'It happens much sooner than in the original timeline. But that was intentional, wasn't it? She hadn't wanted to stay and wait. No, she had wanted to be in control of her own fate. '
"You! It was you, wasn't it?"
Livia mouth the words as the Crown Prince spits them out.
Her eyes dimly look down to the body the Prince clutched to his person. Her face was no longer blue, and her chest could be seen rising and falling. Amelia wasn't dead.
'Good. I got the dosage right,' she finds herself thinking with an eerie calm.
The fact that she was coldly proud of that and not moved in the least that she might have accidentally killed the girl should have alarmed her. It should have turned her stomach.
It didn't.
"..."
"Livia is too shocked to speak," Is what the text had said across her screen as she had watched with unimpressed eyes at the familiar scene.
Livia blinks rapidly to shake the image. She suddenly felt a chill all the way down to her bones. What was wrong with her? What was happening? The images didn't stop. They just kept coming.
She wanted to push them back, to deny it all, but she couldn't.
In the meantime, the Crown Prince's royal guards are standing at his side. Beside them is the Second Prince, arriving at the party late as usual.
"I had thought the rumors going around that you were bullying a fellow student to be false. I had assured myself that no fiancé of mine would ever conduct herself in such a barbaric manner. But this, this I cannot turn a blind eye on. Livia Katrina Valentina, you went too far." The tone was harsh and boomed across the now quiet ballroom.
Amelia is gently handed over to the Second Prince to look after before the Crown Prince gets to his feet and stalks forward. His expression is thunderous, and magic can be seen flickering to life around him.
The crowd parts and a path between him and the still collapsed form of Livia opens up. Liliana, bless that girl, doesn't move from her side. She falls to her knees with her sister and throws her arms around her even as the Crown Prince towers over them.
"T-There has to be s-s-some misunderstanding! My sister is innocent!" Liliana says fiercely, though Livia can feel the great tremble of her body.
She wanted to reach out and comfort her sister. Her fear was understandable. The Crown Prince could be likened to a demon on a warpath at the moment. But it was taking all of her energy not to just collapse on the spot.
"Your highness, I would never do something like this," Livia says as calmly as she could, even as the pain threatened to return, "Please, let's just take a moment to calm ourselves and-"
"I saw her!"
The voice was from one of her own servants. A young girl who had been hired not too long ago.
She steps forward with a raised chin.
The Crown Prince glare moves from Livia to the servant, "Saw what?" He snaps.
The servant flinched a bit, but answers anyway, "I saw her by the wine glasses just before the party started. Lady Livia stood by them for a minute or so before she left."
Livia scowls. What a stupid thing. Her proof was only that she saw her standing by something? That was not enough to convict her.
Truly foolish.
She completely ignores the perfectly clear vision in her head of her tampering with the glass with magic early in the day. It must be some sort of illusion or trick. It was impossible, after all. Livia was unfortunately not gifted when it came to magic. She had very little of it, and that meager amount was nowhere near enough to create even that small spark of light. No, it couldn't be her. She hadn't done that at all. Livia recoiled away from the part of her that was growing steadily colder. She fought off the bizarre illusions in her head with fierceness.
It couldn't be true.
Livia would never stoop to that level.
So, she defended herself as if she hadn't. As if she was completely innocent and not guilty to the core.
'Hmm, maybe poison was overkill? I was simply sticking to the script though,' A distant part of her remarks.
"I stood near a table and that is enough to accuse me of such a horrible crime?" Livia says, her tone barely even.
Liliana pushes closer to her, nodding in agreement as she glares at the maid, "How could you? I thought you were so nice!"
The Prince is silent, his eyes dark and his jaw tense.
The crowd around them murmur among themselves as they watch with avid eyes, hungry for the entertainment. Not a single person bothers to speak out. It was not their place to interfere in royal business, not unless they risk the spotlight shifting onto them. It was better to stand and watch. Even the ladies who spoke up in favor of Livia remain silent. Her friends all but shrink into the crowd. They could be seen as accomplices.
Plus, all who have been invited to the debutante was loyal to the Crown Prince. A steadily growing rift between the nobles has formed over the years. The Crown Prince faction against the Fourth Prince faction.
If the party had been hosted at the Valentina estate at the core of the Kingdom like originally planned, things no doubt wouldn't have ever escalated so far. But Livia had the sudden idea of hosting it at the Academy. Away from the King's influence, away from strict justice and order. The Aster Academy also had a ballroom that rivaled the ones at the Grand Palace. Aster Academy was also the one place where the Crown Prince Rodale didn't need to glance over his shoulder. It was the one place where he could safely call his own. It seemed like an utterly brilliant idea.
Of course, it was. If one wishes to trigger an event early, one must set the scene.
Now, surrounded on all sides by those who seek out their own ambitions, it seemed she might have miscalculated.
Indeed, Livia was rather alone. Even her own parents were absent.