289 Days before Latil. 1392nd Year of the Florentine Empire. 9th of October.
Note: Latil is the day the barrier around the demon land named 'Ulenov', will weaken.
Today was supposed to be the day of the Empress' tea party, but a letter came saying that it was postponed for the next day. The tea party would have been ruined anyway, due to the heavy rain.
So Erionella spent her time at home. While the maids served her she noticed a strange tension between the maids.
"I'll be going back home this evening my lady" Sophella delayed her return home because of the rain.
After they were all done with their jobs, the maids all left her alone in her room.
***
"I'll be going now. Amanda, I hope you serve our lady well" It was evening and time for Sophella to leave the Count's mansion.
She advised Amanda who served Erionella personally in her place. She left the maids annex, probably heading for the gates used for servants.
The maids serving Erionella were all done with their jobs as the Renowarin family had just finished dinner.
A certain maid who went by the name of Sasha walked angrily towards the maid annex.
She was the maid who had gotten into a quarrel with Sophella. After she was reprimanded by Erionella she couldn't continue with her prideful demeanour.
She was from a fallen baronet family and couldn't stand being treated like other maids. She too was a noble! Therefore she had to be treated differently from other maids.
"You're a noble. I'm a commoner but at the end of the day we are still lowly maids"
You said you want to be treated like a noble lady. So why don't you quit huh?" She remembered how Erionella mocked her and the maids looked down on her in condescension.
Why were filthy commoners given respect!
They were meant to obey her.
Hate brewed in her heart for the lady and the maids. She wickedly thought of ways to make them pay extremely. On her way to her room she discovered a letter at the front door. It was addressed to her.
She went into her room and tore the envelope. There was a letter, a vial of powder and five gold coins.
Simply make sure the powder goes into the air anywhere that's near Erionella's room and she'll die in the next 5 days after inhaling the substance. Put some in her water too. No one will suspect you. Come over to the town nearest to the imperial palace on the 10th of October. Wait in front of the biggest fountain. There I'll give you complete payment.
The letter was short and direct, giving her a job.
She looked at the vial and held it tightly in her hand. Sasha who was malicious by nature had no qualms with killing people. The Florentine Empire was such a place were people lacked good hearts.
Rather they owned hearts that only planned evil and were filled with greed.
Sasha did as the letter told her. She poured the powder around Erionella's door. A beautiful smell filled the air but Sasha was smart enough to close her nose.
"I'll take the water to the lady" She stopped Amanda who was going to keep the glass of water in Erionella's room and volunteered for the job.
Amanda who was tired didn't think much about it then handed the glass over to Sasha and went to retire in the maid annex. Making sure no one else was in the kitchen Sasha dropped the little remaining powder into the water.
Sasha had finished putting all the powder and was about to turn around heading for Erionella's room when. "What are you doing?" Someone had caught her.
She prayed that the person didn't see when she was putting the powder into Erionella's water. Besides, it was probably one of the commoner servants Sasha herself was a noble! A commoner couldn't accuse her of any crime.
The person who saw her was the maid she hated second. "I'm going to give the lady her water, Irliona"
Frankly, Sasha hated everything about Irliona. Her indifferent expression. Her red eyes that looked at her with boredom and her black hair that was far silkier than hers.
Sasha was about to walk past Irliona when she halted her footsteps. But she didn't stop walking on purpose. For a second it felt like she couldn't control her own body.
"You know, lately I've been very bored" Irliona spoke lowly while taking out a kitchen knife out of a drawer. She held it carefully in her hand as if examining it.
Sasha spoke up due to her strange actions. "Wha-" But she wasn't able to even get a complete word out.
***
After leaving the backyard, Irliona walked silently to her room, hiding something behind her skirt. Her clothes became dirty after being in the bushes for a while.
As she reached her room something a red liquid dripped lightly on the ground.
She closed the door behind her and brought out the object she was hiding; a bloody kitchen knife.
***
The knights of the Renowarin family stared at the horrendous scene. The body of a maid laid in the bushes at the back fields of the mansion.
Her back had been seriously torn. Her face was terrifyingly pale and all colours had faded. The grass was stained with dried up blood. After some investigating they came to find out that the maids name was Sasha.
They concluded that she had died after falling off from the balcony above the bushes as the maid Irliona testified she saw her on the balcony.
***
288 Days before Latil. 1392nd Year of the Florentine Empire. 10th of October.
The Empress' tea party had been scheduled for the previous day. However, the Empress moved it to today due to an attack in her palace.
The attacker was not caught and the person's identity was unknown.
The Empress was moved to a different palace at night for tighter security in case of another attack. But the tea party was still held in her palace.
As the hour for the tea party approached, various magnificent carriages wheeled into the Empress palace grounds. Each lined up side by side uniformly. There was a total of thirty carriages parked.
The carriages that arrived didn't bare any family symbol because the event was just a tea party. So no one could tell which family each lady came from.
It was almost noon, the exact time for the Empress' tea luncheon party. Usually, noble ladies wouldn't arrive on time for a tea party, but things were different for a tea party hosted by the Empress herself.
Ladies dressed to their best walked elegantly into the palace. They were all greeted by the Empress' ladies in waiting.
"Thank you for coming Lady Renowarin"
"My pleasure" Erionella was among the ladies invited to the tea party. She was a quick learner and had almost perfected her noble speech and posture.
Wearing a dark green dress and simple accessories all in white, she had to say that 'Erionella' was quite pretty in green. The colour complimented her eyes.
