Arriving at the palace, I sensed something different than yesterday…I went inside the palace with the others behind me..Eyes were flying toward us; the servants, the guard, even the nobles were looking at us..While we were walking to the other hall, Flavia was waiting for me in same intersection of the hall, like yesterday. We approached her..

            In front of her, Flavia said,

            "My lady, I will keep staying while you are in the palace…"

            I was surprised that the palace’s servant still needed to accompany me in the palace, so I asked, "Is that necessary, Flavia? Or is your companion an order from the palace?"
            "My lady is right; the order to stay beside you is still ongoing; even your maid and your guards are allowed to stay beside you, wherever you go in the palace…Still, the palace wants one servant to accompany you, my lady…"

            I looked at Adel behind me, and she kept silent about this. I turned back to Flavia and said, "Well then, you may stay with me.."

            We continued to walk to the other hall, Flavia was walking in front of us… 

            Arriving at the other hall, the first thing we felt in there was the heavy stare from the other nobles in the hall. While we were walking in the hall, I could hear some of them talking badly about me…

            I went beside Flavia, and asked, "May you tell me, which peerage rank all the nobles are in here?"

            "Most of them are count, and the highest peerage rank in here is marquis…if it’s about peerage rank, I think my lady is the highest one in this hall…"

            What!! I was the highest one in here; why could it be like that? How did the royal court not have a higher peerage rank than me?

            In front of the Arch-Treasury door, the door was opened by Lady Hillaria and Lady Clara. After knowing the truth about them, I felt a little bit different about them, like I wanted to distance myself from them.

            "Good morning, Lady Aurelia…" Lady Clara greeted me.

            "Good morning, Lady Clara and Lady Hillaria…" I answered her greeting.

            Lady Hillaria was looking at Adel; after that, Cassius, from the tip of the bottom until the tip of the top..

            At once, Lady Clara lightly bumped Lady Hillaria’s arm with her own arm, and I could hear a small tone from Lady Clara.

            "Do what I tell you!!"

            Lady Hillaria bowed at me and said, 

            "Lady Aurelia…I offer you my apology; may you forgive me after what I did yesterday to your guard…"    

            "I have told you, Lady Hillaria…Don’t make this matter a feud or grow a grudge between us…I accept your apology, Lady Hillaria…May you stand up right now; it is quite embarrassing for a noble like you to do like this…"     

            I looked at Lady Clara and Lady Hillaria, and said,

            "After what happened yesterday, let’s not let our relationship stretch, grow a grudge between us…and not let our tea time be disturbed by this..…May we go inside, and do our best?"

            Lady Hillaria and Lady Clara went back inside with me and the others. I went to Livio’s desk. In front of it, Livio looked at us, and said,

            "Why are there new faces here? And where is the other guard, who was with you yesterday?"

            I said, "These people will stay with me, and the other guard is no longer with me…"
            Livio pointed at Adel, and said, "She can stay with you, and the others can’t…"
            "But the palace allows them to stay with me, wherever and whenever I am in the palace…"

            "Sure the palace allows it, but in this room, I don’t allow it…"

            I looked at Cassius and Valerie, and said "Well, you two can stay in the garden, and you can find Flavia the maid before, ask her to prepare for me, she will know it.."

            They left the room, I went to my desk, and started to do my job…

            …

            In just a few hours, the bell could be heard, and the job was done. It was just three hours…Like yesterday, Lady Clara and Lady Hillaria invited me to have tea time…We left the room and went to the garden…

            At the garden, Flavia had prepared it for me, in there, Cassius and Valerie already waited for me…I went to them first, and asked,

            "What did you do, while waiting for me?"

            Valerie said, "We were just waiting you in here, while hearing some bullshitery from the other nobles..."

            …

            While in the tea time, Lady Clara asked me,

            "Have Lady Aurelia heard about the rumor??"
            "The rumor???"

            Lady Hillaria said, "I hope the rumor does not affect you, Lady Aurelia…"  

            "May one of you tell me about this rumor?"

            Lady Clara asked me, "Is Lady Aurelia aware of the rumor of the crown prince in a relationship?"

            "Ah!! With Lady Anna, I am aware of that rumor…"
            "That rumor has been circulating around the kingdom for seven years…" Not into my territory or my home apparently. "But the rumor had been disturbed by you, Lady Aurelia…"

            "By me???"

            "Yes…You know, the crown prince's invitation to you, yesterday, was big news around the capital…"

            "Big news??"
            "People thought the crown prince’s partner would be Lady Anna, but they thought Lady Aurelia stole him from her, and you have a higher rank than Lady Anna…"

            "May I ask a question to both of you?"

            "Sure, go ahead…"

            "What do both of you think about the relationship between the crown prince and Lady Anna?"

            They were looking at each other, and before answering it, I said, "You can tell me truthfully."

            They were so eager not to answer it…but still, they answered my question..

