Marione: "You were able to do such a thing?! But how?"
She pondered deep into thought.
Marione: "What did you feel when you woke up? Any emotions? Pains?"
Yen: "The.. unbearable pain of getting crushed and the feeling of lost hope. It was a feeling I wish to never relive again."
Marione: "I see. Thank goodness."
Yen: 'Huh..?'
Yen: "What do you mean, 'thank goodness'?! You like me feeling that way?!"
Marione: "Of course it's not that! You were just a child who couldn't differentiate what was prophecy or not back then, I got worried that you haven't changed a bit!"
Yen: "Please. Never bring that up again."
Yen's face grew dark and another shiver was sent down Marione's spine.
Marione: "Fine, fine!"
Another wave of silence. There was no more time to joke around.
Marione: "So you were able to do this but you don't know who or what made this happen?"
Yen: "If I knew, I wouldn't have came to you."
Marione: "Right.."
Another moment of brief silence came as Marione became lost in thought, thinking of the different kinds of possibilities for this occurence.
Marione: 'No one but our family members with high magic levels were to be able to do this. It couldn't have been me, as I was stabbed and most likely was on the brink of passing out..'
Marione: "Ugh, this is so annoying.."
Yen: "..?"
Marione scratched her head furiously as she grabbed another book on the shelf and started flipping the pages with magic. After a few minutes of doing the same thing all over again, she turned to Yen.
Yen: 'Is she that annoyed about it?'
Marione: "Give me some time to research about it. But right now,"
Marione used magic and created a flower crown to put it on Yen's head. It's base was with twigs that could be barely seen with the decoration of rosemary, spray roses, and tiny chrysanthemum blooms. The magic she casted even changed her dress to a plain white dress, but it fit better with the flower crown than the fancy dark green dress she was wearing.
Marione: "Just ignore those problems of yours and enjoy your birthday. Wear the fancy dancy clothes for later. You reek of strong perfume, it's making me dizzy."
Marione lead Yen outside her room and closed the doors behind her.
Yen: 'What am I supposed to do now..?'
She didn't have any further plans but to await further instructions from Aquie or possibly anyone else that's helping her prepare for the debutante.
She heard sudden running footsteps toward her. It was Kayla, whom she hadn't seen all day, except for when she had woken up.
Kayla: "My Lady! Sir Haru and Sir Sei has requested your presence."
Yen: 'What great timing..'
Yen: "I see, Tell him to meet me in the garden."
Yen: 'I do need some fresh air.'
Yen made her way to the garden, where she could already spot Haru and Sei waiting near the fountain.
Yen: "Sei! Haru! What are you two doing here?"
Haru and Sei were chatting with each other but hearing the familiar voice made them turn their heads to the direction Yen was in. Seeing her, both men turned flustered.
Haru: 'Why am I acting like this?! She's already dating Rui..'
Sei: "Oh, Yen! We just came to greet you a Happy Birthday!"
Yen: "Why thank you!"
Haru: "That outfit you're wearing.. I've never seen you wear anything like it, especially the flower crown."
Yen touched the flower crown. She was a bit worried if there might be any thorns that would hurt her even though she knew Marione wouldn't do such a thing. She became much more cautious ever since her 'death'.
Yen: "This? Marione switched out my clothes using magic. This does feel much more comfortable so I hope you don't mind.."
Haru: "You're free to wear whatever."
Sei: "By the way, Rui said he couldn't come. He says he's quite busy right now that it's your birthday, since the debutante ball does count as a kind of festival, he had to help prepare for it."
A wave of nostalgia hit her.
Yen: 'It's the same as before but I don't think he was planning the debutante at all.. Sir Raphael is the one in charge of the debutante but I didn't think much of it before.'
A bittersweet smile came across her face.
Yen: 'What a cheater..'
Yen: "It's quite alright. As long as I get to see him today, it's fine."
Yen: 'I wish to never see him today.'
Pity filled Sei and Haru's faces, most likely thinking that Yen felt sad he wasn't able to see her because he was 'busy'. Yen saw this, and slowly became annoyed.
Sei: 'Is she grumpy or sorrowful that Rui wasn't here? Either way, it's scaring me to see how much she's in quite the sour mood..'
Haru wished to wipe away that look on her face. He didn't like seeing her this way.
