ITIF Chapter 25

Seizing the Initiative

A few days later, when Giselle Grante arrived at the imperial palace garden, the tea party atmosphere was already in full swing.

The nobles invited to the Empress’s tea party were each mingling in their own groups.

It seemed difficult to naturally blend into them.

‘I suppose they won’t easily let me into their inner circle.’

Giselle Grante recalled the date and time written on the Empress’s invitation.

The invitation clearly stated to come to the imperial palace garden in time for the afternoon tea time.

Tea parties in the Phasis Empire were generally divided into morning and afternoon sessions. Morning sessions were typically held around brunch time, while afternoon sessions meant the time after lunch but before dinner.

However, judging by the state of the food on the tables, it appeared to have been set out for quite some time.

As Giselle Grante stood alone in one corner of the imperial palace garden, nobles began glancing at her and whispering among themselves.

“Please come this way, Lady Amaterasu.”

Countess Minster, the Empress’s lady-in-waiting, approached Giselle Grante.

The conversations among the nobles who had been chatting in small groups suddenly stopped.

Their reactions were divided between those who openly stared in this direction and those who pretended not to while secretly glancing over, but before long they resumed their respective conversations.

The only thing that was clear was that the conversations had become noticeably quieter than before Giselle Grante’s appearance.

“Hello, Countess Minster.”

“It feels like it’s been ages since we last met. How are you feeling? I understand you’ve been staying at the Amaterasu duchy for health reasons…”

“Much better. Well enough to make outings like this.”

“That’s fortunate.”

Countess Minster nodded slightly and gestured for her to follow as she began walking.

Countess Minster stopped at a table positioned somewhat away from the central table.

Then she turned to look at Giselle Grante.

“I thought it would be better for you to mingle with those you might get along with well, so I’ve arranged your seat over here.”

The central table in the imperial palace garden was the seat of today’s tea party host, the Empress.

The closer to the central table, the more important the person was to the Empress.

Therefore, the table’s position could be seen as a measure of one’s distance from the Empress.

The table assigned to Giselle Grante was somewhat in a corner, but it wasn’t entirely bad.

After all, there were far more nobles who would never be invited to the Empress’s tea party in their lifetime.

“Iliana.”

Countess Minster called out, looking toward a group of young ladies who were enthusiastically engaged in conversation.

The young lady whose name was called turned to look in this direction.

“Let me introduce you. Lady Amaterasu, this is my daughter Iliana.”

“Pleased to meet you. I am Iliana of the House of Minster, greeting Lady Amaterasu.”

Lady Minster rose from her seat and curtsied slightly.

She had the fresh charm typical of a young lady who had just debuted in society.

“Nice to meet you, Lady Minster.”

Starting with a light nod to Lady Minster, Giselle Grante looked at the faces of the other young ladies seated at the same table in turn.

The young ladies who received her gaze rose from their seats one by one to greet Giselle Grante.

“Hello.”

“Nice to meet you, my lady.”

Watching this scene with a pleased expression, Countess Minster spoke.

“Well, now that you’ve all introduced yourselves, I’ll take my leave.”

Before departing, Countess Minster gave only her daughter a subtle glance.

Lady Minster nodded slightly toward her as if to say not to worry.

Giselle Grante glanced at this exchange and took the empty seat.

“Until just now, we were discussing the upcoming Crown Prince’s investiture ceremony.”

One of the young ladies at the same table considerately helped the newly arrived Giselle Grante join the conversation.

Giselle Grante expressed her gratitude with a nod and tried to guess her family background.

‘Perhaps the daughter of Marquis Howard.’

The guess seemed correct. Marchioness Howard had thick, abundant brown hair, and this young lady looked exactly like her in that regard.

Her slightly drooping eye corners that gave her a gentle impression as well.

‘That’s right. She was supposed to debut in society this year.’

Just as Giselle Grante was about to respond with this thought, Lady Minster spoke a bit faster.

“By the way, it seems the maids of the House of Amaterasu need to be severely scolded. Don’t you think so?”

“……”

Lady Minster continued, seeking agreement from the other young ladies with her eyes.

“When their mistress oversleeps, they should promptly wake her and lead her to the bath…”

While it seemed to criticize the negligence of the Amaterasu household maids, there was a hidden meaning in her words.

The laziness or mistakes of servants ultimately reflect on their master.

