Mira went back to the Empress's abode only to meet the worse.
She wasn't that shocked because Princess Bellina and her mother have never been nice to her since her mother's disappearance.
Not even once and for that singular reason, she always expected the worst.
Princess Bellina saw her earlier when she was playing by the rock side with her friends - Gilmore and Bella.
She had hidden herself somewhere covered with sea veggies just so she could spy on Mira.
She saw exactly what happened between Gilmore and Mira.
She became so jealous and began to imagine herself in such a position.
She felt so bad concerning how people don't like her and her mother - Empress Lulu.
She began to question herself silently and trying to figure out why every being tends to choose Mira over her,
Why she's the most admired being in the whole of Crums even without makeup,
And why she still looked happy regardless of all the things that she had been through.
And she also thought about the fact that she was an orphan yet other beings still didn't isolate themselves from her, they never stigmatized her and they don't also point hands on her as per being the one who killed her parents. Instead, they still made friends with her.
As those thoughts ran through her mind, she felt worse than before.
Dark envy enveloped her and she got broken but she was so cautious not to cry out loud.
She decided to deal with her and then she quickly thought out a plan.
She hurried home to lie to her mother.
She had lied to the empress that she went into a passionate romance with Gilmore and she believed her.
Princess Bellina had lied because she was envious of her and she wanted her mother to torture her.
Empress Lulu got really angry not because of anything but because she wished that it was her daughter that everyone chose instead of the wretched orphan - Mira.
She wanted everyone to love her but instead, the reverse was the case and this was because of her pomposity and ill attitude towards others.
°°°°°°
Immediately Mira came in, the empress
Fired her with rage in her spirit.
"Where are you coming from?" Thundered the empress with some spittle escaping from her mouth.
At first, Mira was startled with her fin shivering but later on she gained herself back.
"So….even after I warned you to tell your friends to stay clear from my abode you still didn't hear.
You went ahead to invite your friends over and that was not enough, you had the gut to go into a passionate romance with that stupid Gilmore…huh?"
"But your majesty! I didn't do any of those things you have mentioned.
Princess Bellina is lying against me.
I was just……."
"Will you keep shut!" The empress cut in frowning.
The frowns were that bad that they left the wrinkles in her face obvious.
"How dare you say that my dearest darling is a lier?
I can see that you have grown some wings. No wonder you have the mind to let loose your body to that Gilmore of a being," Continued the empress with anger.
Squad! She echoed.
Four hefty beings that their duty is to torture criminals rushed out from the prison side.
Your majesty! They hailed in unison.
Torture her mercilessly, she ordered.
"Your wish is our command" they responded at the same time.
And then, they began to torture her.
They lashed her with a bundle of spiky sticks that were meant for criminals.
As they released the bundle of spiky sticks on her body, they drew it with force. By doing so, it inflicted more injury on her skin.
This got Mira screaming with hot tears dropping from her eyes but they made mockery of her instead of showing her pity.
Mira cried and begged them to stop,
saying that she was innocent of the accusations they laid on her but they didn't listen instead they shunned her and doubled the lashes that they were dashing her.
All that Princess Bellina did was to laugh at her while she cried in pain.
They kept biting her until they got her skin torn before they left her.
That was not enough.
They denied her dinner that evening.
Mira didn't find it funny at all throughout the night.
She was groaning in pains as a result of the torture.
She cried bitterly wishing that her parents were there for her.
She fell deep in thoughts and assumed that it was because her mother got fed up with all their ill treatment towards her as a result of the death of her husband that made her to leave Crums just so she would have peace.
So many questions rang in her mind throughout those moments but she could not answer any of them.
It was such a long night for her.
All she wished was to survive it.