Haru: "The clothes Marione gave you fits you quite well, as the crown shows something like a halo. It's like you're an angel, Lady Yen."
Yen turned embarrassed at the sudden compliment.
Yen: "A-ah. Thank you, Haru."
He smiled with clear sincerity. Sei just nodded in agreement.
Sei: "Then we shall leave you be to prepare for tonight's debutante."
He started moving Haru out of the garden.
Sei: "Make sure not to stress, though!"
As soon as they left, Yen smiled and started giggling to herself as she wiped off a tear on her face.
Yen: "They haven't changed a bit."
____________________
Yen was just resting in her room as Kayla opened the door, with lots of letters at hand.
Kayla: "My lady! These letters are for you."
Yen took a look on the letters. She took a rough guess that it was about around 20 letters. Kayla set all of them on the table as Yen started to read each one.
'Dear Lady Yen,
What a lovely and sunny day for your birthday. A blessing from the goddess, most likely! Now to the topic at hand, on the day after your birthday, I will be hosting a picnic with other nobles joining in and I would like to know if you are available.
Sincerely Yours, Bella Grace'
Yen: "Bella Grace? She's rumored to be a sweet girl, so I do not wish to decline her invitation."
She turned to the next letter.
'Dear Lady Yen of Ceresé,
Joyful birthday to you as I pray for you in future events. I have heard of your sister Marione. If you could, please tell her to come to Ruliane Residence so we could have a quick chat about her and her extraordinary talents.
- Joshua Ruliane'
Yen: "Could've just sent the letter to her, not me."
She grumbled in annoyance for the disrespect granted to her. She decided that she'll ask Marione about him once she's finished reading all the letters, hoping he wasn't on good terms with Marione.
____________________
All the letters provided were nobles just greeting her for her birthday. She was glad that many spent time on their letters to greet her, yet there was one letter which stuck out amongst all of them. The letter was in a language Yen didn't know of and the letters were glowing a shade of blue.
Yen: 'Though how highly suspicious this is, I guess I'll also bring this to Marione so she could translate it.'
Approaching Marione's room, she knocked on the door once again. Marione opened the door and seemed stunned upon seeing a familiar face she just consulted with this morning.
Marione: "Oh my. What brings you here again?"
She led her to sit on the same couch. The room was a bit messy again, most likely from Marione researching here and there for answers of Yen's confession.
Yen: "Firstly, who is Joshua Ruliane?"
Marione: "Oh, he's a guy who kept on bombarding me with requests to become allies with him after he figured out I'm a powerful sorceress. He's a corrupt man aiming to be Emperor, which is quite stupid of him to believe he'll actually be able to achieve such a thing. I acknowledge his passion though. How do you know him?
Yen: "He sent me a letter asking me to convince you on going to his residence to discuss your 'extraordinary talents'. You could read the letter yourself if you'd like."
Yen handed out the letter as Marione read it thoroughly. The more she read, the more Yen could see the visible irritation on her face. She was gripping the paper hard, like she was going to rip it in a million pieces.
Marione: "Sorry for that. I've rejected him to the point I ignore his letters. It seems he's coming to you for help. You're his last option as Aquie would've crushed him if he sent it to her and she found out the truth. He surprisingly still has a brain."
Yen: "I felt insulted for being a 'last resort' but we still need to discuss it with Aquie later on."
Marione: "Sure."
Yen: "Second, I was sent this letter but I cannot read this language. Would you translate it for me?"
Marione took the letter in her hands with magic. Reading it thoroughly, she was mixed with confusion and a small hint of shock.
Marione: "What..?"
Yen: "'What?'"
Marione crumpled the paper and surrounded it with a green barrier in a hurry.
Yen: "H-hey! What are you doing?!"
Marione: "Hahaha! I always wonder how you're such a lucky girl.."
Yen: 'Lucky? How am I lucky?'
Marione: "You could've died again, you know?"
Yen: "H-huh?!"
Marione: "This thing is filled with dark magic. The more you touch it, you absorb it and get poisoned."
This left Yen stunned.
Marione: "The language also translates to, 'I don't forgive you. I never will.'"
Yen: "But I'm not rivals with anyone.. and no one would benefit from my death."
Marione: "Let's also discuss this with Aquie. For now, just rest."
She found herself out of Marione's room once again, very lost in thought as she makes her way to ask Kayla if there were anything else that she needed for the debutante.
