Chapter 13: An Invitation to a Tea Party That Didn’t Exist Before

Several weeks after Bernhard’s birthday party—

“Ahh, I’m exhausted.”
“That posture is unbecoming, milady.
Please straighten up.”
“At least let me relax in my own room.”

After hearing the details, Father Citrin did not reprimand Faustina at all, since she had done nothing wrong.
On the contrary, he scolded Elvira more harshly than usual for her behavior, which could have ruined a dress gifted by the royal family.
Even when Mother Ludmila tried to defend her, Citrin dismissed it, saying that excessive indulgence was not good.
Even Citrin, who scolded gently and calmly, found Elvira’s actions unacceptable this time.

Replacing Elvira’s tutors and seeing her become more diligent with her studies and lessons was good.
However, Faustina felt that if things continued like this, Elvira would eventually cause a serious incident.

The words Elvira had screamed while crying echoed painfully in Faustina’s chest.

“I-It’s unfair that only you get everything, Sister!
I’m a duke’s daughter too!
I love Bernhard-sama more than anyone!”

If that logic applied, then what about the daughters of other ducal houses?

Elvira seemed to believe that Faustina’s engagement to Bernhard existed solely because of Faustina’s selfishness.

In reality, their engagement had been decided the moment Faustina was born with the hair and eye color unique to the Wittgenstein family.
If their ages had been different, she might have been engaged to a different royal altogether.

Because she retained memories of her past life, Faustina knew exactly why she had been chosen as Bernhard’s fiancée.

She took out the oldest book from the bookshelf and sat down on the sofa.
It was a story meant to explain the sister goddesses worshipped by the kingdom in a way even children could understand.
She touched the cover and stared at the hair of the goddesses depicted there, the same color as her own.
Their eyes were also the same pale yellow.

‘Hair and eyes identical to the sister goddesses, inherited only by the Wittgenstein family.
Among the women of the Wittgenstein family… there isn’t actually a single one with the same coloring as me.’

There were a few men like Father Citrin and Grandfather, but no women.
The probability of being born with those traits was extremely low.

Setting the book aside, Faustina asked Linsy for orange juice.
She accepted the glass filled with freshly squeezed juice.

“Linsy.”
“Yes.”
“If I had the same hair and eye color as Mother, who do you think would have become His Highness’s fiancée?”
“That is… I cannot answer such a question, as I am merely a maid.”
“Hmm, then personally, I think it would have been Lady Aeria of the Laris Marquessate.”

Aeria Laris, the marquess’s daughter, had been famous as the second most likely candidate for crown princess in her previous life.
She had pink-gold hair and spring-green eyes framed by long lashes, a different kind of delicate beauty from Elvira.

Despite her lovely appearance, she had repeatedly harassed Faustina in an attempt to steal the position of crown princess.
Faustina had never been one to stay silent when attacked, so she had retaliated several times over.

The Laris Marquessate and the Fuarin Ducal House, the queen’s family, were political enemies.
Faustina had heard that Sierra herself had suffered repeated harassment when she was crown princess.
It occasionally came up during the ten-minute tea time after queenly training, and Sierra always looked tired when it did, so Faustina never pressed further.

“I think Lady Aeria was glaring at me during His Highness’s birthday party.”
“My… but Master said that your engagement to the crown prince will not be made public until both of you come of age.”
“Yes.
I think she saw me as an enemy because I danced with His Highness.”

Seeing Linsy’s eyes widen in surprise, Faustina gave a wry smile.
Considering how much she usually ran away from Bernhard, it must have looked strange for her to dance with him.

Faustina returned the book to the shelf, finished her orange juice, handed the empty glass to Linsy, and walked toward the door.

“Where are you going, milady?”
“I’m going to the archive room.
I want to choose a book myself.”

She preferred selecting books with her own eyes rather than leaving it to Linsy.

Upon entering the archive room, Faustina was overwhelmed by the wall completely covered in shelves packed with books.
Even among noble houses, this was an exceptional collection.
Citrin was an avid reader, and many volumes had been passed down through generations.
She headed toward the section for children’s books.

“What should I read?”

She had already read every book Citrin had chosen while she was recovering from her mysterious high fever.
An adventure fantasy sounded good, but she also wanted romance.
A long book would take too much time, so she wanted something she could read quickly.

“Ah.”

She found a book with a deep blue cover and read the title embroidered in gold thread.

“‘The Abandoned Crown Princess and the Crown Prince Driven Mad by Love.’
Why does the title alone give me chills?”

It clearly sounded like a messy, dramatic novel.
Why was something like this on the children’s shelf?

The book was fairly thick, and once she started reading, she would probably stay up all night.
She had to wake up early the next morning for queenly training.
Staying up late and oversleeping would only get her scolded.

And yet, she couldn’t help but feel drawn to it.
The words “abandoned crown princess” bothered her.

In her previous life, she hadn’t been abandoned.
She had been exiled by her own actions.

“……”

She wanted to read it.
But if she did, she wouldn’t wake up in the morning.

