Bai Yujun stood there like a heartless wooden puppet.
The woman crouched down and carefully dressed her in each piece of princessly attire. Royal children were actually treated rather well, at least holding higher status than ordinary Imperial Concubines. Bai Yujun's clothes were made from finer materials and with better workmanship than the woman's palace attire.
Perhaps because Bai had grown too quickly, the princess's dress was a little too short and no longer fit.
Her heart sank with guilt. She blamed herself for making her child suffer alongside her, for often being slighted in the palace. There were no maids to attend her. Other Imperial Princes and Princesses entered the Royal Academy at five, yet her daughter was already seven and had never once gone to the Imperial Study. Thinking of all those grievances made her heart ache.
"Ow~ Hiss~"
Bai's brows knotted together in pain.
The woman came back to herself and realized that, distracted just now, she had tugged her daughter's hair.
"Does it still hurt? Mother was careless just now. I won't do that again..."
She blew on it and stroked it gently, carefully checking whether any hair had been pulled out. Her flustered appearance was heartbreaking.
"Hiss~ It's fine now. Having my hair tugged only hurts a little."
"If it doesn't hurt, then why did you hiss? Let Mother look again. You must have hurt somewhere else."
"..."
There was no way to explain that instinctive habit. She could hardly say she had been hissing for thousands of years; that would easily frighten people.
After finally getting dressed, she took the woman's hand and left the little room. Bai Yujun looked up at the sky and felt the sun was glaring, unsuitable for the coming meeting. Silently, she used her gift to summon dark clouds