Lucian and Alice were really hitting it off, so I stepped off to the side a bit to give those two a little time alone.
Looking over into the training barracks I saw Cornelius surrounded by a whole bunch of other knights. They were murmuring amongst each other, and I caught quite a few of them glancing over at me. I wondered what they were talking about but pushed their stares to the back of mind since it was unlikely that I would ever find out.
The training barracks were located within the noble sect of the Girannon, which was a bit separated from the general public. Girannon was actually shaped like an oval. With the Royal and Noble sects located right in the centre of the oval. On the east side of Girannon was the harbour and the docks, where trading and selling and most of the markets and festivals took place, While the West side of Girannon was the inland territory that was ideal for farming and training barracks. the northern and southern parts were used for the public's housing.
All the noble families like the Marcellus's and the Von Esterheim's lived in the noble sect, a short distance away from the palace, and some of the fancier dress shops and more exclusive venues were also located in the noble sect.
My eyes wandered over the beautiful scenery of open fields and long green grass when suddenly it landed on a girl. She was definitely a noble, I could tell by the jewels she wore in her hair and the pretty clothes she wore. Her servant girl stood next to her, she was dressed in more plainclothes but of good quality compared to what I had seen the other servants wear. The noble girl had light blue hair (the hair colours were only getting more exotic the longer I stayed here) and matching light blue eyes. But the way she poised herself and the way she was staring at the back of Alice's head made me think that there was something poisonous about her.
She glared menacingly at Alice as she talked to Lucian, in a way that made me want to shield the unsuspecting Alice from her gaze.
But then she noticed that I had seen her stare, immediately I curtseyed to her as was the custom for me since I wasn't a noble. Suddenly her face changed into a delicate smile, one that even made me swoon, but I didn't forget the look of hatred on her face a moment ago. She nodded her head at me as was customary. She began to walk over to Alice, and I prayed that there wouldn't be any trouble. Just in case, I also walked over to Alice.
I watched as she interrupted Alice and Lucian's conversation with her very sweet-sounding voice, "Hello Alice, My apologies for interrupting..."
Alice turned around at her voice and I saw the spark of recognition in her eyes as she saw the girl behind her.
"Rosalie. How are you?" Asked Alice politely.
"I'm very well, thank you. My maid and I went shopping for a gown for the Royal ball. We were on our way back home when I happened to see you here." She giggled charmingly. Right now she seemed all charms and beauty. That menacing look she had a few moments ago was non-existent, her ability to be so fake amazed me.
"What a coincidence, Riley and I were also shopping for gowns, but we extended our trip to come and meet Riley's friend..." She gestured to Lucian, who bowed respectfully towards Rosalie. When she noticed Lucian a new facade of sweetness washed over her face as she nodded at him.
"Enchanted to meet you." She said, to Lucian with a hint of seduction to her tone. Then she spotted the silk-wrapped parcel in Alice's hand. She eyed it greedily as if she desperately wanted to have it.
"Ah. I see your gown... May I have a look?" She asked, losing her composure slightly.
"Well. I think it's best to wait until the ball." Replied Alice, not willing to entertain Rosalie's request. "Have you met my friend Riley?" Alice asked trying to change the subject, she motioned towards me.
"Riley Delton? The newest member of the Royal Mage society?" She asked eyeing me curiously
"Yes, my father's latest prodigy." Commented Riley.
She smiled stiffly at me.
"Well then, I should be getting back home, but while I was shopping in town, your favourite fruits were in stock, so I bought some for you." Her maid then revealed a brown sack filled with a type of fruit called 'Rosenplums'. I had eaten them with Alice before and they were delicious.
"Why thank you, Rosalie!" Alice took the bag from Rosalie's maid. "This is very kind of you." Alice looked really appreciative.
"It's nothing really." She gushed. "I'll see you both at the tournament then." Then she walked off with her maid following close behind. I let go of a large breath I hadn't realised that I was holding in. Rosalie had a bad vibe about her, I would have to be careful of her in the future.
From the middle of the training barracks, a man shouted that the break was over, so Lucian said his goodbyes to us and jogged back to fighting practice.
"Alice, who exactly is she?" I asked.
"She is a Third rank noble, from the Stanburg family."
Even nobles were separated by class in Girannon. Only the founding families of Girannon could be first rank nobles, this included the Marcellus's. However, if a family had contributed substantially to the prosperity of Girannon, their noble rank can be raised, thus if someone did something amazing for Girannon, their rank could be raised to First Rank noble.
