New People

This chapter's song is: Sit still, look pretty Nightcore Version! Because this song is mainly about shopping!

Sylvia's POV:

I sigh as I look at the letter on my desk. It was a very pretty letter: it was a light yellow with ribbons and a flower imprinted with the stamp. Analysis: it was an invitation to a tea party, and the sender of this certain invitation was none other than Eppel  Cromble, daughter of Marquis Cromble.

I take a deep breath; Eppel Cromble was a nosy little rat who loved to gossip. She was also a very obvious hater of any duke's daughter, especially my family.

Little context of the Crombles:

When my great great great (x5) grandfather Scilla helped the first king defeat the demons of the land and created Hefelia, the Cromble from that time was also a major factor of the subjugation. However, my ancestor received the title of a duke instead of the Crombles seeing as he was more important than the Crombles.

This wasn't really a big deal for the Cromble at the time, however, the same couldn't be said for Cromble's descendants, who were so jealous of my family receiving a duke's title that they deluded themselves into thinking that we somehow stole their title.

Eppel is no different, she is clearly very jealous of my status as a duke's daughter that she is the main reason why Lily has gotten so much support; she tries to make me look like a bully.

This hasn't gotten her very far in life since she's always trying to compare herself to me and I guess it makes her feel inferior. Me being Ace's fiancee doesn't make things better, seeing as she is head over heels for him.

Now that I've recovered from my injury, I bet she's hosting this tea party to try and dig at me. You may think that I can just ignore her but unfortunately, a nobleman fights with their swords, but noble ladies fight with their wits and words.

If I decline her invitation, then it's like me announcing to society that something has happened to make me decline such as me being severely injured or perhaps I've damaged my face. Even though I can't entirely agree with it, looks are almost everything for a noble lady and although we are progressing more towards the modern world I know and love, there's still more to do before we get to that stage.

I take a deep breath as I write my reply. My invitation has to look ten times better than hers, I used baby blue paper and silver ink; the colours of the dukedom. I also use some silver ribbon and a blue poppy to imprint with the stamp. Once I was done, I gave it to Lillian so she can mail it. In terms of the battle of invitations, I clearly won.

The next thing to do was pick out an outfit. I scanned my wardrobe, most of my clothes were destroyed in the explosion so I had only two outfits plus some pyjamas right now. I suck my teeth in despair at my lack of choices.

I turn around to face a maid.

"Prepare the carriage and inform my parents that I'm going shopping, ask my mother if she'd like to join," I say to her. The maid bowed and left. I then faced another maid, "You go and tell my father that I wish to expand my room so I can have a walk-in wardrobe; I feel like this small one won't fit all the clothes I shall buy," I say. Soon, I was left alone but not for long...

"Silver drop~~!" I hear my mother say in a sing-song voice. My mother gracefully paced her way to my room in the span of four minutes even though she was on the other side of the mansion. The maid behind her was sweating but my mother was still smiling like she'd just woke up.

"I heard you wish to shop for new dresses," she says as she walks into my room.

"Yes mother, all my clothes were destroyed in the fire, even the gown that Ace gave me. Now I have nothing to wear for Eppel Cromble's tea party!" I whine.

"Cromble! That wretched family, you cannot fall short of them, I'll make sure that your dress is amazing, "My mother says as she sits with me.

"I was thinking about ordering some more dresses while I'm there, I've even sent a maid to ask father for a walk-in wardrobe."

"That sounds like a splendid idea, we may as well visit the jeweller's while we're there. I might buy some new dresses for myself."

"No need for the jewellers. There's no jewellery better than the Silver Dragon. Come on, we're burning daylight while dawdling here," I say as I grab my mother's hand and lead her to the carriage. My father was already there, talking to the driver.

He turns to face me.

"I hear you wish to have a walk-in wardrobe," he says.

"Yes, I feel like I may buy more clothes than my old wardrobe can handle."

"It's a disgrace that you've been using such a small wardrobe up until now, what might the public think if they find out that the daughter of the Scillas hasn't got enough space to store her dresses, I've called the workers in already. The wardrobe will be done by the time you come home," he says.

I squeal in excitement as I hug and kiss him on the cheek. Even if I act like a tough girl, I'm still a girl and if your father says that he will make you a bigger wardrobe so you can buy more clothes, well, that'll make any girl happy.

My mother kissed my father goodbye as she boarded the carriage with me. I waved goodbye as I watched my father fade into the distance. My mother was rambling on about how shorter dresses and showing your shoulders were a new trend these days due to the hot summer.

She was then spilling the tea on all the latest gossip such as how Count Tewesberry proposed to the 2nd daughter of the Viscount Rander.

It was a whole drama fest as the older daughter was jealous of how her sister had bagged a count and when they got married, she tried to wear white to the wedding. Of course, the bride didn't have it and a huge fight went down.

I merely made sounds of shock when listening to the story. Soon, we were in the upper part of town. We got off the carriage and walked to my aunt's shop: the Golden Thread.

In case you forgot, my aunt Serena was the royal designer and seamstress, she was the Head of all trends and knew everything that was going on in the fashion world. She had her own boutique although she was mainly at the Palace so it was managed by someone else.

