It was a few days after the banquet. After drowning in letters from concerned friends and curious acquaintances wanting to know why the hell my fiance visited another lady the night of his birthday banquet, for which I still hadn't thought of a good excuse yet, I was more than glad to escape into Mother's chambers from a summon.
"You wanted to see me, Mother?"
"Yes, darling. Have a seat."
I sat down across the table from her, and her gray eyes bored seriously into mine. We were both mother and daughter and allies on a battlefront, defending the honour of our family.
"It's not a pleasant thing, what His Highness did."
"I quite agree."
"You feel fine, I hope?"
"Of course, but I think I may need assistance with the gossip."
"I thought that might be the case, darling. Shall we host a tea party? A small affair, with a few friends and Lady Catherine. As you know, with a delicate situation like this, a handful of very influential individuals work best."
Mother smiled innocently and I returned a smirk, the most relieved I'd felt in days.
"That would be lovely. However, I haven't thought of a good explanation yet."
Mother laughed, a light tinkle that only sounded devious if you knew her well enough.
"Oh, I have just the thing, darling."
- - -
"She isn't going."
"Like hell she isn't! I didn't raise her to just sit there and let them slander her. She needs to get out there and defend herself!"
"They'll only twist her words. We can't give them anything."
Catherine sat uncomfortably in the corner as Father and Uncle debated. She'd been excited to receive the invitation and hadn't expected Father to oppose so fiercely.
"Remember last time? The girl didn't say a thing against you, and they still managed to make you into a pervert, and now she's known as the fake lady raised by a pervert. That Avington girl is dangerous."
"And our Catherine is strong! At the rate you're going, we'll be here until she's thirty! If she's going to be queen one day, she needs to know what others are saying about her. They're going to gather anyway and gossip about her, but if she goes at least we'll know what they're saying. Cat agrees with me!"
Uncle turned his head one way and then another, finally finding her in the corner. He grinned.
"Right, Cat?"
"Y-yes, I would like to go!"
Privately, Catherine wanted to see Lady Valentina again. After a long period of loneliness despite a number of small tea parties and balls, no one was as kind as her! Besides, she was truly strong, unlike Catherine, so maybe she could even help resolve the rumours and misunderstanding floating around Uncle from last time.
Father sighed and waved a hand.
"You can go, Catherine. Your Uncle and I are going to have a talk."
Uncle shot her a smile as she left and whispered to her.
"You're going, I'll make sure of it!"
Catherine beamed and hummed through the halls of the mansion, warmth spreading in her chest. In times like this, she knew that Uncle did love her, and she treasured it very much.
- - -
Catherine had accepted the invitation, and the party was held about a couple days later.
To my interest, other than the notorious gossips, the guests were composed of many ladies associated with newspapers and journals, including several who were columnists themselves, and some that were read by commoners. Whatever Mother was planning, it would be wide scale, and I was more than excited.
"Your Grace and Lady Valentina, how wonderful it is to see you both again!"
"It's an honour, Grand Duchess. Hello, Lady Valentina."
"Good afternoon, Your Grace. You look stunning! And you as well, Lady Valentina!"
It was very intriguing company, but Catherine was the real center of attention. She was dressed modestly and simply, in her usual cute style, with bright wide eyes and a naive smile.
"Hello, Lady Valentina! Thank you for inviting me! I'm so happy to see you!"
"Good afternoon, Lady Catherine. It's lovely to have you. This is my mother, the Grand Duchess of Avington."
"Ah, nice to meet you, Your Grace! I'm Lady Catherine Bryant!"
Catherine curtsied, still lacking severely in grace. Mother smiled charmingly, dazzling the girl.
"Welcome, Lady Catherine. I've heard many things about you."
"Oh… um, not everything people say is true!"
"Really? How curious, indeed."
The eyes of our guests were trained on Catherine, experienced predators barely concealing their bloodlust, compared to my pack of young and ruthless beasts. They paid pretty compliments and spoke of nice pleasantries, enjoying the food, until they were full and in the best mood for attack.
The first strike was launched by a writer for an extremely popular lady's magazine, smiling broadly with cherry red lips.
"Lady Catherine, won't you indulge us in your relationship between you and His Highness?"
"H-hm?"
She had chosen a particular instant when Catherine had just stuffed her mouth with tea cakes, and a light titter arose as she tried to swallow too quickly and coughed. The girl's cheeks turned pink.
"I-I think we're friends?"
"But surely that's not everything! Friends, especially members of the opposite sex, do not leave an important royal event early to visit each other in the middle of the night and request a moment in private."
The woman batted her eyelashes innocently. Catherine opened her mouth and closed it again, and the writer's smile widened as she continued, leaning in.
"Do tell us, Lady Catherine. After all, honesty is plainly the best course of action in any situation to avoid unjust rumours. And we're all friends here! So, what did His Highness desire? Merely to see you? Ah, but that is suggestible in itself, and now that I've put words in your mouth, you really must tell us if I'm right!"
Catherine leaned back, not an ounce of proper elegance in her posture. She bit her lip nervously.
