11 Tea Party (2)

"Derick Reed greets the second Princess. May Goddess Felicia's blessings be with you." With a hand on his heart, Derick bowed. Anna took this opportunity to eye him from top to bottom. His green hair, which has been clean shaved, was styled to give the impression of a more mature look. He wore an immaculate white suit, details sewed in gold thread and silver, making him glow with every move.

"You may rise." Said Anna still looking at him. He raised his head and meet Anna's curious eyes. He smiled slightly but did not break the eye contact. His servant, an adolescent with an expressionless face, handed the gift to Mielda.

"It isn't much, but I hope the gift is to your liking." Anna did not even spare a glance at the gift. She was too absorbed by this boy, who despite being an eight-year-old, looked more refined than any noble she met on the Palace grounds.

"Thank you. I appreciate your thoughtfulness."

'Get yourself together. He is a child.' Anna shook off her remarks about Derick and showed them to the garden. Her sister was already sitting down, but when she saw Derick coming her way she got up in a hurry. Lifting her dress, so it would not get dirty, she calmly approached the guests. Her efforts paid off, seeing her appearance Anna had to admit that today she lost to her sister. Light-cream dress, paired with similar coloured heels, accentuated her slender build while her blond hair has been straightened and flowed naturally to her small waist. She did not look in any way vulgar or seductive, but her presence was alluring, something about her made Selda's beautiful figure feel inferior. Since Selda was only a child, and underdeveloped compared to her sister, she would not have been able to pull this look no matter how long she tried.

Ignoring Alessia who sat beside Anna, Aura brushed past Selda and smiled expressing her friendliness to Derick. She was trying to steal the show again, by acting overly tender with the important guest.

"Greetings, Princess Aura." His dry tone surprised both Anna and Aura. Aura's face stiffened for a brief moment but regained her smile very soon. She greeted the duke's son back and glanced uncomfortably at Anna, thinking it must have been Anna's fault for him to show such discourtesy. Anna brought her hand to the mouth trying to hide her smile underneath and praised Derick in her mind.

'Does this mean he has already taken interest in me?' Anna's face paled thinking of this. How could he like her already? He has barely met her, the rumours were clearly very bad, talking about her insufferable personality, so why would he take an interest in her? Is this the power of the so-called 'fate'? Anna's head soon became clouded with these thoughts. She had planned on ignoring him as long as she could so his impression of her will remain the same. When she was planning, she never took into consideration that Derick might have a different opinion about her than the outside world. She wanted to believe that maybe this was all a coincidence, that he still thinks she was a brat but because of today's event, he was just courteous. But that still did not explain his attitude towards Aura.

"Selda?" her sister took her hand and squeezed hard. Anna flinched, but could not retract her hand because Aura was holding it very tight.

"Ahh-"

"Are you feeling well?" her voice was slightly shaky. With a worried expression, her sister took both her hand and shook them while tilting her head slightly so she could take a better look at her.

'She must be very annoyed by this situation' There is no way Aura would accept the fact that she was ignored by one of the most important guests here. She must think it was Selda that said something about her that made Derick displeased with her. Aura must think highly of herself, that no matter what department be that appearance, intelligence or personality, she was superior to Selda.

"Yes. How can I not? It's my birthday after all." Anna broke free from Aura's clutch. Faking a smile, Anna showed them to the table. Her mind, however, was still muddled with thoughts, so she almost tripped on the way there. Thankfully, Derick was following close by and swiftly caught her.

"Are you sure you are all right, your Highness?" said Derick. His embrace and gentle smile made Anna uncomfortable and she blushed in embarrassment. His took his leather gloves off and gave them to his servant, after which he poured a glass of water for Anna. She readily drank it, as she needed time to recuperate her dignity. The cold water cooled her head and enabled her to collect her remaining energy and yet again fake a smile.

