Though on the surface things in the Rayburn mansion were proceeding as usual, in truth there were very many changes happening in the shadows.
Vanessa, who was still mad at the proceedings of what happened during the meeting with Prince Spencer, was keeping quiet as she prepared a plan to retaliate against Carina.
Marie picked up on a few of Vanessa's maids whispering amongst each other, but Carina wasn't all too worried yet.
Addie, meanwhile, was working hard at her new job, making sure to relay any information she had on Jane to Marie and Carina when she had the time. Anne, at the same time, was reporting Carina's every movement to Jane.
Carina, though aware that there were many things happening behind locked doors, was worried about something else entirely. Prince Spencer's invitation for tea at the royal palace had already went through, and now all that was left was to plan for it. Or at least in Carina's case, to worry her head off for it.
"Do I need to find a new dress? I'm not sure what I already have would be something worthy for the king and queen to see. In the first place I'm not even sure what someone would wear to meet royalty, I mean I know I've already met the princes, but it's the king! And the queen! Oh... I think I'm going to be sick just thinking about it."
Marie sighed at Carina's antics, knowing that Carina would be more than capable of handling herself in front of royalty. She knew too that the king and queen were known to be good people, so it wasn't as if Carina had much she really needed to be concerned about.
"Miss, the dresses you have will be more than enough. You shouldn't worry too much, I'm sure the king and queen will be happy to meet you."
Despite all of Marie's consoling words, Carina only continued to whine, until eventually Marie gave up talking at all and merely sent Carina off to bed to sleep her worries off.
Unfortunately, due to all of Carina's restless thoughts, she barely slept at all that night, tossing and turning in her bed and only managing to get a good two hours of sleep in before she was woken up by Marie.
"Miss... you look horrible." Marie commented, as she tidied up Carina's bedsheets.
Carina groaned as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, poking at her obvious eye bags. "I know... do you think Anne could fix this?"
Upon seeing Carina's complexion, Anne was shocked into silence, but after a couple minutes of fussing and almost an hour of concentrated work, she in fact, did manage to fix it.
"There!" Anne announced, once she was done with her work. "You look lovely now, Miss."
"Thank you, Anne." Carina smiled, acting pleased, though knowing that at this point in time Anne was the farthest thing from a friend to her.
Anne smiled back, not knowing that Carina had already lost all trust for her.
"Miss," Marie interrupted as she walked in through the door, "the carriage is ready."