Chapter 741: Daughter And Mother

Jasmine POV

Jasmine woke up with a splitting headache, and for a few seconds, she remained still with her eyes closed, hoping the discomfort would disappear on its own. Unfortunately, the throbbing in her head only grew more noticeable as she slowly regained her senses, leaving her with little choice but to accept that she had probably drunk far more than she should have. She pursed her lips as fragments of what she remembered from the previous night began to return to her mind.

It was an embarrassing dream, one that involved Isaac yet again, and the worst part was that she had behaved just like a young girl desperately seeking the attention of someone she liked. She had been acting coy and clingy, doing all sorts of ridiculous things simply to get him to pay attention to her, and remembering it made her feel thoroughly annoyed.

’Why am I dreaming about that man again? ’she wondered while massaging her temples, hoping that the headache would distract her from such nonsense.

It was only after rubbing her forehead for a while that Jasmine noticed Althea sitting at the table nearby. Her daughter appeared to have been waiting for her to wake up, and Jasmine felt relieved that someone had taken the trouble to bring her back to her chambers after the celebration. She slowly sat up and adjusted her clothes before offering Althea an apologetic smile.

“Althea, thank you for bringing me here last night. I must have created quite a scene, haven’t I? I wasn’t planning to drink so much, but for some reason, I ended up drinking far more than I intended.”

Althea pursed her lips but did not answer immediately.

She turned toward the washroom, intending to wash her face and clear her head before dealing with anything else, but stopped after taking a few steps and looked back at Althea. Given the special nature of her talent and the seal she had placed on it to keep it under control, opportunities to relax without worrying about her responsibilities were precious to her. Althea understood that better than most people, yet her unusual reaction suggested that something had gone seriously wrong the previous night.

Normally, her daughter would tell her that everything was fine, as she usually did whenever Jasmine made a fool of herself after drinking, but this time, she seemed reluctant to say anything at all. Jasmine found the silence rather strange, especially since getting herself into trouble after drinking was hardly a new occurrence.

“Did I create a big scene?” Jasmine asked, her expression becoming cautious.

Althea sighed again, took out a small device, and made it float toward her mother. “See for yourself. I was so stunned by what was happening that I honestly didn’t even have the courage to intervene, and I still can’t believe you actually did that in public space.”

Jasmine blinked as she caught the device, momentarily wondering whether she had heard her daughter correctly. Althea was a courageous girl, something Jasmine would proudly say about her regardless of whom she was being compared with, and it was rare for her to admit that she had lacked the courage to do something. If even Althea had been too shocked to intervene, then whatever Jasmine had done must have been considerably worse than she imagined.

She opened the recording and watched it in silence, her expression changing several times as the events unfolded before her eyes. Shock gave way to disbelief, followed by panic and, eventually, despair as she watched herself cling to Isaac and behave in a manner that was completely inconsistent with her usual conduct. When the recording ended, she remained motionless for several seconds before slowly raising her head to look at Althea.

’So it wasn’t a dream?’ Jasmine thought, feeling as though the ground beneath her feet had disappeared.

“Not only did you, the wife of the Emperor, pounce on another man in the middle of the resort, but you also became angry when he asked you to get off him,” Althea said, her voice noticeably sharper than usual. “Do you have any idea how serious that could have become if someone else had witnessed the whole thing?”

Jasmine lowered her head, feeling thoroughly ashamed, but she soon noticed that Althea seemed angrier than the situation alone could explain. She didn’t think much of it, and instinctively tried to defend herself, hoping that her daughter might be willing to overlook the incident if she could offer a reasonable explanation.

“I-It isn’t really such a big deal, is it? After all, the other Queens—”

“Seventh Queen. Please accept it when you are in the wrong.”

Jasmine nearly yelped at the coldness in Althea’s voice, immediately abandoning the excuse she had been about to make. Behind closed doors, away from the eyes of the court, the composed and calculating Seventh Queen suddenly looked like a panicked young girl who could barely explain herself.

She lowered her gaze and muttered, “I’m sorry.”

Althea clicked her tongue and looked at her mother with obvious displeasure. “Why would you do something like that in the first place? Usually, when you get tired of keeping your feelings bottled up, you simply do whatever you want without worrying about the consequences. But this time, you clung… Wait a minute. Do you actually like Isaac?”

“Please don’t insult me.”

Jasmine’s expression changed so quickly that Althea momentarily forgot what she had been about to say. The disgust on her mother’s face seemed entirely genuine, and her immediate rejection left little room for doubt about how she supposedly felt toward Isaac. For a moment, Althea could only stare at her, trying to make sense of the contradiction between that reaction and the events of last night.

After several seconds, Althea narrowed her eyes and spoke again. “You know, I always thought something was strange about the way you talked about Isaac, but what happened last night and your reaction just now make me even more suspicious. You haven’t seen some important future involving yourself and Isaac, have you?”

“I haven’t,” Jasmine replied without hesitation, shaking her head to reinforce her answer.

Althea continued studying her face, clearly unconvinced, but Jasmine maintained her expression and refused to say anything more. Eventually, her daughter sighed, muttered something under her breath that Jasmine could not quite hear, and stood up from the table.

“I’ll go apologize for what happened last night, but please don’t do anything like that again. I know about my other…. mothers, but you also know how much I dislike them behaving that way, and I don’t want you doing the same thing.”

“I won’t. I hate Isaa— adultery,” Jasmine replied, correcting herself just before she could finish the sentence. She straightened her clothes and recovered some of her usual composure before continuing, “Besides, I’ll apologize to him personally, so you don’t need to do it on my behalf.”

“But you’re a Queen,” Althea pointed out with a frown, clearly wondering whether her mother understood the consequences of approaching Isaac herself after such an embarrassing incident.

“Exactly, which is why I should apologize personally. What I did was unacceptable, and the fact that Isaac is a married man who bears responsibility for countless people makes my behavior even more shameful. Whatever the circumstances were, I shouldn’t have put him in that position.”

Jasmine’s expression gradually returned to its usual seriousness as she finished speaking, and she could already imagine how uncomfortable the apology would be.

She might have been careless enough to drink herself into such a disgraceful situation, but she had no intention of hiding behind her status to avoid taking responsibility for her actions. After all, regardless of what she thought about Isaac, the Seventh Queen still had her own dignity to uphold.