____________________
Kayla: "My lady, your dress is prepared."
The dress was mainly of the color red, matching her hair color. There were a three white transparent ruffles on the top then the colors had slowly darkened to the bottom. There was a red tranparent cloth that covered her upper body, including her arms. She wore white gloved to fit with the ruffles. The gems on the dress had made it a bit more dazzling than it already was and Yen wore an emerald necklace to suit with her eye color.
Kayla and the other maids had done her makeup real well, making sure it complemented well with her dress. They made the makeup light, with a light red eyeshadow and a light addition of bright red lipstick.
Trisha: "Woahh, you're as beautiful as always, My Lady!"
Sunna: "I agree, My Lady. We've done a good job today, ladies!"
Yen: "Thank you.."
She took a look at the mirror. The maids did a wonderful job in helping her prepare for this. She knew she did this once before but she could still feel as nervous as she felt when she first had her debutante.
She headed on out to the carriage, where Aquie and Marione were already waiting for her.
Duchess of Ceresé: "The maids did take quite their time to beautify you."
Marione: "Think about it, if we're late, it could be like those romance novels."
Yen: "Sorry I took long."
Duchess of Ceresé: "It isn't a problem. It could be as Marione says. I just hope it isn't Rui who'll be the 'Prince Charming'. No offense, Yen."
Yen: "It's quite alright for us to have different opinions on people, I don't mind."
Marione: "Oh right, Aquie, we have some news for you."
Duchess of Ceresé: "..?"
Yen: "I received quite a lot of letters a while ago. One of them was sent by Joshua Ruliane, who has been pestering Marione for quite a while now to join forces to help him become Emperor. Marione denied of course, but he contacted through me as soon as he realized Marione has been ignoring his letters."
Duchess of Ceresé: "I see. I shall inform this to the Emperor and Crowned Prince. I'll ask for an audience after the ball."
Marione: "Another thing that you can decide whether to talk about to them, which I highly hope you do."
Duchess of Ceresé: "Another one? In a single day also.."
Marione: "Someone tried to poison Yen using black magic."
Duchess of Ceresé: "What?!"
Marione: "Yen has already testified that she has no rivals or whatsoever, and no one would even benefit in anything if she would've died. If she didn't give the letter to me, she would have been dead on the floor before we could have even go in the carriage."
Aquie took a moment to take some deep breaths and calm down.
Duchess of Ceresé: "Where did the black magic some from?"
Marione: "In the form of a letter, with words translated to 'I don't forgive you. I never will.'"
Duchess of Ceresé: "..I shall include this once I ask for an audience. For now, let us put this aside and enjoy the debutante."
____________________
?: "The House of Ceresé has arrived!"
Yen, Aquie, and Marione walked down the stairs as people eyed at them, most especially Yen, for the beauty she has possessed.
One of the nobles: "She's much more beautiful than the rumors say."
One of the nobles: "Do you think her attitude is quite the same?"
One of the nobles: "Let us greet her when the opportunity shows itself."
Haru, Rui, and Sei were just somewhere in the crowd, talking among each other.
Sei: "She's getting all the attention as always. It's most likely in Ceresé blood."
Rui: "I better make sure I don't have any competition."
Haru: "You surely will, Sir Rui."
While walking down, she was able to spot the 3 in the crowd yet the sight of Rui made her blood boil to such an extreme point.
Marione: "I know you're mad at him, but you haven't told me the reason why yet."
Yen: "Just a few words, a nasty cheater who is the main reason of my death. I wouldn't have ran off if it wasn't for him."
Marione: "Now that's just an example of cheaters at it's finest. He's probably the worse case."
Yen: "And I can't break up with him because it's just been 4 days.."
Marione: "Just leave that part to me. I'll even expose him for his infidelity."
Yen: "Great."
This put Yen in a better mood but she had hoped that it would end quickly and much more painful for him and his reputation as a noble.
She approached the 3 as soon as she came down. She needed a partner to dance with and she had to ask Rui or she'd be the cheater.
Yen: "Hey guys!"
Rui: "Hey, Yen! You look dazzling in that outfit."
Rui held her hand and kissed it. She knew it was a way for him to flirt and a way of respect but she felt disgusted, hoping she would be able to cleanse her hands soon enough.
Yen: "Since you're my partner, would you like to take the first dance with me?"
