The next day, Estoria woke up with a high fever, unable to get out of bed. She stayed in bed all day until at last Asher and Eston came to visit her.
Eston had learned all sorts of spells from Isaac in the past, but the past few days he had been practicing with Ria since he had the same light attribute as her. Eston's healing spells were half as effective as Ria's now, and considering Ria is the best healer in this kingdom, Eston's healing power was not little by any means.
Eston threw all the healing spells at Estoria until she felt like she had gained a new body. The aches in her body disappeared, and her temperature came down to normal again. She recovered in a day with Eston's spells.
Eston, on the other hand, had to rest for a day. He went to his room with shaky legs after healing her. Estoria felt bad, so she thought she would give him company for the day, but Tyrion didn't even let her in Eston's room...
Estoria sat by the fireplace to open her newly received letters, which included one from her parents. They were enjoying their vacation, and even the letter gave lovey-dovey vibes. She folded the letter back and put it aside.
The other one was from Isabella. She wrote a lot about all the places she had visited, the dresses she had picked for herself and Estoria. She also heard that Estoria had lost her memory recently and included a list of guests that would be present at the banquet.
Estoria took one look at the list of nobles and threw it into the fireplace because all the names were giving her a headache. The list was turned into ashes in a second.
Isabella said she was arriving soon and would definitely come to visit her first. And true to her word, she came to visit Estoria the next day.
She took Estoria back to her mansion to show her all the outfits she had personally picked out from all over the kingdom for Estoria and herself.
"Which one do you like, Estoria?" Isabella asked.
Estoria didn't have the energy to lift her lips these days, but after seeing Isabella being so genuinely excited to be hanging out with her, Estoria forced out a smile and gave the outfits a good look before deciding on one.
"You choose a good one. I was saving it for myself, but since you're wearing this one, I'll wear a similar one to you," Isabella matched the outfits perfectly. "I always wanted to match outfits with someone other than my brother!"
Estoria and Isabella were basically inseparable until the day of the banquet arrived. Tomorrow was the day of the banquet, and Estoria came back to the mansion at night where she was staying when she saw a bunch of rich-looking families bidding goodbye to Aluxio and Tyrion.
The nobles all readily greeted Estoria, recognizing those red eyes from a mile away. They all bent down to her. She didn't even look at them and went straight to her room.
The atmosphere became awkward with a heavy silence until Tyrion changed the topic. Estoria was watching from her window. It seemed like they were relatives of the royal family, although she wasn't sure.
One of the girls in the rich-looking bunch was being unusually clingy to Aluxio, whispering in his ear and even hitting him on the back with her hand. They looked quite close. Estoria took a deep breath and shut the curtains.
"Aluxio and I like each other, so what?"
Estoria had that dream again that night. She woke up with tears covering her face and red eye rims. Even a slight touch to the eyes hurt. Today was the day of the banquet, and she looked half dead. Estoria decided to sleep until late into the day, waking up an hour before the banquet due to Isabella trying to break down her bedroom door just by knocking.
Estoria finally got up. Isabella was fully ready. She dragged Estoria to get ready too. They were going to enter together, so Estoria had to get ready in just an hour.
Estoria emerged from the room adorned in an exquisite off-the-shoulder black silk and net dress, delicately embellished with intricate silver detailing. Her ensemble was complemented by elegant full sleeves and white silk gloves adorned with shimmering silver and crimson jewels. Against the chill, she gracefully draped a long fur coat over her shoulders, exuding both sophistication and warmth.
Isabella's outfit was about the same, but her dress was white and the fur coat was black. Her jewelry was blue to match her eye color.
They both entered at the same time because they were announced before walking in. Every single person had their eyes set on them. Estoria didn't feel anything until now; she kinda wanted to hide in a corner, but that wouldn't be fitting the description of a Duke's daughter. Not to be an embarrassment to her family, Estoria kept a straight pose as she confidently walked beside Isabella.
Estoria heard that Eston had already taken Asher with him to the banquet with Tyrion and Aluxio, so she looked for them in the crowd.
Someone's red hair stood out in the crowd, catching Estoria's attention, and they belonged to only one person, Aluxio, whose outfit was also color-coordinated to her own in a way.
Estoria didn't like it at all.
Aluxio was talking with Tyrion, not even looking in her direction. Estoria avoided them and searched for Asher, but he was nowhere to be found; she only saw Eston in the distance talking with someone.
Estoria thought Isabella would probably abandon her and go her own way, but she dragged Estoria with her everywhere.
They met almost everyone at the banquet. Estoria was exhausted mentally and physically, but Isabella seemed to have no effect whatsoever.
Estoria had expected Isabella to be the center of the social circle of the noble young ladies with her personality; there was no way she didn't have any other friends. But she never had expected all of them to ignore Isabella after greeting her once; they all left as fast as the wind. They were avoiding her so clearly that Estoria didn't have to try to know that she was the only friend Isabella had at the banquet.
In the end, Estoria couldn't get herself to leave Isabella alone. Only after Isabella was busily talking with the Duke and Duchess of the North did Estoria decide to leave and get some fresh air. She gave the Théodreds a friendly greeting; they were both so outworldly pretty that they were actually glowing. Their light was too bright; Estoria couldn't even remember who she had just met, but she was tired enough already, so she just left.