“…………”

Faustina put the book back where it belonged.

She moved away from the shelf and left the archive room without choosing anything else.

Back in her room, she dove onto her bed.
She buried her face in the pillow and kicked her legs.

“Ahh!
I want to read it!
I’m so curious!
But I don’t want to oversleep, so I’ll endure it.
I can’t even read the books I want…!”

She decided she would read it when she had more time.

Sitting up abruptly, Faustina pulled out [Various Notes on Faustina] from beneath the bed.
She dipped her quill into ink and wrote down the book’s title.

“Alright.
Now I can read it when I have time.
I’ll sleep for today.”

She returned the quill, hid the notebook under the bed again, and slipped beneath the sheets.

“Tomorrow will be another tough day of queenly training.
But when I see how happy the queen looks, it makes me want to try even harder.”

Being beautiful really is enviable.

Thinking that, Faustina, already exhausted, quickly drifted into sleep.

One morning, on an ordinary day.

While they were eating breakfast as usual, Citrin suddenly spoke.

“Kane, Fana, Elvira.
An invitation has arrived for a tea party hosted by the queen.”

As part of her duties, the queen regularly hosted tea parties for noble ladies.
They were valuable opportunities to gather information within noble society, and women’s conversations often yielded insights more useful than men’s.

“It’s a tea party to further expand exchanges involving the crown prince and the second prince.”
“It seems children of the same age from count-ranked houses and above will also be invited.
Ludmila, I’ll leave the accompaniment to you.”
“Of course.”

Faustina paused with a forkful of scrambled eggs halfway to her mouth.

‘Was there a tea party like this in my previous life?’

She searched her memories, but nothing came up.
Setting Bernhard aside, was it really alright for Neige, with his frail health, to attend?

Elvira’s ruby eyes sparkled with excitement, while Kane looked worried about whether it would be safe.
Faustina swallowed her eggs and asked Citrin.

“Father, will Prince Neige be attending as well?”
“It depends on his condition that day, but his participation is planned.
You’ve heard about Prince Neige from the queen before, haven’t you?”
“Yes.
When he’s doing well, Her Majesty always looks especially happy.”

Six-year-old Neige existed in Faustina’s mind only as a child confined to bed.

Between Elvira’s personality and Bernhard’s behavior, simply by Faustina not interfering, events were slowly diverging from her previous life.

Still, complacency was dangerous.
Even when she was careful, things had repeatedly followed similar patterns before.

‘Nothing happening would be best, but I still need to prepare.’

After finishing breakfast, Faustina drank all of her orange juice.

As she walked back to her room, thoughts of the queen’s tea party filled her mind.
Aeria would certainly be invited.
Regardless of what Aeria thought, Faustina wanted no involvement.

‘I can’t think of a good countermeasure right now.’

She decided to think it over slowly at night and switched gears.

Back in her room, Linsy helped her change, and they prepared to go to the royal castle.
When it was time, Faustina left the room with Linsy.

In the entrance hall, Kane called out to her.

“Fana.”
“Brother.”
“Do your best today.
And you’re not running away when you meet the crown prince, right?”
“Ugh… I’m not running away inside the castle.
(It’s just that we haven’t miraculously run into each other yet.)”
“Good.
Then that’s fine.”
“You could trust me a little more, you know!”
“It can’t be helped.
You’re Fana.”
“What is that supposed to mean!?”
“Exactly what it sounds like.”
“Grr…”
“More importantly, Mother said she’s going to have a dress made for the queen’s tea party.
If you have any design preferences, tell her when you have time.”
“Yes.
Ah.”
“What is it?”

Whenever she told the Wittgenstein family’s designer her preferences, they were rejected as too plain.
Since the birthday party, her conversations with Ludmila had decreased even further.
The same went for Elvira.
They spoke only when necessary.
She didn’t even feel lonely, which surprised her.

“I was thinking of asking the queen for advice on the dress design.”
“The queen?”
“She’s very sensitive to trends, and the dresses she designs herself are popular with other ladies.
She also designs many of Their Highnesses’ outfits.”
“…If that’s what you want, then I suppose it’s fine.”

Kane said this while glancing off to the side.
Faustina followed his gaze, but there was nothing there.

“Milady, the carriage is ready.”
“Alright.
Brother, I’m leaving.”
“Take care.”

What had Kane been looking at?
She laughed it off internally, thinking there was no way he’d seen a ghost in broad daylight.

…But Kane wasn’t the type to look away for no reason.

‘…R-Really…?’

Just thinking about it made cold sweat run down her back.
Her face paling slightly, Faustina hurried toward the carriage as if fleeing, with Linsy chasing after her in alarm.

She forced a smile to reassure the worried Linsy and told the coachman to depart.

—Watching Faustina hurry to the carriage with a puzzled expression, Kane turned on his heel.
There was no one left where he had glanced earlier.

“Haa… what am I even doing.”

Kane also had lessons for inheriting the house afterward.
Confirming the day’s schedule with the attendant who came to fetch him, he left the entrance hall.