Rui: "Ah, no, sorry, but I gotta pass.. I'm not good at dancing. Ask the other two."
Yen faced Haru's way.
Yen: "Haru, would you like to take the first dance with me?"
Haru: "Oh, of course. Let's head on over to the middle of the room before the music starts playing."
Yen held Haru's arm and led them to the middle along with the other couples who would dance together. After about a minute of waiting, the music started playing as each of the partners bowed down to each other and held their hands to start dancing.
It was a bit awkward for her to dance with Haru as it was just silence, but luckily, Haru started to speak.
Haru: "I wonder why Rui doesn't want to dance."
Yen: "..Maybe he didn't have enough time to practice, as planning for the debutante is a hard thing to do."
Yen: 'Or he's just busy hanging out with other girls like the moron he is.'
Haru: "I'm sure he didn't mean to not accept your request. He might be worrying about stepping on your foot or making the wrong move."
Yen: 'How kind of him to defend the sinner..'
Yen: "Of course, he isn't that type of person."
Yen: 'And here I am, lying to a friend.'
Haru: "I'm also quite worried I might step on your feet.."
Yen: "It's alright. People make mistakes."
Haru: "By the way, you rarely see Marione. Is it alright if you tell me the reasons of your visit to her?"
Yen: 'Oh no..'
Yen: "I recieved some letters and one of it was related to her. I just came to clarify my suspicions of that letter and the answer was just simple."
Haru: "Which is?"
Yen: "Someone wanted to use her because as you know, our family is well known for their magic capabilities."
Haru: "I see.. Is the issue resolved?"
Yen: "It will be discussed with the Emperor later."
The music ended as people applauded. Haru and Yen bowed at each other before heading to different directions. Haru went back to Rui and Sei, while Yen went to Marione and Aquie.
Duchess of Ceresé: "Hm, you seem to be enjoying yourself."
Marione: "Like a romance novel indeed."
Duchess of Ceresé: "I'm glad you danced with Haru."
Yen: "Rui didn't have enough time to prepare as he said he was helping with the debutante."
Duchess of Ceresé: "Huh?"
From Aquie's reaction, Yen could tell that she knew something was wrong. She knew that Sir Raphael was the only family member helping for the debutante, no one else.
Yen: "Anything wrong?"
Duchess of Ceresé: "Nothing is wrong, I just had some thoughts."
Marione: "By the way, when do we request the Emperor's audience?"
Duchess of Ceresé: "Now seems to the highest opportunity."
Aquie called a butler to ask the Emperor for an audience. About 7 minutes have passed until it was granted. The Ceresés made their way into the audience room.
Emperor: "Greetings, Duchess of Ceresé"
Duchess of Ceresé: "Blessings to the Light of the Lidonia Empire."
Crowned Prince: "What was the reason for you to request an audience at this time and hour?"
Duchess of Ceresé: "I've come to discuss 2 problems that happened in our household this afternoon."
Emperor: "Please continue."
Marione stepped in.
Marione: "Your Majesty, this afternoon, Lady Yen had sent me a letter sent by Joshua Ruliane. He has been requesting me in joining forces and rebelling against His Majesty. No matter how much times I decline or ignore, he finds a way on how to contact me."
Emperor: "I see. This shall be fixed as soon as possible."
Princess Dianna: "What is the second problem, if I may ask?"
Marione: "There has been a letter sent to Lady Yen that contained black magic that could have poisoned her."
This left the Royal Family in the audience hall shocked.
Marione: "Had she not have came into my room to question about the letter, she would have been lying dead in the eyes of many."
Emperor: "As a sorceress who studied on black magic, have you found the culprit to this problem?"
Marione: "I'm afraid not, Your Highness, as the culprit knew how to hide their own traces. But the demon in charge is of the highest status."
Crowned Prince: "And what is thy name?"
Marione: "Poscanitius, demon of greed."
Princess Diana: "Who would've summoned such a thing to our empire!"
Duchess of Ceresé: "Our family will try our best to investigate this matter as we hope this matter to be solved."
Emperor: "If any assistance is needed, do not hesitate to contact us."
Duchess of Ceresé: Yes, Your Highness."
All three Ceresés curtsied as they left the room. Yen was still shocked from the news said by Marione, but she just decided to keep quiet and do as Aquie told, to investigate on the matter further. Rui had to wait, black magic was a far more important case to deal with.