"She's always been a bit jealous of me... She always tries to compete with me over the most ridiculous things. Such as who could sing the best, or who could play the harp the best, or who could spend the most money on gowns. That's probably why she wanted to see my gown... To see if hers was better." She seemed to be a bit exasperated with the situation between Rosalie and herself. "But perhaps I have misjudged her... I mean, she did buy me these fruits, my favourite fruit." She smiled down at the sack.
"Alice, you should still be wary of her, because I saw her give you a really mean look when you weren't watching," I warned her.
"Maybe it was just the sun in her eyes.."
I knew it wasn't though.
After that, we walked back to the mansion, just in time for dinner. The food in this world was pretty good but all the food seemed very similar to each other: Everything was some kind of variation of stew. Stew with different kinds of meat, stew with vegetables, stew with fish, stew, stew, stew. I was beginning to get sick of it. It wasn't that it was bad stew, it's just that I was getting really bored with it.
For dessert we were all going to have the rosenplums that Rosalie had given Alice, everyone was about to take a bite when I suddenly had a bad feeling about the plums. I quickly used my Appraiser skill (a skill that allowed me to see the worth of any item, even human beings) which would allow me to see if anything was wrong with the plums.
"Wait!" I shrieked after using my skill. "Don't eat the rosenplums!" I called out desperately.
"What on earth is the matter Riley?" Asked Eleanora, looking concerned.
"Is everything alright madam Riley?" Called one of the butlers.
I decided that a demonstration would be better than explaining. I picked up a knife from the dinner set on the table and cut the Rosenplum in half on my plate. Immediately a disgusting black liquid oozed out of the fruit, it's consistency looked thick and slimy, but the putrid smell that emanated from it was even worse than how it looked. It smelled like an unholy mix of month old rotting fruit and a really smelly wet dog...
The two youngest: Tyrion and Audrey gagged at the smell and immediately dropped their fruit. Lord Marcellus cursed and pinched his nose while Alice moved, got out of her seat and moved far away. Cornelius came closer to take a look while holding his nose.
"Take them away!" Commanded Lord Marcellus and the butlers and maids quickly scurried over to us to take away the rosenplums.
"Goodness girls! Where on earth did you find such rotten fruit?" Eleanora laughed, fanning herself trying to get rid of the lingering smell.
"That two-faced little vixen!" Cursed Alice. "Rosalie gave these to me... she probably did something to them to make them rot on the inside." She scowled.
"Well don't jump to conclusions she might not have known they were rotten..." Eleanora tried to defend Rosalie.
"No my dearest. Those fruits weren't only rotten, someone had to have specially tampered with them to make the inside rotten and also make the outside look completely healthy." Lord Umphrey shook his head upset, suspecting that Rosalie had tried to give their family food poisoning.
Little Audrey started to cry. Partly because the smell had made eyes water and partly because she realized that she wasn't going to get any dessert.
"Don't be such a baby." Teased Tyrion. Which only made her more heartbroken. She began to sob uncontrollably.
"Nanny to make them to their rooms and give them some warm milk." Called out Lady Eleanora, not in the mood to deal with her kids. This was typical of the society, rich parents didn't take care of their children, the house staff did
"Thank you for stopping us from eating that," Alive said taking my hand and squeezing it appreciatively.
I smiled in response.
"So what are we going to do to that evil Rosalie?" Asked Alice with a vengeful glint in her eye.
"It's best not to accuse her publicly of tampering with the fruit. She will probably say that she didn't know that is was rotten, and we don't know what she did to them so we have no proof." Stated Eleanora.
I frowned and Alice scowled.
"This seems to go a bit beyond jealousy..." This was way beyond a little jealousy between two nobles.
Alice sighed and began to talk, "She resents the fact that I am higher ranked than her in status and in the Mage society. I guess she has decided to make our relationship a lethal one." Alice tightened her hand into a fist. "She's also going to be competing in the Mage tournament... I'll teach her a lesson then." She smirked cruelly.
Poor Rosalie.
"Speaking of the tournament!" Cornelius butted in.
"I have taken the liberty of advertising the tournament around the city, so I'm sure a bigger crowd will show up this time. So I just want to remind you two to give us a good show... use the flashiest most extravagant spells, use beautiful and shocking techniques, just give us a show worth remembering..." He grinned mischievously. I nodded I didn't quite understand his reasoning but I would leave his schemes up to him.
"Also, Riley my dear," began Lord Umphrey, "remember that we have registered you as a triple user at the society so remember to only use Dark, Water and lightning magic." He reminded me.
"Of course," I replied.
I was getting really pumped for the tournament.