She had awoken to a mess. A big mess.

The maids were all over the place! She was shaken awake, in a gentle way, of course, by Chance, who reminded her again and again, that today was an extremely important day.

‘Yes, I know that! I wrote this story, for god’s sake! Stop pestering me!’ she had thought, and cursed, internally.

They bathed her, scrubbing meticulously, making sure no spot went missed. The water hadn’t even warmed up yet… it was freezing! 

Lillian sighed, her head beginning to throb. It was utter chaos. They were in such a hurry that one of the maids fell, and another screamed! 

***

 

It was only seven when they finished dolling her up. The tea party was at eleven o'clock. 

 

‘Four hours! There! Are! Four! Hours! Left! Why bother so much about being early by almost half a day?’ she thought again, bothered by this ritual-of-sorts.

Her irritation subsided when her mind wandered, once again to the “original” Lillian. In fact, Lillian in the novel was very pressured, and eager, and that eagerness shattered when she tripped into the mud, her pure hope ruined. Yet however much the Lillian here and now tried to search her mind, she could not find an ounce of guilt for “pretending” to be the “actual” Lillian. It was as if them two were already intertwined in the tango of life. It was so natural, being here, in the “original” Lillian’s place. 

 

Nonetheless, her calmness did not last as the irritation built up inside her once again.

‘Oh, to be a seven-year-old aristocrat who’s the doomed older sister of the female lead in a romance novel! The sheer joy!’

***

The clock struck ten minutes to eleven. 

Lillian entered the tea party area, a greenhouse surrounded by many charming plants. She was reminded, yet again, that she did not belong here. Of course, as mentioned just before, it was natural “being” Lillian, but getting used to her surroundings was a different question. The greenhouse was… truly of an otherworldly beauty. More lovely than she imagined. She saw some figures in the distance, and walked over, biting her lip.

There they were.

The leads of this story.

 

Stell. Ambre. Vale. Arancia. 

And Penelope. 

 

They were so beautiful! Ah, her characters were so cute! She felt so satisfied!

She bowed as she approached them: slightly timid, slightly unsure, very excited.

“My greetings to your highnesses, and graces, welcome to the humble abode of Duke Vicus,”

 

“Ah, let’s just talk casually… Is that alright?” Stell broke the awkward tension that had been rampant in the air.

 

“That would be great,” Penelope smiled.

 

- - -

 

Stell was the boisterous and cheerful first male lead, the second – later crown – prince of House Gladius, the house of the Imperial Family. He was born on the same day as Annabella! 

The softer one of the leads, Ambre, son of the Duke of House Plectra (Duke Plectra), known to be rather sickly and weak, was also as old as Annabella. 

The current crown prince, Vale, was regal and dignified, yet more silent and gentle than his brother. He was two years older than Lillian; three years older than Annabella.

Marquis Ferrarius’ son was Arancia, the same age as Lillian and as sweet as oranges in summer.

 

Penelope was Ambre’s sister – also the future villainess, as previously explained – and a year older than Lillian. Luckily, she was yet to be engaged to Stell. That would be too muddling.

But something was wrong. Annabella had gone missing.

 

- - -

 

As Lillian turned to find her, she tripped. 

 

‘No! I tried to stop this from happening! At this rate, the story will turn out the same!’

‘Huh?’

 

She didn’t fall. 

 

‘What… ?’

Something invisible held her up. 

She stood up, and before she knew it, the invisible… thing, had… vanished? A speck of raven was seen in the air, followed by some silver. 

 

She heard Penelope mutter, "Manier?", startled by the thing’s presence.

But she had no time to think about that. Dusting off her dress, she called for her sister. 

“Anny? Where are you?” 

Annabella was hiding behind a chair. 

 

“Anny, why are you hiding there? Come out and meet your new friends!” She wondered if she had spoiled Annabella a little too much.

 

“Is Lilly sure that they’ll like me?”

 

“Yes, yes they will. Very much.”

They made their way back, but no matter how Lillian tried to not care about the mysterious figure that stopped her from falling, and the name Penelope whispered, she just couldn’t forget what had occurred. 

 

- - -

 

They all sat down on the velvety, maroon plush chairs at the tablecloth-lain, marble table. 

 

“Sorry about that. Annabella was just feeling a bit shy,” Lillian now understood how parents felt when their child refused to speak to others. 

With a little coaxing, Annabella bashfully uttered an extremely endearing “Hello…” 

 

“The weather’s particularly nice today,” Vale said, suddenly, in an eager attempt to break the re-emerged tension.

 

“Yes! It is, indeed,” Penelope replied, slightly trembling and unsure, “Annabella is so adorable!”

 

“Anny thanks you…” Annabella mumbled. 

Penelope didn’t seem very evil yet. ‘Maybe,’ Lillian thought, ‘Maybe, I could do something to prevent her from going down the wrong path.’ 

 

Due to the fact that Lillian absolutely loved deep plots with hidden meanings, there was a much richer plot behind it all. One that led to Penelope. 

If she could stop Penelope from becoming a tyrant that sought to destroy all the people who could have what she couldn’t, if she could let her stay a “normal”, happy, satisfied person, perhaps the guilt of creating this character, and seeing her in front of her, and knowing that one day she might suffer, would be alleviated.

Thirty minutes went by, and Lillian, Penelope, Vale and Arancia were chatting about their younger siblings. Arancia’s three-year-old sister was blind, unfortunately couldn’t make it to the tea party, due to the fact that she was too young, a tiny detail that Lillian had forgotten about.

 

‘I so casually wrote about the misfortunes about these so-called “characters”, but now that I know they are real…’ Lillian felt a second pang of guilt.

 

They tried their best to include Annabella, Ambre and Stell in the conversation, but Annabella and Ambre were too hesitant. This was unusual for Annabella, because she was supposed to be a little more lively, and initiate a conversation with them. Perhaps this changed, as Lillian suspected, because she had spoiled her. At least Stell kept on cracking witty jokes, which did help them loosen up.

 

- - -

 

A while went by. It, gradually, became less and less awkward. Annabella, Ambre and Stell had started a conversation – more of a debate – with each other about how much sugar they should put in tea. The older siblings talked about other matters, of their hobbies and favourite books. 

 

It seemed that all was well.