As her protest to the late invitation, Charlotte arranged so that her carriage would arrive last at the Graford residence. Carefully, Charlotte exited the carriage. She nodded and dismissed the coachman.
She wore a dark blue gown that matched well with the color of her eyes. Baroness Riverion insisted her to bring a parasol for the outdoor tea party. Powerless in front of her mother, Charlotte brought the parasol but left it on the carriage. It will be fine as long as her mother didn't find out.
"Greetings, I'm Charlotte Riverion. Pleased to be invited to this tea party," Charlotte curtsied gracefully like how a baron's daughter should behave.
"Welcome, the star of our afternoon tea, Miss Riverion," Margaret Graford smiled.
Everyone presents laughed at Margaret's sarcastic joke. Charlotte and Margaret's eyes met. The two were talking without muttering any words.
Being a baron's daughter and a lady not closely acquainted with the group, Charlotte spent most of her time enjoying the tart on her plate and sipping her chamomile tea. Out of everyone here, Charlotte might be the one who ate the most sweets.
"Have you heard the rumor?" Lady Bronte, The Marquis of Bronte's daughter, uttered in a considerably lower tone.
"About Prince Damian?" Lady Herron, the younger sister of The Marquis of Herron, confirmed.
"Yes."
"Of course," said Lady Duval, daughter of Count Duval, "who hasn't heard about it?!"
Actually, I haven't heard it, was the words Charlotte didn't say out loud. She swallowed her words along with a mouthful of cake.
"What happened?" asked another lady.
"Some people saw Prince Damian with Lady Susan last week."
"Well, isn't it old news? Prince Damian is always with a different lady each night," Lady Herron laughed.
"Yes, but apparently His Highness is also with Lady Zetia at the same time."
"What?! A duke's daughter and a marquis's daughter?! I didn't know what to say," Lady Herron was speechless.
"Right!" Lady Duval nodded before shifting the topics, "Putting that aside, I also heard another interesting rumor."
"I suppose there are too many rumors going around. Do we have enough time to discuss it all?" for once, the organizer of the party opened her mouth. Margaret said sarcastically, but everyone except Charlotte laughed thinking she was jesting.
Lady Duval continued her stories, "I heard that Prince Damian might intervene himself with the rebel forces. Some children in Brick saw the prince asking about names on the petition."
Charlotte's ears suddenly perked up like an alert wolf scenting its prey. She didn't care in the least about scandals in the royal family. Nonetheless, politics was within her interest, especially things regarding the petition.
The ladies were all in disbelief, but full of curiosity. However, everyone knew thoroughly that curiosity killed the cat. A minute later, they managed to laugh it off as passing stories.
Nothing much interest Charlotte, except for another rumor regarding the other royal prince that Lady Duval brought up.
"The Crown Prince? Prince Logan? What happened to His Highness?"
"The day before yesterday, late at night, the prince was having a romantic date on the lake at Uchiha Park."
"Oh, I wished I was the lucky lady he brought there," Lady Bronte asked the identity of the woman in a roundabout way.
"It was Lady Isabella."
Charlotte almost choked on the tart pie she was eating. Prince Logan Pazgallene and Lady Isabella Muller. What an odd and unbelievable combination: a royal prince and his ex-fiancée!
"I believe an apple didn't fall far from the tree," Margaret said while smiling.
The appalled Lady Duval held her breath. She belatedly realized that she had been talking about the man who almost became the organizer of this tea party's fiancé.
"Forgive me Lady Margaret Graford! I deserve a punishment for my loose mouth," Lady Duval begged for forgiveness. She put her head low as she didn't dare to meet Margaret's eyes.
"It's alright," Margaret smiled benevolently, "I wouldn't want to ruin this party's atmosphere. How about we leave the royal matters here, and maybe converse about the beautiful earing on Miss Charlotte."
Margaret's sweet smile had turned into an unpleasant smirk when she turned to look at Charlotte. At that moment, Charlotte's eyes grew larger. The topic shifting was extremely forced, but who would dare to cross the duke's daughter? Charlotte stared back almost blatantly at Margaret in protest at bringing her into this mess.
"Ah yes, Miss Charlotte. What a beautiful earring. The color reminded me of the deep ocean," Lady Bronte quickly agreed with Margaret. She laughed with her right palm hiding her mouth.
Lady Herron followed closely, "I would have to disagree with your words, Lady Ostia Bronte."
"Really? May I know the reason for your disagreement?"
"In my humble opinion, the beautiful ones are not the earrings, but Miss Charlotte herself. The earrings complemented her beauty even more, but pale in comparison to her natural beauty," Lady Herron threw any compliments she could think of. In truth, she only spoke whatever came to her mind first. Her priority was to stay in Margaret's good book.
"Thank you very much," Charlotte attempted to keep a pretty curve on her lips. It should be noted that she tried hard in the face of awkward compliments.
The tea party slowly disbanded as the ladies one by one departed. Omitting Charlotte, Lady Bronte was the last to depart. Immediately, once the marquis's daughter left the garden, Charlotte gave Margaret an even more blatant stare.
"Margaret Graford, how could you?!" Charlotte exclaimed. Her voice wasn't very loud, but you could sense anger in her tone.
"That's Lady Margaret Graford or my lady for you," ignoring the last three words, Margaret corrected Charlotte's addressing manner. Good for Charlotte that nobody was there, or she could be threatened for insulting a noble with higher status.
"Alright, if that's how you want to play!" Charlotte discarded her ladylike manner. She sat comfortably before letting her protest out.
"Lady Margaret Graford," Charlotte began talking like an elegant noble though her action said otherwise, "I believe that my lady is a reasonable and honorable person. Each of your actions must have its own meaning that your humble servant might not understand. Would it be too heavy of a demand to ask my lady to explain her intent before?"
The Duke of Graford's only daughter laughed freely. She didn't strain herself with proper etiquette but still looked very elegant. Well, that was a duke's daughter for you. While still laughing, Margaret patted Charlotte's shoulder.
"There are no lies without my mouth. You are truly beautiful, today," Margaret said with a serious face. Then, she patted Charlotte's backhand. Her gloves, to be exact.
Charlotte still demanded a real explanation but decided to put a hold on it. She rolled her eyes before shifting to another topic. There was something Charlotte desired to find out more than her best friend's jest.
"Are you alright?" Charlotte asked.
"With what?" Margaret teased Charlotte again.
"With that jerk, of course?!"
"Charlotte, you really should learn to keep your manner," Margaret sighed, now her tone turned truly serious. She couldn't believe her friend just called a royal a jerk without as much as batting her eyes.
"I will if I need to, you shouldn't worry about it," Charlotte brushed Margaret's warning, "so, are you alright?"
"Of course, I'm fine. You understand very well that he wasn't even my ex-lover or ex-fiancé. It was only a brief time when there was discussion about our engagement," Margaret uttered while calmly sipping her favorite black tea.
"Yes, of course. And he was caught with Lady Isabella which caused Duke Graford to be furious enough to cross the royal family," Charlotte retold a common story from half a year ago.
"Which is the very reason I'm perfectly fine."
"Are you sure you didn't want any revenge?" asked Charlotte.
Margaret shook her head gently. In actuality, Charlotte was the one that wanted revenge. She only needed another reason to back up her revenge.
"It's alright. Please don't do anything," Margaret assured her friend, before expressing her worries, "more than that, my heart was more concerned about the petition to lower the tax. The officials were discussing labeling anyone who signed the petition as the rebel force. I knew your parents sign it aside from your uncle's case."
"I suppose no news is good news. There is nothing out of the ordinary until now."