"My lady, do you think the Duke's sister will be nice" Sophella asked carefully and nervously as she worried for Erionella, because if Duke Crinoel's sister didn't acknowledge her, her life from now in the noble world would be hard.
"No need to worry. I will deal with everything nicely" Erionella said as she considered if Mareeonel had changed.
But even without her changing, Mareeonel wasn't the cliché bright and naïve protagonist. She was strong, smart, elegant and witty.
And if she was to be against Erionella, she would prove to be a tough adversary.
But even if Mareeonel would be against her, Erionella knew a thing or two that could put her in shackles. Though she wouldn't want to resort to such means, but Erionella would do anything and everything for the sake of her survival.
She took a deep breath in and a breath out as she saw the Duke's mansion in sight.
Mareeonel would practically determine her gaining power from the temple. So she repeated the phrase an angry manager always told an amateur performer before going on stage.
'Don't blow it'
A deep shade of blue that would be best called ultramarine. Brilliantly shining golden eyes. Graceful gestures and a gentle smile on her face with shone as bright as the sun.
Calling this girl beautiful and graceful would be insulting her. She would be too much to define mere 'beautiful' and 'graceful'.
Could who the protagonist of this novel was, be shouted any louder?
"I greet Lady Mareeonel Garcia" Erionella said gently as she gave her best curtsy and looked down to the ground before looking into Mareeonel's golden eyes.
Mareeonel smiled gently as she too gave her small greetings and gestured towards the garden were a table and snacks was set.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Erionella" Mareeonel said as she sat at the table and Erionella followed suit.
"The pleasure is all mine" Erionella repeated the typical reply in every novel she had read.
"I will be truthful, I was really surprised to hear my brother had gotten engaged. I hadn't caught the wind of him liking someone the last time I saw him so I was shocked. I've heard a lot about you, Lady Erionella and look forward to getting along with you" Mareeonel said as she leaned on her chair leisurely.
"So do I" Erionella said as she felt a sharp gaze came from the window of the Duke's office.
This was just an introductory warm up from the protagonist to see if his fiancée wouldn't be a problem to him.
And Erionella was doing nicely. The day passed by smoothly with small talk. After half an hour Erionella left.
She went back to the Duke's mansion, but this time, with some company.
"Swesta Ewiorewa!" The little girl who was two with titian hair and blue eyes wobbled on her chubby legs at the approaching Erionella who swooped her off the ground in her arms.
"Hey little Sophia. Today your sister, Erionella is taking you out with her" She had now been in the novel for a month and felt like an actual big sister as her younger siblings had died when she was much younger as Leilan.
From the bits of Erionella's memories she could see that little Sophia had always wanted Erionella's attention, but she was always ignored.
So she pitied the little bundle of cuteness with chubby cheeks and fat arms.
"Reawy? Wer bu we gaw?" Sophia said 'Really? Where do we go?' In baby gibberish.
"To the Garcia mansion, to see the Duke's sister" Though Sophia would probably know nothing about what a Duke was or about the Garcia mansion, Erionella still explained carefully.
The carriage ride was filled with Sophia's little voice as Erionella listened to her in awe.
Today the Garcia mansion would have a load of guests, as the news of Mareeonel being in the Garcia mansion had spread like an epidemic.
People would stalk around the residence in hopes of getting a glimpse of Mareeonel.
This world's paparazzi and crazed journalists were without cameras and notepads, but preferably with tight corseted gowns, hand fans and fake hair extensions.
Side character ladies in fantasy novels really were ruthless.
After half an hour, the carriage passed the gate of the Garcia mansion and before Erionella could react, Sophia pushed the handle of the carriage door down and went out of the carriage and teetered in the ground.
The vast green field of grass seemed to grow taller as Sophia further tottered out into the garden and passed the bench.
Erionella dashed out of the carriage and ran at super speed towards the bench but found the whole area empty with only plants at every corner.
It was now she had finally realized how big the garden was.
Focusing her magical energy she summoned her butterflies and her little blue rabbit.
'Find Sophia!'
There was a thing like 'kidnapping', 'human trafficking' and 'psychopaths' out there. Sure it was a fantasy novel, but it was still a world with human beings.
Human beings who did various evil acts more than any number discovered!
Yeah, she wasn't Sophia's real sister, but who would watch such a cute child disappear and completely ignore it! Besides, if she won the child's favour there was no telling what could she could do with it. People tended to not suspect a child if anything were to go wrong.
Her butterflies which had multiplied by each day, scattered to every direction of the Duke's household and her little rabbit hopped around into different directions as she herself scouted the area.
Ten minutes had passed and Sophia had still been missing until Erionella reached the passage of the Duke's servants' annex and heard the faint laughter of a child.
She ran quickly into the direction of the laughter and was surprised by the view before her eyes.
"Oh! Swisa Ewiowella!" Sophia chirped as she beckoned Erionella over to the stack of doll's in front of her.
"Oh, good morning, Sister Erionella!" The bigger Sophia, named Mareeonel squeaked as she dropped a princess doll and ran over to Erionella and gave her a hug.
Well it was mentioned before that Mareeonel wasn't the cliché innocent, cheery and bright heroine in the novel, which revolved around her fighting her brother who associated with the Lord of Nightmares, and all trace of innocence disappeared after she killed her brother.
But now she was still on a good relationship with her brother and was still sweet and bright, so she quickly accepted Erionella as her sister.
And Erionella felt friendly towards Mareeonel who was kind and sweet. She almost felt guilty that she would just use Mareeonel as a pawn to get power from the temple.
The morning was filled with laughs as the three did pretend tea party and played with dolls and smiled till their cheeks hurt.
"Greetings to Duke Garcia." Erionella said with a curtsy.
"Yes. You have been my fiancée for a month and plans for the engagement ceremony have been made." Crinoel said as he gestured for Erionella to sit down.
Erionella plumped on the chair due to the tiredness of playing like a child all morning and summoning her magical creatures.
Her perfectly arranged titian hair probably had twigs and leaves in it after looking for Sophia. But she really didn't care about her appearance to the Duke.
She could look like a cavewoman to him, for all she cared.
"It doesn't have to be anything grand as I'm not actually going to marry you. Just a ceremony with the necessary people will be okay, right?"
Crinoel leaned back on his chair with an eyebrow raised in doubt "I am the only Duke of the great Empire that governs the continent. In a year or two, I am expected to be named an Arch Duke or even a Grand Duke which is competing in power with the Imperial family. Grand Duke, and you think about my engagement ceremony and say 'it doesn't have to be anything grand'."
Erionella felt a bit ticked off by his curt 'honesty', but he was right.
"Well if you don't want anything grand, then you could have a private engagement ceremony in the Renowarin territory, the Temple, Garcia territory, the imperial villa-
"Wait. Did you say the Temple?