So while it was the fault of the Amaterasu maids for not waking Giselle Grante early enough, it was also pointing out that Giselle Grante was at fault for not properly training them.

Furthermore, it could be interpreted to mean that being late to the tea party was entirely due to Giselle Grante’s own laziness.

‘As expected…’

It didn’t deviate one bit from Giselle Grante’s expectations.

Only her invitation had the tea party invitation time written slightly later than the others.

‘It must have been Countess Minster’s instruction.’

Giselle Grante thought this and showed a faint smile.

This level could be considered the beginning stage of harassment.

While she had suspected as much, arriving at the imperial palace earlier than the time written on the invitation could also be problematic, so Giselle Grante had acted according to what was written on her invitation.

“There are always those types. Maids who drag their feet despite being informed of the schedule in advance.”

“That’s right. I’ve experienced that too…”

Several naive young ladies began agreeing with Lady Minster’s claims.

Meanwhile, one young lady who looked bored, as if she didn’t like the conversation topic at all, particularly caught Giselle Grante’s attention.

It was Lady Howard, who had shown consideration to Giselle Grante earlier.

Giselle Grante looked at her with some interest.

Sensing the gaze, Lady Howard also turned her head toward Giselle Grante.

When their eyes met, Lady Howard slightly wrinkled her nose bridge.

It felt as if she was saying not to pay attention to what those people were saying.

In fact, it was something you could quickly recognize after experiencing even a little social politicking.

That Lady Minster was currently speaking ill of Giselle Grante to her face.

There seemed to be some young ladies who hadn’t yet noticed this fact.

Giselle Grante simply watched quietly as the young ladies carried on.

As if to say, go ahead and try more.

After getting heated over the same topic for a while, the young ladies changed the conversation topic when Giselle Grante showed no particular reaction.

“Oh, right. Speaking of which, Lady Amaterasu, do you believe in destined love?”

“……”

Though it was a somewhat random topic, Giselle Grante thought she knew why Lady Minster had brought up this story.

And it seemed she wasn’t the only one who realized this fact.

“It’s true, isn’t it? Falling in love at first sight isn’t exactly easy. But since Lady Amaterasu has already experienced it, and everyone here including myself is unmarried, I thought you might be curious about that aspect…”

Lady Minster looked at the faces of the other young ladies in turn, as if seeking agreement.

“Noble marriages aren’t simple. In the long run, they’re major affairs with the survival of the family at stake.”

“That’s right. Isn’t falling in love at first sight just a dreamy story that appears in fairy tales?”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to say.”

Encouraged by the agreement of the other young ladies, Lady Minster smiled.

The appearance of words like fairy tales and dreams was tantamount to criticizing Giselle Grante’s somewhat lacking sense of reality.

With the intention of mocking the past actions of Giselle Grante, who had fallen for Duke Cardia and courted him without regard for appearances.

‘So this is how it’s going to be.’

If you don’t respond to weak attacks, they gradually increase the intensity. This was a commonly used method in society.

If Giselle Grante didn’t respond here either, they would take her more lightly and raise the intensity a bit more.

And indeed.

Even the gazes of the young ladies who had initially shown some courtesy to Giselle Grante were turning cynical.

“Lady Minster.”

Giselle Grante, who had been wearing only a faint smile all along, quietly placed her hand on Lady Minster’s hand that was resting on the table and spoke.

“Thank you for worrying about the Amaterasu household maids. And…”

Looking at Lady Minster with a steady gaze, Giselle Grante continued.

“…it seems the maids of the House of Minster should receive great praise.”

Lady Minster’s brow furrowed slightly.

Exchanging glances with the other young ladies with an expression that seemed to ask what this nonsensical talk was about, Lady Minster said,

“What do you mean by that?”

“Or perhaps the House of Minster has a family tradition of cherishing things once they come into their possession?”

Among the young ladies seated at the same table, only Lady Howard seemed to immediately catch the essence of what Giselle Grante had said.

Lady Howard, covering her mouth with her hand, had her eyes slightly curved.

Meanwhile, Lady Minster’s frown deepened.

But Giselle Grante didn’t stop there and continued.

“Your dress is from Weldenbell’s atelier, last season’s collection. The necklace and earring set is from Henkel Jewelry… from about two years ago? I think I saw it around then.”