Cianna is so complex here. She gives Alice the option to normalize while not relapsing to her own trauma. This series is starting to give A Villainess for a Villain, Maid Edition vibes. (Keep the updates coming!)
purple princess is definitely not going to let this humiliation down...
but if she try to go for main/maid, the imperial prince is going to make her regret it.
Somehow I have a feeling that eventually the dowager will confront Cianna, but in a positive way and that this arc will end in the dowager somewhat mending her relationship with the emperor. Maybe even eventually trying to actually get to know Alice.
A) she's a kid and all kids are pretty dumb and lack impulse control. Especially with her mother raising her like that.
2) She didn't know the empress dowager would be around and was confident her mom would protect (spoiler her) like always, especially against someone that had no real backing before.
Or to sum up..
Empress Dowager: Awww, what happened Yvette? You were just talking all that good shit before!