Lumielle hated these types of dinners. Yet, she understood they were important for diplomacy. She watched Cosette talk, brightly enchanting Allard who calmly sat by her side. She talked to Carsynth and sometimes even roped the Emperor into it. Without the two Vastillo children, they would have looked like a perfect picture. Lumielle was placed away from them all. Isolated near the other end of the table.
Lumielle wondered why Cosette hated her so. It wasn't a question that she hadn't pondered previously.
Perhaps, after her brush with death, she had new introspection. Lumielle had a new thought and a new idea as to why Cosette wanted to destroy her.
She wondered what envy corrupted her and the dedication that she had to try and rip Lumielle of her laurels. It wasn't as if Lumielle even had much. The scraps that she had been given had become the covetous diamonds that Cosette wanted. She had more than Lumielle ever had.
