Standing Ground

"Impostourous! How dare you refuse your punishment!"

After a brief second of sheer bafflement, the eunuch cried out while staring at Lei Mingxing with wide eyes. But the latter ignored him, continuing to glare at Queen Huiran in defiance. Now that she had been so hasty as to directly offend the Queen, she would have to boldly face the consequences, even if she wasn't quite sure why she reacted so impulsively as of late. And it was clear, even without any obvious change of expression, the Queen became more and more displeased with her the longer this stubborn eye contact lasted.

But she just brushed it off, watching the Queen's eyes grow ever colder, and with them the very temperature in the courtyard. An involuntary shiver ran through her body and her warm breath emerged in clouds from her nostrils, but Lei Mingxing wasn't scared, this was just a bluff to sow fear inside her, she had experienced it many times, the Queen was trying to suppress her with her cultivation base, but she barely felt any discomfort from it after enduring the banquet at Suan Bi's mansion.

Lei Mingxing also quickly realized that Queen Huiran's strength couldn't be too high, at most somewhere in the Qi Condensation realm, so the only unique characteristic about her as a cultivator was her innate ice element, a mutation of the water element.

And to think she had continued to fear this woman in her heart even after meeting far more powerful cultivatiors.

A mocking snort escaped her and she couldn't help curling her lips in a self-deprecating smile.

Unfortunately, only Lei Mingxing knew it was self-deprecating.

It was like time itself froze. The maids all sucked in a quick breath, watching their mistress' mood turn from bad to worse. Finally, the Queen herself slowly parted her painted lips, silently shutting up and dismissing the eunuch with just a glance as he scrambled to think of an argument against the rebellious princess. 

Her voice sounded calm and collected but wasn't able to hide her displeasure in the slightest.

"Princess Mingxing, in consideration of the continuous disrespect you have shown this Queen," Queen Huiran's face was still elegantly still, but her eyes were glinting with cold anger, "Your punishment will be increased to 100 lashes spread over the next two days, you shall not sleep and instead wholly focus on atoning for all your misdeeds while copying the entirety of the palace laws 30 times. You will be put under house arrest and have your allowance cut until your wedding with Prince Beilian, furthermore, only one portion of the servants' meal a day will be served to you during the period of your house arrest. Has this Queen made herself clear?"

Waiting patiently for the Queen to finish, Lei Mingxing's mocking smile only grew wider before she unhurriedly spat out.

"No."

Once more, the atmosphere seemed to freeze, but Lei Mingxing simply ignored it, continuing to speak, bearing the intense eye contact with the Queen without batting an eye.

"I believe this punishment the Queen Mother chose is unfit, I do not accept. I request this issue to be brought before Father to decide in a just and impartial trial since harming Royals and disrespecting the Queen not only concerns the Palace Laws but rather the law of our very kingdom, not to mention the matter of my disappearance which in turn violated the marriage contract with Count Chai," Lei Mingxing watched as the Queen was unable to refute her claims, her anger fizzling out, replaced by faint puzzlement. After all, everything she had said was in accordance to set regulations, but, she thought, ... why would anyone prefer a public trial with likely severe repercussions instead of handling it internally and receiving a slap on the wrist?

"I will now excuse myself and return to my quarters until further notice of the trial arrives, Goodbye, Queen Mother."

Before Queen Huiran could order the guards to hold her, Lei Mingxing turned around and quickly left, her back straight, seeming absolutely confident, to the point that the guards blocking the door hurriedly stepped aside when she reached them, looking at her as if she was a crazy person. Still, the calm in her demeanor involuntarily sowed a seed of doubt in the minds of all witnesses, did she have a plan to get out of punishment? But how could that be! She had been gone for months and never boasted any political support before! There certainly wasn't anyone to back her from that backwater town she returned from... was it Prince Regent Xia Zhentao and his son? But those two wouldn't help a doomed princess just because of a marriage contract that could be dissolved like sugar in water...

Just where did her confidence come from?!

But alas, Lei Mingxing didn't know either. Her current mood was swinging freely from crying to laughing in her heart at how hasty she had been. The only foreseeable benefits she had and would gain from the public trial were a bit of time to gather herself and get things in order and possibly get so horribly disgraced that Xia Beilian would stop the marriage himself.

...

Now that she thought about it, maybe this had actually been a good decision.

But she would still need to quickly plan her next steps, from what she remembered, if no urgent political matter came up, her trial would be handled a week from now at the latest, especially since her marriage to Xia Beilian was of such importance to her father. So, once again, her goal was to somehow escape this damned palace and search for Chang Liuyun and the others, even if her first attempt had failed and the next would only get more difficult... what else could she do? She had already decided that she would reunite with the others. After all, now that she thought about it, why should she trust the words of someone who only lied and betrayed her in her last life? It wasn't like he miraculously changed.

So, she would only accept the others' death if she saw their corpses with her own two eyes.

Small theater:

Queen Huiran:... is she stupid?

Eunuch, Guards, Maids:... is she stupid?

Lei Mingxing:... am I stupid?