was the adult between the two of them. And more often than not, her miss would just zone out for nothing, like she was not in this world any longer, like she had strayed far away, beyond the realms of this world. She had wanted to ask her miss about what she was thinking but did not want to alarm her. The young lady had had a shock of her life with the drowning incident after all.

Last night was one such event where Anna had no idea where her miss's strength came from. To go against Audrey Lazarus was basically waging a war against her own life. She had wanted to stop her miss so many times but again, she was just a maid. If her miss had decided to throw her life away, then she was going to accompany her miss.

Right now, though, bigger issue was the puffed up eyes of the miss. It was hard to see Emmeline Whittemore's pupil even.

Kim Su Won groaned. She could not stop her emotions yesterday, remembering her sister from the past. She was quite okay after Duke Whittemore's decision to back Isaac. She had quietly thanked the three elders, bowed in front of them and taken the leave. She had even walked proudly over to her wing, even though the servants snickered behind her back.

But once she saw the peaceful face of the sleeping kid in her bed, she burst into tears once again. Ah, if it were her previous life, she could have blamed PMS for it. But she had not hit puberty just yet, what excuse could she make?

She had no idea how much time had passed before sleep crept in. She only remembered feeling like someone patting her back in her groggy state.

Anyway, she did not want to wake up, her face felt heavy and her head hurt.

"Miss, I think you should start studying. You only have one week before the test," Anna reminded her miss, putting down the cup of tea on the table near her bed.

"Hah! You remind me of my mom," Kim Su Won rolled around in bed, blurting out the words.

Anna stared at her miss for ten seconds. 'Mom'? Her miss never called her mother mom. Before the accident, it was 'mother' and recently it had turned to mere 'duchess'. When did her miss use such an intimate word for her mother? Was this some person she did not know about?

Kim Su Won instantly realized what she had said in her sleepiness. It was a dangerous slip of tongue.

"N-Never mind. I must still be dreaming," she sat up in the bed, flustered. However, contrary to her expectations, Anna remained calm, her clear gaze looking at her without any questions. Had this poor maid already accepted her weirdness and given up on her?

"Anna, there were no topics decided yesterday for the exam. And now I think about it, I am getting pretty stressed out. I have no idea what Earl Laurent could test us on. What should I do?" a sudden anxiety came over Kim Su Won. She had not really thought about it when she agreed yesterday. After all, that was the last chance she could get. But she had no idea about history or politics of this world!

If Isaac Laurent was going to test her, he would probably go to topics suitable for women, like arts and social studies. There was no mention of anything like this in the novel too! She could predict future events, but past? No way! Neither would Chris know all this! What did kids her age learn anyway?

She ruffled her hair in frustration. She had no idea where to go from there. Even if she had access to that massive library, she could not really study and memorize the books there. Where was she supposed to start?

"How about starting with Earl Isaac himself?" Anna suggested, helping her miss get down the bed and get ready for the day.

"You mean learn about him or ask him questions?" Kim Su Won asked, contemplating if any of those was even possible. Learning about him would not yield what he could really ask them during the test and ask him questions? It was out of question. That man with red fiery eyes was scary! He might have given her leeway one time, but it was not like he was going to go easy on them for no reason.

"The way he helped you out of the sticky situation yesterday, I think you should believe in him a bit, miss. How about just paying him a visit?" Anna replied, quite optimistically, as she helped the kid brush her teeth and wash her face.

"Anna, you are too naïve. In this world, nothing is free. He helped us yesterday, there was definitely some motive behind it. There is no guarantee that he would help us again. What if we offend him by approaching him twice? Then this one chance we have gotten, we might lose it too," Kim Su Won answered, a bit aggressively. If Anna was not this innocent, would she have died in the novel? No, it would take her some time to learn the cruel ways of the world, but it would be too late by then.

Anna smiled gently, her smile was like a refreshing spring. Kim Su Won glanced at her maid's pretty face through the mirror. She had not seen her maid smile so genuinely before.

Anna, on the other hand, was just so proud of her little mistress. Such words of wisdom were pouring through her mouth these days, how could her heart not feel full at this? Her miss was really growing up.

"If he really has a motive behind helping you once, would he not want to see it through the end and gain something out of it? Yesterday was no victory for him, but he probably will really gain something if you pass his test?" she replied, warming the atmosphere with her gentle touch and calm words.

Kim Su Won had to really pay heed to her maid's words. She was correct in her own sense but going to him to ask for help was too huge a risk.. But since she had no clue where to begin anyway, perhaps she should really visit him? But with what excuse or premise? Moreover, if she did visit him, it would not remain a secret and Audrey would get a chance to accuse her of cheating. Could she really do it?