Mildred frowned deeply. Her thick eyebrows pulled together in complete, bitter disappointment. Her sneaky plan had failed completely. The Lady had caught the figurine before it could hit the floor.

Camilla slowly stood up straight. She held the figurine in her hand. She did not smile. She looked directly at the young medical assistant.

Camilla glared at Mildred. Her eyes were entirely cold, sharp, and full of intense, open disgust. She looked at the assistant exactly like a person looking at a very annoying, dirty object.

Camilla spoke. Her voice was quiet, but it was sharp enough to cut through solid glass.

"Using such petty tricks to deal with me," Camilla said, shaking her head slowly from side to side. "Aren’t you ashamed?"

Mildred swallowed hard. She took a tiny step backward, feeling the sudden, dangerous heat of the Lady’s anger.

"You can’t even frame someone right," Camilla continued, insulting the assistant’s intelligence openly. "If you want to drop something, you should do it when I am not looking directly at your hands. This is just disgraceful."

Mildred felt her face turn a bright, burning red. Her pride was deeply hurt. She had been caught red-handed trying to set a trap, and now she was being scolded for doing a bad job at it.

Mildred decided to play the innocent victim. She forced her eyes to look wide and highly offended.

Mildred stammered, her voice shaking with fake indignation.

"My... My Lady," Mildred said, taking a defensive step back. "If... if you don’t want to do it, then don’t. You don’t have to clean it if you are too lazy."

Mildred placed a hand over her chest, acting as if she had just been terribly insulted for no reason.

"Is it really necessary to insult me like this?" Mildred complained, trying to sound like a poor, mistreated servant. "I was only trying to pass along the old Duke’s kind instructions. I was just doing my job."

Without waiting for Camilla to answer, Mildred moved quickly. She stepped forward and roughly snatched the figurine directly from Camilla’s hand.

Camilla did not hold onto the jade tightly. She let the assistant take it easily.

As the horse left her fingers, Camilla gasped softly. It was a very short, quiet gasp, acting as if she was surprised by Mildred’s sudden, rude behavior.

But immediately after the fake gasp, Camilla lowered her head slightly.

She smirked. A very wicked smile formed on her pink lips. Her eyes sparkled with a completely new, highly entertaining plan.

"Since you came here to play," Camilla thought to herself, her internal voice sounding exactly like a predator preparing to trap its prey. "We will definitely play this game to the very end."

She looked at Mildred’s white linen medical apron. She thought about the boring ledger she had been reading just a few minutes ago.

"I am bored anyway," Camilla reasoned internally. "I might as well teach the staff of this military camp exactly who is in charge."

Mildred held the horse tightly against her chest. She turned her body around, intending to walk the two short steps back to the small wooden shelf and put the figurine back in its resting place. She wanted to leave the tent quickly and report back to Miss Brie.

As Mildred turned around and took her very first step toward the wooden shelf, Camilla moved.

She shifted her weight. She quietly and very smoothly set her foot out directly in front of Mildred’s walking path.

She placed her shoe perfectly, creating a barrier right in front of the assistant’s ankle.

Mildred did not look down. Her foot caught hard against Camilla’s extended leg.

Mildred tripped.

The young assistant completely lost her balance. She pitched forward heavily, her arms flailing wildly in the air.

Because Mildred was holding the horse with both hands, she could not catch herself. She fell hard toward the ground.

As she fell, the figurine flew completely out of her grasp.

The stone horse hit the hard floor first.

CRASH!

It was a loud, sharp, completely devastating sound. The figurine shattered instantly upon impact. The horse’s head broke completely off. The legs snapped into dozens of tiny pieces. The polished body cracked straight down the middle. Sharp shards scattered across the floor of the General’s tent.

A split second later, Mildred hit the floor right beside the broken pieces.

Thud.

She landed hard on her hands and knees.

The quiet tent was suddenly filled with the terrible sound of destruction.

Mildred froze on the floor. She did not feel the pain in her knees. She did not feel the dust on her hands.

She slowly lowered her head and looked at the floor right next to her. She saw the broken head of the horse. She saw the shattered legs.

Mildred’s eyes widened to their absolute maximum limit. Pure, mind-shattering fear completely took over her entire body. Her blood ran completely cold. She stopped breathing entirely.

Camilla stood perfectly still, looking down at the terrible mess on the floor.

Camilla smiled. It was a very sweet, highly satisfied smile.

"Oh dear," Camilla said out loud. Her voice was calm, gentle, and dripping with sarcasm.

She took a slow step and looked down at the terrified assistant.

"You are in trouble now," Camilla informed her smoothly. She pointed a finger at the broken green pieces of the figurine. "This is how to frame someone correctly. You should really take notes."

Mildred stared at the broken pieces. She was shaking violently. Her chest heaved as she gasped for air. She was desperately holding back her tears, biting her lower lip so hard it almost bled.

This was not a simple case of broken object. This was a capital punishment.

In the strict rules of the kingdom, destroying the General’s personal property was a severe crime. But destroying a personal, prized gift given directly by the King himself was considered absolute treason. It was an insult to the crown. It would result in immediate, public execution right here on the military grounds. The General would not show her any mercy. Her head would be chopped off before sunset.

"No, no, no," Mildred whispered frantically to herself, tears finally spilling over her cheeks and falling onto the dusty floor.

Just then, the canvas flap at the front of the tent was pushed open again.

Brie entered the command tent.

The head physician had just heard from another soldier that Mildred was heading to the General’s tent. Then, Brie had clearly heard the loud, sharp sound of something heavy breaking.

Brie walked quickly inside. Her medical apron was stained with dried blood. Her hands were already taken care of. They were completely wrapped in thick, white linen bandages. The sharp ceramic shards had been removed, but her hands throbbed with terrible, burning pain.

Brie saw Mildred kneeling on the floor, crying uncontrollably. Then, Brie looked down and saw the broken figurine resting right beside the young assistant’s knees.

Brie completely froze. Her face turned entirely white. She recognized the King’s gift instantly.

"Why did you break the figurine, Mildred?" Brie asked. Her voice was completely breathless. Fear was entirely evident in her shaking voice. She knew the terrible consequences of this disaster.

Hearing her superior’s voice, Mildred quickly scrambled up from the floor. She did not care about her pride anymore. She just wanted to live.

Mildred rushed quickly to Brie’s side. She grabbed the fabric of Brie’s blood-stained apron with her shaking hands.

"Miss Brie!" Mildred cried loudly, tears streaming down her face. "Please help me! I didn’t mean to drop it! She tripped me! Please, I don’t want to die! The General will kill me!"