“Which one should I go to?” Selena looked worried, her eyes swimming over the invitations splayed out on the table. In addition to the three invitations Selena received, were all the invitations sent to Kalcion.
“What are you so worried about?” Juna, who was brushing her hair, peered over her shoulder at the letters.
“From what it seems, there are quite a few invitations that overlap dates and times. All the invitations addressed to me are from those who are older than me, so I have to go to all of them, but I have to choose from the Duke’s pile.”
Juna smiled as she said, “why do you panic so much at the beginning, Lady Selena? First, you should go where you were invited, and then think about it.” Selena, who pretended to look at the invitation, also returned the smile.
“Uhm….., is that so? But I don’t think people hold parties by adjusting all their dates.”
“They don’t invite everyone to a personal party, so they fix the date after setting the schedule of the people they’re familiar with. Then there may be some overlapping dates. Ah, you have to decide that very carefully.”
Selena looked at the invitations that came to her again and again. “There are parties that overlap the date among the ones I received. Three of them a day.” Coincidentally, the invitation dates of Lirel and Count Orlen were the same. She had already decided to go to Lirel’s party, but she pretended to be worried as if she could decide nothing.
“Gasp. Really? Do their times overlap?” Juna enthusiastically threw herself to help Selena.
“One is for the evening and it seems fine, but the other two are for lunch. What should I do…..? In this case, I must choose the invitation from the higher family. That won’t break the rule, would it?”
“I guess so……, maybe?”
“Hmm, what should I do? The Duke told me to just throw everything else and go with the one that feels close to me.”
“……Why would you choose that?”
“Do you think you can judge somebody’s heart from the seal of their letter, whether it’s gold or not?”
“Uhm….,” Juna couldn’t swear at Kalcion—her master—but she couldn’t even say yes unconditionally.
“Yeah, that doesn’t make sense to me. Should I ask Mrs. Janet to decide?”
“Would she help you?”
“I have no one else to ask, though. Does Juna know about some families, since you served Irelle last time?”
“I’ve heard of something! I mean, what do you need to know?”
“First of all, these two families……,” Selena held out the two invitations in front of Juna, who looked at them.
“Hmm, both are prominent families….. Ah, but if I were to go, I would’ve chosen Lady Hice?”
Of course, as Selena expected. Quickly wiping out her grin, she returned to her worried expression.
“Why there? She didn’t seem like a good person at the party…..”
“Oh, really? But Lady Irelle said she was really good. She also said that the party was so big that it was easy to meet new people and get close to them.”
“A-ha….”
“If you get close to people first, wouldn’t you be able to decide where to go next?”
“Oh, that’s possible.”
Selena thought about spinning it around, but it would become more annoying if Juna noticed and started to doubt. It was never too late to take revenge for bad-mouthing behind someone and manipulating them, even if Juna was no longer needed.
“Thanks to your advice, I was able to decide easily.”
“No problem. You can always discuss these things with me! Since I have experience.”
“Yes, I will.” Selena smiled and gathered the rest together, leaving only Lirel’s invitation.
“Then I’ll ask Mrs. Janet how to reply here.”
“Aren’t you calling her to your room?”
Selena shook her head, “no, it’s kind of bad to ask someone else’s maid to come into your room.”
Also, there might always be ears around Selena’s room, but no one was listening into Mrs. Janet’s room. Her room must be a closed room. Without a notice, Selena rushed into her room.
“Why did you come all the way to my room?”
Mrs. Janet was sitting gracefully at the tea table, embroidering a piece of cloth. At first glance, Selena knew they belonged to Kalcion. His absolutely splendid costumes were made like this. Mrs. Janet’s devotion to embroider directly with her hands without leaving it to other maids was enormous.
“As a guest of the Renbird family, I wish to receive proper advice not to destroy the Renbird family.”
Mrs. Janet’s hands paused at her answer. Her eyes were fixed on the work while Selena stood at the door, but this prompted her to raise her head.
Although her gaze was not pretty, Selena’s smile looked confident.
“I thought you wouldn’t refuse.”
“……Have a seat.”
Selena walked to the table and sat down as Mrs. Janet taught her. Janet’s evaluative gaze did not falter until the end of the final movement of spreading her skirt, straightening her back, and putting her hands neatly together on her knees.
“I’ve been invited to a tea party. Come to think of it, I was prepared thoroughly for a big party, but I don’t know how a tea party is held, let alone be careful of its preparations.”
“Isn’t Lady Selena the one invited to the tea party?”
‘So there’s no reason for me to help you,’ was what Mrs. Janet meant.
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom “The Duke also received an invitation. Shouldn’t we go there together?”
Selena threw back, saying Mrs. Janet couldn’t win against her.
Discouraged by Selena’s point of no mistake, Mrs. Janet spoke, “……Tea parties vary in the atmosphere and the way they proceed depending on individual tendencies. But you don’t have to match everything……. If you are accompanied by His Excellency.”
It meant that there could be nothing scary in the world if she went with Kalcion.
“What if I go alone?”
“You have to keep the right atmosphere.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, depending on the mood?”
She wasn’t wrong because the atmosphere was different for each party, but Selena couldn’t get rid of the feeling of being sanctioned.
“It’s hard to keep up with the mood. The whole party doesn’t feel the same, but it depends on the person gathered in each area.”
“That’s true.”
“If you try to match the atmosphere, it may look strange to people over there. That’s what it is.”
Like Viorela’s drinking party, but she did not specifically mention it. Visiting Mrs. Janet today was an intention to confirm this. If Janet heard what Selena did at the last banquet, she would’ve collapsed to the floor. Battling the nobles with words, dragging Fionel away, and winning at a drinking game.
What Mrs. Janet emphasized in her etiquette education was “not to fight!” She taught it clearly that ignorance with elegant kindness was the best choice because you could never save your dignity if you quarreled.
If Mrs. Janet heard what Selena did at the party, she would have brought it up.
“Since you’ve already experienced it at a party, you have nothing to learn for a tea party.”
In the end, there was no reprimand from Mrs. Janet for Selena’s problematic behavior at the party. She was not a person to endure even though she knew. It was the biggest party Selena attended with Kalcion, so if Selena’s mistake caught her ear, she could never stand it. Not saying anything meant that she did not know about Selena’s deeds and that she had no connection to the nobles in the party.
‘At least Mrs. Janet is not someone’s pawn.’
Then there would be no more reason to dig into Mrs. Janet. She was the one who held the biggest clue about that night, but it wasn’t something to ask at the moment.
Selena stood up from her seat without regrets.
“Okay, I’m done with my business, so I’ll get going now.”
“Oh, I have one thing to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“Tea parties tend to have a strong socialization, so they often hide passwords and signals through the invitations.”
“How does that work?”
“If they used a red envelope, the dress code is red. If they decorate the letter with flower prints, flowers are likely to be used as ornaments.”
“I see……”
That was really a big tip. To the point where it made her wonder.
“You’ve never participated in a tea party before, and you don’t know what’s going to happen. If you send a reply asking the host, there is a high possibility that they will inform you in advance, but even if not, it is impossible for His Excellency to be humiliated.”
As expected, it was not for Selena, but Kalcion. However, she was grateful to know that.
“Of course. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Mrs. Janet continued her embroidery, which she had stopped before, without looking back at Selena. Her fingers carefully brushed over the spot where she sewed, as if touching her child’s cloth.
It was Mrs. Janet’s tender smile that Selena saw for the first time.
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