Charles held onto the imperial edict tightly, unable to believe his own ears. Hailey was deprived of her position as an imperial physician. And to make things worse, she was forbidden from entering the Imperial Palace forever.

The steward was too scared to utter a word. He knew his master was in shock. After all, the daughter Charles had devoted all his efforts to cultivate was now forbidden from entering the Imperial Palace. As a consequence, she would be stripped from having a connection with any noble clan. Now that the emperor had classified her as immoral and vicious, her marriage would be a problem too.

"Nicole!" After a long while, Charles finally regained his senses. He gnashed his teeth in anger but couldn't utter more than just one word. He held Nicole responsible for all of this. If Nicole hadn't complained to the emperor, this wouldn't have happened to Hailey.

"Where is Nicole?" inquired Charles once he was in a position to speak.

The steward wiped the cold sweat from

"Hi, Harper." A childish voice came into her ears. As Harper walked, she had unconsciously arrived at Breeze House where Joey lived. Alexandra squatted in front of the gate and continued to stare at her, vying for her attention.

Harper stretched out her hand and rubbed his head. "How's your mother?"

"She took some medicine and fell asleep. I sneaked out as soon as she dozed off," said Alexandra with guilt.

Looking at the stick in his hand, Harper gathered that Alexandra was practicing writing on the ground. As a concubine's disguised daughter, he wasn't valued by Charles. Ever since he started to learn, he wasn't provided with any good teacher. But he was quite determined to study. With the help of his photographic memory, he was writing down sentences from a history book.

"Are you interested in history books?" asked Harper.

"There are no books in this house, and most books in your house are related to medicine. I found a history book, and I like it," Alexandra answered.