            First Lady Clara said, "I think their relationship is like a friendship…I don’t find any intimacy or romance between them…but the public sees it differently; they see their relationship as intimate and romantic. Even though there is a rumor that both of them are in bethroral…"

            I turned my gaze to Lady Hillaria, and asked, "How about Lady Hillaria? What do you think about this??"

            Lady Hillaira said, "I don’t really care about their relationship…"

            These two were on the royal side; what would happen if I told them about my betrothal with the crown prince? Would they believe it?

            I looked at Adel, and waved her to come at me…After she was beside me, I whispered to her,

            "Can I tell them about my bethroral?"

            Adel answered, "I advise not to tell them…"

            "Is there any reason for that? Or will it break the bethroral if someone knows?"

            "It’s not about that, my lady…their families were on the royal’s side…Are you sure you want to tell them about this?"

            "Well, if it will harm me, I will try to think about it later, but for now…I think, it won’t harm me.…"

            "If my lady insists, I can’t do anything to stop you…at least, I have advised my lady about it."

            "Thanks for your advice…"

            Adel went back to Cassius and Valerie.

            Lady Clara asked, "Is there a problem, Lady Aurelia?"

            I answered, "There is nothing, I just asked her something…Apart from the crown prince and Lady Anna rumor, there is something that I want to tell you about…"

            Lady Hillaria put her treats and her tea together and said, "It must be something important; Lady Aurelia needs to confirm it with your maid…"

            "I don’t know if this is an important matter or not, like Lady Hillaria said…but…I want both of you, to keep it secret, until it becomes public."

            Their faces were preparing for what I would tell them, while I took one sip of tea before telling them..   

            I put down my cup, and said, "What will happen if I tell both of you, the crown prince and I are in bethroral?"

            …

            There was silence for a few seconds on the table…Both of them kept stirring their tea spoons in their cups…Lady Clara finally said,

            "Is that sort of a pun, from you, Lady Aurelia??" 

            I said, "It’s not a pun, It’s the truth…"

            Lady Hillaria asked me, "Is there any merit to Lady Aurelia telling us this matter?"

            I was confused by her words, I looked at her, and said "What do you mean by merit?"

            "I just feel there is another reason why Lady Aurelia told us that to us; for example, you want us to influence you in the palace."

            "Why do you have a thought like that, Lady Hillaria??"

            "Because of your family… All of the nobles in here are not the same as you, Lady Aurelia. You are the highest noble in this hall, or, I can say, in the court. So I think your statement is a tool or chance to influence another noble, to be with you…or you are in here, is a chance for your family to influence the royal court."

            "For what merit does my family need to influence the royal court?"
            "Well…there is some of it…your family occupied a quarter of this kingdom, while the royals themselves occupied less than your family…All of the direct royal vassals are viscounts and counts, and the royal itself doesn’t have a duchy; all of the royal lands are counties. So a duke can easily take over or influence all the royal vassals with his power…This kingdom consists of eight duchies, but still, the biggest influence and power is in your family, not in the royal…So to tell us, you are in bethroral with the crown prince, and there is still no publicity about that. It feels like you were trying to influence us to go on your side, not on the royal  side."Suddenly, her tone became different, and she stared at me fiercely. "…..or your family is trying to seize the kingdom…"

            There was a tense on the table..

            Lady Clara tried to decrease it; she said, "Wellllll... I think Lady Aurelia will be suitable for the crown prince if the betrothal is true. and to say seize the kingdom, I think that’s too far to be true…"

            Lady Hillaria said to Lady Clara, "Clara, you are from the Aliena family; why do you act like that?"

            "Because I want my relationship with Lady Aurelia to become distant…"

            Like the book said, Lady Hillaria was on the royal side, but Lady Clara seemed to be different, or she tried to spread her hook toward me…

           Their faces were suddenly different; it seemed they were shocked by something. I heard Lady Clara say,

            "There is blood in your mouth, Lady Aurelia…"

            "Blood??" I touched my mouth, and there was blood.

            Suddenly Adel, Cassius and Valerie were beside me. Adel told me to go back home immediately. I got up from my seat with Adel’s help. While I was trying to get up, Lady Clara asked,

            "Is there something wrong, Lady Aurelia??"

            Adel just said, "She is just not in great condition…"

            I answered, "I am alright, Lady Clara… Thanks for your concer—-*Cough* *Cough*" I started to cough blood…

            At once, Cassius lifted me into his front, and we left the garden. It seemed Cassius was in a hurry to take me home. Everyone’s eyes were on us, at the garden or at the palace.         

            I heard Valerie and Adel exchange some words before my vision became more blurry and my hearing became unstable.

            Valerie said, "Will she be like before??"

            Adel answered, "This one, there is no trigger for this…if you are talking about that incident, that incident was because she got triggered by the rumors…but this time, it is just a weekly or daily state…"

            "So is it safe then??"

            "Yes…I can handle it this time…if she is lost in control.."