When we opened the door, a bell rang. Soon, two workers came to greet us.

"Welcome to the Golden Thread, how may we help you?" They said in unison.

"Show us your latest summer dresses please, I need a new dress for my daughter's tea party as well as some clothes for other purposes," my mother said.

"Right this way please," one of the workers said, her name tag said Kore.

We were led to a private lounge and soon, the dresses came out. Like mother said, most of them were off shoulder dresses with shorter skirts three inches above your ankle.

They were a bunch of different colours and designs, I was starting to think I might go over our budget. The workers began advertising each dress, pointing out their good qualities and asking me if I liked it.

"This is an off-shoulder, collared dress. It has a shorter skirt so you won't be too hot during the summer. It also has matching shoes and ribbons," one of the workers called Vienna showcased.

My mother ordered more dresses to be brought while telling the worker to pack up everything that I said I liked.

"Do you like this design miss?" Kore asked me.

"I love this design, but is it in a different colour? Perhaps a light pink or peach?" I ask.

"One moment miss," Kore says as she disappears in search of a different colour.

"Mother, I'm going to go browse for some other designs," I tell my mother as I leave the lounge. Normally I'm not one for shopping trips, but once in a while, they can be enjoyable.

I walked around the shop, minding my own business before bumping into a girl who suddenly came out of her lounge. We both fell to the floor with an oof. I rubbed my sore head with my hand.

"Oh my God I am so sorry," the girl says as she extends a hand to me.

"No, no, it's my fault, I wasn't seeing where I was going," I say as I accepted her hand.

"No, it was my fault, I suddenly walked out of my lounge. Please accept my apologies," she says.

I laugh as she hoists me up, "Well let's just call it even, no damage was done aside from a few small bruises."

"Forgive me, my name is Lianey Garil Swivel, daughter of the minister of foreign affairs, " she introduced herself.

Now that I take a good look at her, she is refreshingly cute. She had a down to earth tone and a sort of free air around her. Her hair was a chestnut brown and her eyes were fern green.

"My name is Sylviana de Crystal Scilla, daughter of Duke Scilla," I introduce back.

"My, I heard you were injured, how nice it is to see you healthy," she said.

"I have recently recovered. However, due to the attack, my clothes have all but burned away, so I took advantage of that situation and asked my father for a bigger closer so I can store more clothes," I say.

"Very clever, perhaps I should set fire to my wardrobe too," she wonders out loud. We both look at each other and burst into giggles. "No, of course not, I'd be too scared of the fire spreading to my bookshelf to do that!" she giggled.

"Yes, the fire does have an unruly way of destruction," I say.

"Will I be able to converse with you like this again miss Scilla?" Lianey asks.

"I should hope so, it's been a while since I've had a good conversation like this, if I do not see you within the next two weeks, then I will be sure to invite you for a tea party," I promise.

"Then I shall be awaiting your invitation," Lianey says as she waves me goodbye before returning to her lounge. I also started to walk back towards my lounge until, as luck would have it, I bumped into another person.

This time it was a guy. He had very dark brown hair and his eyes were a mix of blue and green.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me today, this is the second time I've done this now," I apologise profusely as I regain my composure.

"It's quite alright, here," again, the man extended his hand towards me. I took it again, cursing at myself for being so airheaded today.

"You'll have to forgive me, I'm really not like this at all," I say as I dust off my skirt.

"I can imagine, it's no harm done, however, I do hope a pretty lady like you will keep her wits about, you'll never know when you might end up in trouble," the man says.

"I shall take that advice to heart, please excuse me, my mother is waiting," I say as I walk away and open the door to my lounge.

Narrator's POV:

The mysterious man walked onwards to the same place where Sylvia first fell, and knocked on the door.

Soon, Lianey opened the door and scoffed. "Where have you been brother, I was about to look for you."

"I was merely taking a stroll, you may not believe it, but a man will find plenty of other things to do rather than watch you and mother fawn over dresses," the man says.

"Well good luck to you, because mother has now noticed your disappearance..."Lianey sighs.

Two seconds later...

"LANDRES HOLDEN MIRANES SWIVVEL!!! IF YOU DON'T BRING YOUR NO GOOD HIDE IN FRONT OF ME THIS INSTANT, I'LL SEND YOU TO THE MOUNTAINS OF FROSLIA FOR THE REST OF YOUR SCHOOLDAYS!" An unearthly voice shrieks.

Landres sighs as he thinks about his future should he dawdle any longer.

"Come sister, let us see if mother shall murder me today or if she will let me see the next morning," Landres says as he hooks his arm with his sister.

"By the way, what took you so long to find a drink?"

"I bumped into a peculiar girl," Landres says.

"Wow, was she pretty?" Lianey asks.

"Well-"

"Landres! Come here right now!" The wife of the minister of foreign affairs orders as she begins to crack her knuckles and neck.

"Good luck," Lianey whispers to her brother as she pats his back before pushing him into the lion's den.

Whatever sounds came next were ignored by Lianey as she found a few gowns to be very interested in.

Shout out to - Otaku_sama- for realising what I did to Rin and Len's family. Anyone else who wants to know the mini Easter egg and foreboding will need to go back to the Girls Characters chapter and look at the comments!