'What have I done?' she created an even bigger mess, making her sister misunderstand the situation even more. She peeped left and right, between Aura and Derick analysing the situation. Derick who now held an empty glass smiled in her direction and placed the object back on the table. Aura, on the other hand, was clenching her hands, almost breaking the small fan she was holding. Her maid said something to her, and Aura calmed slightly. She clicked her tongue and furiously sat down. Alessia soon followed, maybe because of the tension in the air or maybe because she was lower in status compared to everyone here, she abstained from commenting. She sure hated Aura and when being with Anna alone, she would often make fun of Aura's incapability to lift a sword.

"Sister!" her dear sister, Aura jumped to her feet when Anna was about to leave.

"Let me come with you to greet the guests. You don't look too well…don't push yourself." She fanned herself, hiding half of her face. Her weary eyes gave away all her intentions.

"No need for that. I have my maid." Anna could not deal with her attitude any longer, so she left the place in a hurried pace.

'I also have to face Raphael' Anna felt like her head would explode soon. She heard from Alessia and some of her maids that no other person on this continent is prouder that Kurt's son. Being the prime minister's son, he could do anything and get away with it. His father, the Emperor's dog, served his Majesty from morning to night and overlooked a lot of his kids' behaviour. His sister, who was older than Selda by 5 years refused to attend her birthday. Her excuse was that she was not feeling well lately, but Anna knew the real reason. Raphael has then shouldered the need to attend her birthday, so Anna was not expecting him to behave politely.

A couple of more girls and boys came, from different houses such as Reegatia and Calad Marquise families. Anna did not have a good impression of them, so the sentiment was mutual. Neither of them liked each other, but since their parents saw this as an opportunity to meet with First Princess and the Empress, they forced their children to attend the party.

Finally, Carmen Rodore, from the Marquise house of Rodore, showed up. She, dressed similarly to Aura, portrayed herself as a saint in front of the guests.

'Birds of the same feathers flock together.' Anna's mood plummeted when she saw Aura's best friend enter the Palace. She thought that maybe Carmen will fake illness or pretend that she had a carriage accident so she would not attend. Unfortunately, here she was.

'What a shame. I guess Aura couldn't stand being alone on my birthday.'

"Greetings, Princess Selda." Carmen's eyes met Anna's and her supercilious glare annoyed Anna.

"I don't recall allowing you to call my name, Miss Rodore." The surroundings became awfully quiet. Her green eyes shook, not believing that the Godless Princess addressed her this way. How dare a useless girl as Selda even dare to voice out such an insult.

"Huh?..." Carmen was dumbstruck, her face aghast, but she did not move a muscle.

"I never allowed you to call me by my name. Are you not aware that you are not allowed to address a princess by her name without permission?" Anna turned towards Carmen's maid.

"I didn't know that the Marquise house wasn't capable of teaching her manners."

"W-What? How -…" Anna's maid threw her a dirty look. The servant stopped talking and bend her head in shame.

"Ho-ho…So the servant dares to talk as well." Anna acted offended which made Carmen shake furiously. Her face was red, trying to contain the anger but failing at hiding her dirty thoughts.

"Rufen, please let the Marquise know about this situation. I would not want him to become an embarrassment in society because of his daughter and her maid." The butler stunned, could not believe his ears and looked at Anna again. Seeing that she was serious, he hasty bowed and was about to leave when Carmen yelped.

"T-There is no need!" her small hands crumpled her dress hiding her anger and bowed deeply.

"I apologise for my maid's bad manners. I will make sure to teach her when I get home." Trembling, Carmen bit her thin lips and soon they started bleeding. A small drop of blood fell on the ground, dirtying the lustrous marble floor.

"And?" Anna folded her hands and smiled sarcastically at her.

"I also apologize for my behaviour. It won't happen again." Two other drops of blood splattered on the floor. Carmen felt like crying. She has never been this embarrassed in her entire life. To think that this dinky would retaliate…this small useless girl who in the past was fleeing whenever she saw her.

The maids and guards around Anna stared at the situation unable to comprehend the situation. Since Carmen had turned up, they thought that they were in for a feast. Seeing Selda suffer at the hand of the Lady Rodore brought them joy. The useless Princess who would usually run rampant and trample over their pride was always put in place by Carmen. When she could not run away from her, Selda used to avoid talking with her. At least this is how she used to behave in front of Carmen. Aura had a benevolent character and she never dared to reprimand her sister. The justice was never on the servant's side when around Aura…they were never able to voice their complaints.