She was guided to her seat by a servant. There was a total of thirty noble ladies present. All the guests. one by one, were led to their seats by the Empress' attendants after being greeted by her ladies in waiting.
There were two big round white tables, each having fifteen seats. They were pushed near each other and at the point were they were joined a chair, very different from the rest was kept.
After a few minutes all the chairs became occupied except for the one at the head.
When the herald blew the trumpet and the doors opened everyone stood up.
"Greetings to the moon of the Empire" All the ladies uniformly greeted the woman who entered. Not a single mistake was made and no one was out of line.
After all the ladies gathered here were those currently at the top of high society in rank or current popularity.
The woman had blonde hair and brown eyes. Dressed in a blue gown and a golden robe and the jewellery from the finest craftsmen throughout the continent. She was the hostess of the this tea party. The Empress of the great Florentine Empire.
"Now, let's begin ladies" The Empress' words were a signal for the servants to bring the snacks and tea. And for the ladies to get seated.
All guests were present even though it was just a tea party. After all, who would dare to refuse an invitation to the Empress' rare tea parties?
The tea party's theme was simple but none of the ladies treated the event casually and were splendidly dressed. High society was one of the deadliest battlefields.
"Thank you for the invitation Your Majesty. I have to say the garden is as beautiful as you Empress" With these simple words, the battle began.
After being seated, a lady in particular started a conversation with the Empress pretending to be close to her.
For some reason the ladies turned their attention to Erionella who was seated at the second row. It was the lady beside her that bad spoken to the Empress.
"Thank you for your words, Lady Michael" Erionella realized why they all looked at her.
Marquis Michael was the young man who had been pressuring Count and Countess Renowarin into marriage between him and Erionella. He had tried many tricks and schemes to make Erionella his bride by making trouble for the family. (Chapter 3)
He was the reason why she proposed the engagement contract to Crinoel.
His younger sister, and only sibling was Charlotte Michael. The only lady of the Michael family as their parents had died.
Though not outwardly declaring it as Elisa Julian did, it was obvious Charlotte greatly admired Duke Crinoel.
Before the former Duke of Garcia died, there had been talk about a marriage between Crinoel and Charlotte.
But after Crinoel became Duke he never talked about the matter. But in the minds of everyone, Charlotte was the next Duchess of Garcia.
The shock everyone had when they heard that he had gotten engaged to some daughter of a Count.
Charlotte had been absent from high society for a full month after the engagement was announced.
This tea party was her first appearance after the engagement announcement.
Erionella was glad that she was seated next to Charlotte. It was obvious that the Empress didn't seat them according to rank which was what people commonly did.
To her right was Charlotte and facing her was none other than Elisa Julian which she internally called shovel girl. It was obvious this seating arrangement was made in oder to fuel some drama.
The ladies began displaying pleasantries to those they wanted to curry favour with.
Erionella located the only people she knew at the tea party. Mareeonel the Duke's sister was at the other table.
Beneditel, the villainess of the novel who she was acquainted with sat at the right hand side of Elisa.
"Lady Renowarin, I have to say you made all of us shocked with your engagement" The Empress suddenly spoke to Erionella who had been silent. She had a sly smile on her face then continued. "You don't participate in high society and we've all been interested in you. Isn't that so, Lady Charlotte?"
Everyone's attention moved from the Empress to Charlotte and Erionella who sat beside each other. Everyone anticipated Charlotte's reply.
Charlotte was among the leading socialites in the Empire, she had a crafty way of saying things just as a noble should.
Everyone expected that Erionella would be utterly defeated if they were to have a battle of words.
Charlotte stared at Erionella and smiled condescendingly before speaking. "Yes. We've all been interested in the famous lady Renowarin that's just a daughter of a Count" Charlotte who had always been prudent did not try to hide her hostility towards Erionella.
She continued "We're suprised how you acquired a very powerful position not worthy of a simple Count's daughter. But nothing is ever set in stone. There will always be a difference between a wildflower and a rose. Even my dear friend, Lady Julian agrees"
Elisa Julian and Charlotte Michael had never gotten along due to the fact that they both had feelings for Duke Crinoel.
So 'dear friend' was rather a lie, but as the saying goes, 'the enemy of my enemy is my ally' So in this situation were Erionella was her greater enemy she turned towards Elisa.
Everyone was excited and looked at Erionella who had calmly listened to Charlotte's words. As expected Charlotte defeated Erionella. They just thought that Erionella was stalling waiting to listen to Elisa's words.
"She's right! You have no right to be the Duke's fianceè, much less the Duchess. Keep on dreaming because I'm the one that will marry the Duke!"
Elisa Julian came forward to help Charlotte too because she hated Erionella more. She could still remember how she was humiliated at the boutique a month ago.
Elisa Julian the daughter of a Count who was the owner of a leading jewellery store was known in the society as the lady who led a fan club of girls in love with Crinoel to support her.
She was rude and disrespectful. She became popular in society three years ago after she began chasing people with shovels.
Some speculated she wasn't perfectly sane but they didn't delve more into the topic.
Clpp. Erionella elegantly dropped her teacup on the table then looked at Charlotte then Elisa. "You're finally done right? I apologise for not paying full attention to you. But you can't blame me. Who would sit back and listen to a dog barking?"
Erionella smiled sweetly then continued speaking ignoring Charlotte's face that began to crumple in slight anger. Erionella couldn't help but laugh in her mind.
She hadn't even began roasting her yet her face was already like this.