The day of the tea party came and Ki got up to get dressed along with her mother and grandmother.
Agnes straightened her granddaughter's dress and combed her hair before putting in a pin to hold hold it in place.
The three of them dressed modestly in their dresses which passed by their knees while their chests and arms were covered.
Agnes turned to Ki and nodded. "You are becoming more and more beautiful. As I have taught you in etiquette lessons you must place your thumb and index finger to hold the top of the handle of the teacup, while the middle finger supports the bottom. When we begin to eat everyone must follow the host and stop eating when the host places down their eating utensils. As your mother is the host I will leave this to her but I will support her if needed."
Elizabeth nodded at her mother's words. "I have not seen many of the noble ladies ever since I married into the family so I do not know their stance anymore towards me so how should I act?"
Agnes turned to her daughter-in-law and sighed. "Just be a warm host and be welcoming. If anyone is rude then just change the topic or reply to them but don't show if you are hurt by their words. The noble circles for ladies are filled with poisonous flowers, most nobles husbands and families have a certain set of values so they neglect their daughters and wife's after they outlive their usefulness. This leads them to form groups during these events to show off their money to boost their ego in forms of clothing, jewellery or bragging about their husbands love for them. While some lie so long as they don't get caught in the lie they are fine but if caught then they risk losing their reputation and being shamed by the others. That's why it's best to not be overly eager to make connections but do not be too cold, you can make connections within this group to pick up on information about their families ongoing plans and also various rumours within the noble circles. We can also use this to promote our business plans, there should be others who may try to make connections and others who would laugh at your attempts to promote your business but you must maintain your dignity and pride at all times. Do not let them bring you down in front of the others, the moment you are then that is the moment they see you as weak."
Ki listened to the side and nodded at her grandmothers words. 'Indeed we can host this gathering but how many gatherings I would have to go to after this is unknown. Even if I don't wish to go I need to promote the tea pavilion which is being built in Wolfden city. We just need customers and the noble ladies are the perfect target for spreading the word since it will be used for the more wealthy or upper class to visit or hold a gathering. It will very quickly become a hot spot for the nobles in the northern parts of the central lands. Then I can open more in larger cities closer to the capital.'
Many carriages arrived, the first to arrive was the carriages of the retainer families of the Bombyx family.
The Lenox, Bifta and White families had been serving during Agnes fathers generation and continued until this day but according to Ki's knowledge those families did not step up to help in their time of need, in the first generation the families were loyal but as the generations changed so did their loyalty and goals.
The Bifta family were loyal according to Isaacs notes but were cowardly so did not usually like to stand out, the Lenox family now sided towards Agnes sisters family in hopes of taking advantage of the family drama and harm done towards the business to promote themselves during the chaos while the White family did continue their duties as a loyal subject but they were supposedly cutting corners during the transportation of materials or making shady deals in secret.
One had no backbone, another was ambitious but was willing to use others for their rise no matter who was harmed and the last was lazy, possibly selling stolen goods and eager to betray if given the right price.
Ki shook her head when she read the report. 'Let's start from the Bifta family and investigate further into the other families actions.'
Elizabeth's friends families had arrived afterwards and had travelled from the two nearby cities that were a little further away, they had married into the Nix and Seren families.
The Nix family were wealthy and the Seren family focussed more on martial arts.
The city lord of Wolfden cities wife and daughter in law arrived much to Ki's inner turmoil after seeing their faces. 'It's a good thing I can control myself… if a blade was nearby and I couldn't control myself then… hehe'
The wife looked overly dressed and wore exaggerated jewellery as if she bought them from merchants without knowing the trends of the capital, she was overly flashy and from a lower background but managed to win the city lords heart by acting pitiful most of the time so she did not have much sense for what is popular in season.
The daughter in law looked to be a little arrogant as she raised her head high with her nose facing up while her eyes looked down on others with contempt.
Ki remembered that face well…
It was the face she put on as she ran into Ki during her time as a slave, Ki had suffered at the hands of slave traders from ten years old so she became malnourished and had many bruises and cuts on her body.
Her face still remained pretty and cute, the moment she was purchased to serve in the city lords mansion she fell into hell.
The son of the city lord took a fancy to her even though she was still a child, she did her best to avoid him while working but then his wife found out.
After that followed being locked in a dark and damp room to starve, once let go on the verge of death she was raised up to be able to work again.
She was targeted again and again to make her suffer until the wife of the city lords son began to use a knife to cut at parts of Ki's body and face.
Throughout the whole painful series of events the woman did not change her look of disdain towards Ki as she cut her without mercy.
It was as though she was stomping at an annoying ant that had moved in her path up Ki knew that it wasn't that simple of a situation
The son of the city lord is someone who should be known by everyone in the city and the surroundings so many fawn over him and seek to have relationships with him.
Even women try to create a relationship even though he had been officially married, being raised up high he was arrogant and did not care for others feelings as his own well-being was most important.
After being cheated on many times the daughter-in-law must have picked up a habit of beating young or pretty girls, she enjoyed the feeling of tramping on them and destroying their beauty to show her superiority but really it was just an excuse the project her anger onto others because she could not vent it onto her husband after all the wrongs he had done to her.
Even though Ki knew why she behaved the way she did back then, Ki still held great hatred towards her because even in this life she still was continuing her actions, even Rashida had been harmed by her.
After escaping Ki had to wear a mask for the rest of her life because her face was so badly torn up and so unrecognisable that it would frighten others and would be painful if exposed to the wind.