"I'm sorry, but I promised His Highness to not share our conversation."
The woman's eyes widened triumphantly and she nodded slowly, smugly satisfied. There was a round of excited whispers and some of the ladies actually took out notepads and pens, scribbling down God knew what. Catherine had the audacity to sit there with her head slightly tilted to the side, like she was unaware of the implications of the words she'd just spoken.
My grip on my teacup tightened. The most common version was as the woman had said, that the prince had visited Catherine because he wanted to see her, seemingly the most plausible explanation of a wholly ridiculous affair. I did want to know his real purpose, heavens forbid that the gossip was right, but the truth wasn't the point of this gathering. I glanced at Mother, very much curious and eager to see how she was going to turn this around.
"Isn't it obvious, though, ladies?"
Mother delicately placed down her teacup and with her mesmerizing charisma, immediately enraptured everyone's attention. The lady who responded was the manager and chief editor for a highly respectable commoners' newspaper, a sensible middle-aged woman that had been scribbling furiously in a notebook.
"Whatever do you mean, Your Grace?"
"Why, if you think about it, the most conceivable motive for any action a member of the royal family takes is certainly official, for the crown and the people."
She spoke carelessly, ascertaining a fact easily accepted by those present as the first step into their heads. Her voice lowered, demure and assured as she wove a completely new story.
"You have heard of the child trafficking crisis in the north, yes? It's all over the newspapers, with the recent arrest of all those people, and some of them so distinguished too. If I recall correctly, Lady Catherine was raised in the north, rather near where it happened, in fact, and her uncle ran a bookstore. Well, didn't the papers mention how those horrible criminals covered their illegal acts with private establishments, such as bookstores?"
Under Mother's persuasive and assertive tone, soothing in her manner of simply stating things as the truth, this absolutely absurd idea was entertained and I watched with fascination as it slowly took hold over the minds of our guests.
Impressed, I recalled how I had overhead Mother arranging with small-time publishers to blow the trafficking story, really not that significant, into the ears of high society, but not too much so facts didn't hold back exaggeration. Still, she couldn't expect them to buy everything.
Catherine seemed to realize what was happening and her mouth slowly opened. Before she could protest, the woman from the newspaper pressed Mother.
"Forgive my impertinence, but has Your Grace any evidence to support this suggestion?"
"But of course!"
Mother gave a dulcet laugh and waved airily.
"I know that one can't seriously trust servants, but I've had this girl for years and she's really most upright. It's not my place to convince anyone of anything, but I am personally confident that she doesn't tell lies. It was her night out, and she swears on her father's grave that she saw the royal knights arrest someone from the Bryant mansion. Decidedly, I told her it was ludicrous. Don't you agree, Lady Catherine?"
She swirled to stare right into Catherine's soul, and the girl flinched.
"I don't know, but no one was arrested-"
"It's perfectly all right, dear. We mustn't pressure you into anything, and anyhow we couldn't possibly ask you to expose the man that raised you. It would be most unkind! And I expect His Highness did swear you to secrecy for such an important state matter. You needn't speak and we'll infer what happened, and I shall dismiss my poor lying maid. Pity the old mother she's supporting."
Catherine didn't have the mental processes to figure out exactly what was going on, though in this situation it was hardly her fault, but her natural sympathy took over and she fell right into the trap.
"Oh, but surely that's not necessary-"
"Because it is the truth she speaks?"
Mother's eyes twinkled. After her constant back-and-forth, like she was changing her mind every second but nevertheless assured of the real explanation, the room was extremely confused. Little did they know it was exactly her purpose! I marvelled at the ingenuity as the previous lady finally asked outright.
"I'm afraid I'm no match for your intellect, Your Grace. What do you actually believe?"
"That it's plainly wicked to gossip when one doesn't have all the facts. We can all agree that His Highness is most definitely not of the character to visit ladies late at night, so it seems that the most logical reason was official of some kind, very possibly linked to child trafficking, given the circumstances. Yet to suggest Lady Catherine was raised by a criminal would be cruel and unjust, and an unfair affront to House Bryant for harbouring such a man."
Mother beamed, like it was the simplest thing in the world. The wholly perplexed state of the guests, caused by so many contradictions, made them more than willing to accept her finishing stance.
"What I mean to say is that we really do not know. The positions are dubious, see, and reputations mustn't be wrongfully tainted. It is my opinion that we ought to think and judge for ourselves with proper reasoning, and not draw conclusions too quickly."
There was a murmur of agreement. I almost laughed, seeing how they did not realize that Mother had just fed them a whole ton of pure nonsense. Yet it had brought an unmistakable shift in the atmosphere, with doubt instilled in minds and previous verdicts shaken.
Our purpose was accomplished. At the beginning, the story had been practically black against us, but we had neutralized and balanced the damage to almost be a tie. Having the media people here secured us, to ensure no twisted version of the affair would be printed, so it could die down as soon as possible. Their advantage was basically gone!
A huge weight was lifted off of my chest and I smiled. Now, I could enjoy myself properly, and the party was just getting started.