Carmen, on the other hand, had no problem with hitting the Princess. No matter how much she complained to the servants afterwards, none of them paid attention. They all thought that Carmen must be very considerate, to punish Selda for her comportment.

"I will overlook this…just this once." Anna did not know why the audience was so quiet. She was not aware of how Selda used to behave before, so she thought she needed to teach this child who had the power.

"Th-Thank you…Princess." Through gritted teeth, Carmen thanked her. She raised her head, looked at the princess again but instead of doing something to Selda, she lifted her dress slightly and ran outside. She did not even wait for Anna to show her the way.

"Haha…" Anna covered her mouth and laughed. Vanessa, the maid behind her, looked stupefied at the young miss.

'She changed a lot lately.' Vanessa did not like the princess, but she didn't dislike her either. She was neutral in whatever she was doing, and this helped her deal with the princess's careless behaviour. Since about a month ago, ever since she drowned in the lake, Anna became quieter and did not terrorise the servants as much. She was still selfish, refused to eat certain foods, making problems for the servants, but there was something different about Selda. All the servants were under the impression that Selda was cursed, but the Imperial doctor refused to acknowledge it. He said that he had to look into it, but that was the same as saying yes.

"Clean this up!" the blood began to thicken, a sign that soon it might be too late to just simply wipe it with a cloth. Vanessa took her handkerchief out and got on her knees. The bright red stains on the floor transferred onto the immaculate white cloth. It would be a nightmare to even try to clean this cloth now, so Vanessa was planning on throwing it away.

When Vanessa was about to wipe the last drop of blood, she saw two shiny brown shoes in front of her. At first, she thought a servant came to help her, but paying more attention to the shoes she realised that no servant or guard in the palace would afford them. The shoes polished to perfection were made of chamois skin with details pressed on the skin. An unsettling feeling overcomes her. Wearily, she slowly raised her head only to meet the most condemning and cold grey eyes. His aloof manner told Vanessa that if she doesn't move now, she will be stepped on by the young man. Scared she crawled backwards and ran behind Anna.

"What did I miss?" with a sardonic smile, the young man approached Anna. He bent slightly closing the distance between them. Anna left with no personal space was forced to retreat slightly. Baffled by his conduct, Anna became flustered and could not voice a single word.

"Well? Young Princess?" he tilted his head to the right. Anna eventually met his eyes and there existed only one word to describe what she saw in them. Insanity. He was a perfect visualisation of a mental case. His unkempt grey hair that reached his nose, his mischievous grin and those cynical eyes made Anna extremely uncomfortable. She did not expect him to look this way.

"Your Highness?" an imperial guard, concerned with her safety, came close intending to intervene.

"It seems the cat eat your tongue." He lifted two of his fingers and a light breeze lifted Anna off the floor. Anna feared heights, and now seeing herself levitating in the air, with nothing directly under her feet, Anna was terrified.

"Aaahhhh!" she yelled. Her face paled and she felt sick, dread overcoming her senses.

"Put me down!"

"Oh? So, you can talk?" he dropped her onto the floor with a flick of his wrist. Her legs gave in as soon as she landed on the floor, only to be caught by the two maids around her. The guard who was the closest, unleashed his sword pointing it at the Raphael.

"How dare you treat her Highness this way?" asked the guard as if it was his child. Truly he felt scared to act, but if he did not, he knew that the Empress would behead him. Selda was the apple of her eyes, she would do anything for her daughter.

"How dare a mere guard talk to me?" Disgust. That was what was written on his face. When their eyes crashed, the atmosphere became heavy.

The young Imperial guard's felt something creep behind him. His sword shined as he infused his magic through the magical crystals. Soon everything around turned a dark grey. Inside the eye of the storm, two eyes shined. The guard's eyes widened but did not have time to react before he was propelled through the glass windows into the other welcoming room.