I woke up as the Villainous Empress

32 Punished? Who? (VII)

Yang Luoyang’s face darkened to see the sachet of rare gems in Chang Ah’s hand. He was not expecting Chang Ah’s maid to steal something from Yang Ning and was even more surprised to see that she managed to present the evidence to him.

He gritted his teeth and glared at Chang Ah, who was even more shocked than him. ” What is all this? How are you teaching your maid for her to steal from our household?”

” YOU SAID THAT YOU BELIEVE HER AND SHE WILL NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS. WHAT HAPPENED TO IT? HUH?” He growled at Chang Ah when she did not respond to his question.

He trusted her instinct and because of it, he lost his face in front of Yang Ning.

Chang Ah bit her lower lip and did her best to control her overwhelming emotions. She even asked Xing Bao if she stole anything from Yang Ning, but she denied it and said she did not steal anything from her.

How can she betray her like this?

Yang Ning’s lips curled up in a smirk to see the embarrassment and betrayal in Chang Ah’s eyes. She must be feeling betrayed by her maid, whom she trusted the most.

She did not object to the official search because she believed Xing Bao and was sure that nothing could be found in her room.

Well, it was true. If not for Yang Ning, the guard wouldn’t be able to find out anything. If Xing Bao has started the dirty game, she should end it properly.

.....

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Chang Ah held her head low when Yang Luoyang shouted at her in front of everyone and even though she did not look up, she could feel that Yang Ning was looking at her and mocking her.

Her face turned crimson in embarrassment and humiliation thinking about how Yang Ning must be feeling victorious after humiliating her in front of everyone.

However, she will not lose this battle easily. She will fight back until she rises victorious.

She swallowed her remaining pride and looked up at Yang Ning, ” Yang Ning, do these gemstones belong to you? Because if my memory serves right, you do not own such special gemstones.”

If these gemstones do not belong to Yang Ning, she could turn the tables and claim that she gifted these gemstones to Xing Bao and forgot about them.

At least this way she will not lose face in front of Yang Ning and her husband.

If by any chance, Yang Ning owns these gemstones, then she could question in return how she got hold onto such expensive and precious gems. The monthly budget she was given, she could barely survive a month with it, it was impossible for her to buy anything expensive with that budget.

If she cannot prove Xing Bao innocent, she will at least not allow Yang Ning to get out of this situation easily.

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Yang Ning smiled when she heard her words and shook her head. She was already expecting such questions. ” No. I do not own these gemstones.”

” If they don’t belong to you, then how did you know that the Head Maid had stolen these gemstones? Why did you claim that the Head Maid has stolen something from you?”

“These gemstones can come from anywhere, what if she has received them as a gift from someone?” Yang Luoyang argued.

Just like Chang Ah, he was also hoping for Yang Ning to be proven to be wrong as it’s the only way he could punish her and teach her a lesson.

Although His Majesty praised her in the morning, he did not like the way she was doing things on her own and was going against his words.

He can deal with the Head maid later on and punish her for her crimes, however, his priority is to put a leash on this stubborn bitch, who is going astray now.

He cannot let her spoil his plans because of her stubbornness.

Finding the right opportunity, Chang Ah also nodded and chimed in, ” You are right. Earlier when I saw these gemstones, I felt that they looked familiar to me.”

” Now I look at it again, I think they belong to me. I must have gifted her these gemstones in the past and have forgotten about them.” She said while smiling nervously to look reliable and honest.

” Yang Ning, you have misunderstood Xing Bao after seeing such valuable items with her. However, she did not steal them but I gifted them in the past and forgot about them. All of it happened because of my poor memory.” She said in a sweet voice that could melt anyone’s heart.

” Tsk. How can you be so careless? See what happened because you did not recognize these gemstones?” Yang Luoyang sighed and said to Chang Ah.

“Haha. Looks like I should ask the physician to give me some memory booster tonics.” Chang Ah laughed it off and tried to shift everyone’s attention from this situation.

Yang Luoyang also nodded and tried to cover up this matter by bringing up another topic, ” Yang Ning, I will forgive you this time since anyone could have misunderstood such a situation easily.”

” However, be careful next time. See what you do because of your stubbornness. You wasted so much of my time because of such unnecessary issues.” He berated her and decided to jump on the matter he called her to his study for.

” You remember what happened in the morning, right? Why did you not wear the dress that Chang Ah prepared for you and wore a cheap-dull dress of yours to the Royal Banquet? Huh?”

” Even though His Majesty did not say anything to you because he thinks highly of me, you ruined the mood of the Banquet and everyone was talking about how stubborn and rude you were at the Banquet today.” Yang Luoyang glared at Yang Ning with his cold eyes and tried to intimidate her.

” You also needed to be punished for trying to avoid getting punished. You blamed the Head Maid for stealing because you were afraid of getting scolded by me, right? Even if you don’t say it, I know everything.” He shook his head as if he was disappointed in her for accusing an innocent person.

Yang Ning scoffed to see the way he was trying to put all the fault on her. Hah! He was way worse than she had thought him to be.

He is trying to save a mere maid at the cost of his daughter. What a great father he is.

Well, even if they are trying to protect their meager pride by putting all the blame on her and saving the Head Maid from the punishment, will she allow them to do that so easily?

She did not do all of this so that they can laugh it off as if nothing happened. How dare they openly lie about it and act as if nothing happened?

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” Father, if you called me here to ask why I did not wear the dress that Mother had prepared for me to the Royal Banquet, then I believe you should ask the Senior Maid about it.”

” Ah, wait....I think Mother can also answer this question since she is claiming that she has gifted these gemstones to the Head Maid.” Yang Ning turned to Chang Ah and looked at her curiously while waiting for her response.

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