Chapter 43

While eating breakfast, Amourora had a sudden thought. In the novel, Victoria used the cracks in relationships to break the ties between aristocrats and servants. She used that method a lot, especially when dividing the noble ladies into three factions; the empress's faction, the royal princess's faction, and the grand duchess's faction.

The empress's, is supposed to be the strongest, due to her position, but she had strong supporters. The grand duchess's social standing was higher than the royal princess, but the royal princess had the support of her brother. The empress and grand duchess had been rivals since young, and couldn't stand each other, but found the royal princess a bit more tolerable compared to the other.

So far, the order of aristocrats was stable, but it would soon have a tremor after the royal princess was engaged to a foreign prince. It made her faction, the strongest of three, to weaken due to the fact that she would have to leave soon. And as she had always been the person who acted like a bridge and brought balance to the other factions, to crack.

Unfortunately, the royal princess died of mysterious reasons, causing unstablity to the citizens who loved her and the noble ladies who followed her. It also affected the political relations towards the countries who wanted to gain alliance by political marriage.

At that time, when everyone was in chaos, Victoria stepped in to sway powerful nobles to her side, starting with general Valens, through his daughter. As the general who had always stayed neutral chose a side, many who didn't know what to do followed him. And while duchess Verena had naturally chosen her sister, the Duke chose his daughter, straining their marriage. And thus, creating a new faction led by Victoria.

She continued eating breakfast lost in thought. The novel would have a time skip to five years forward, when Victoria is introduced into society, by that time, she had formed an information tower and developed her own agency to train agents, by the help of a mysterious cloaked man, 'masked stranger' .

"your highness, should we clear up the table?" Luna asked as the food had already gotten cold.

"yes." Lena helped clean her hands and lips with a clean towel. "bring me a few papers and ink."

Victoria would start building her own team soon, and as the beloved daughter of the emperor, Amourora has more resources and should beat her to it. However, she didn't want to rely on her father for this, she wanted to do it with her own efforts. She won't allow Victoria to meet with that masked man, no matter the cost, as he would be a powerful asset in her journey.

She should also steal her half brother away from that two-faced girl. Laurent would go to any measure and use every method to give Victoria what she wants, even protecting her with his life, and in the end of the novel, Victoria's thoughts were: 'shadow, I had thought of you as a dear friend from the moment I met you. It was a shame not many understood you, and you didn't have any other friends...in this very gloomy day, I will stay by your grave and forever hold you in my heart.'

Victoria held a small funeral for him and cried, earning pity from those around her, saying what a good person she was to go to such extreme measures for an insignificant slave. Everyone consoled her, and the emperor of Qi comforted her and asked her not to cry, as his heart bleeds seeing her tears, and she just recovered from an injury. So, on that day, nobody mourned Laurent, as he was nothing but a mere shadow, but Victoria, whose life was saved, got to shower herself in the attention of others.

"what are you going to write about, your highness? Didn't you finish the apology letter, yesterday?" Luan asked curiously.

"it's...never mind." she dismissed them. "let's go to the sewing room first."

"your highness, would you like to take the porcelain doll? I changed its dress to match yours." Luan held up the doll on a cute frilly green dress full of dark green ribbons and a tiny gold necklace with an emerald, matching the earrings. Wow, that couple from the antique store were really...devoted.

*****

"these subjects greet her highness." the seamstresses all bowed in perfect orderly manner.

Unlike the chaotic kitchen which worked in a complex rythme, the sewing room's seamstresses had worked under the strict order of Lady Eleanor, the head seamstress for years. Each one of them had a minimum of twenty years of experience in her field of work. Still, only those who have worked for more than thirty years or were exceptionally skilled and talented would make the clothes for the royal family.

The sewing room was thoroughly cleaned and tidied, bolts of fabric stacked on shelves neatly, threads and ribbons sorted by color and type put on a rod, to easily select from, and needles organized on a case. Even the clutters of their current projects seemed to be arranged on a systematic way.

The head seamstress was already prepared for welcoming the princess, she had made dresses for her when she was younger, but lately she chose those uncomfortable dresses from boutiques that made her look like a giant porcelain doll. Cute, but really childish. The rumors about her bad temper were hard to ignore, so she wanted to be strict with her from the beginning.

"we prepared a special present for you. A starters guide embroidery case." she introduced all the supplies in it. "this is a needle book, all your needles would stay here. These are scissors, embroidery hoops, an embroidery design booklet. This is a a floss organizer case, it keeps your floss bobbins tidy and easy to find. Now, which would you like to learn first, sewing or embroidery? "

" what's the difference between them? "Amourora pretended to be clueless, unintentionally offending some seamstresses." aren't they all the same? "

" no. "Eleanor explained patiently," sewing is stitching pieces of fabric together, embroidery uses six threads instead of one, and it's used to add a decorative touch."

" sounds boring, both of them. "she rest her cheek on her palm.

Eleanor kept her calm even when the profession she had poured her heart and devoted her hands to her whole life was insulted. Instead of getting angry, she showed Amourora her latest projects; a scenery of a sunflower field and clear blue skies, with cotton used as clouds, and an incomplete masterpiece of the beach at sunset, where threads moved towards the center. The last was the most basic flowers and dots in different colors varying between white, pink, red, and purple. Amourora immediately gasped in awe when she saw it.

"this one! I want a dress just like this one!" Amourora declared pointing at the last one.

"well, it's relatively easy, albeit a little time consuming." Eleanor was relieved the princess liked something easy and takes time. "well, let's start with threading a needle."

"huh? Why should I learn it when you can just make me one?" Amourora pointed out, confused.

Eleanor's Smile stiffened. Something tells her it's going to be a looong looong day.