Girl Talk

This chapter's song is: Better in Stereo by Dove Cameron! Because this chapter's mainly for girl talk! It's in the title!

Sylvia's POV:

"And then the Count got down on one knee and proposed with that same diamond that he used for his other lover!" Monique gossips.

"No!" Violet denies in shock.

"Yes! And what's even juicier is the fact that the lover exposed him!" Monique rambled on.

"In front of his fiancee?" Rin asked.

"An her parents, and her whole family!"

"Oh my gosh!"

In case you don't know what's going on, it's tea time at Monique's house. Monique was spilling all the juicy gossip that was happening in high society and we were absorbing the info like a sponge.

"I cannot believe it," I say, still holding back my laughter at what the fiancee did to the mistress.

"By the way, have any of you girls received an invitation to a tea party at the Crombles?" Rin asks as she continues to embroider.

"I have, although I'm not too keen on attending, that Cromble girl is known for being a blabbermouth," Violet says as she styles Monique's hair.

"Indeed, she clearly uses position to talk down on those of lower status, while being openly hostile to those who have a higher status than her," Monique says.

"I can't imagine what tricks she will try to pull when I attend," I sigh.

"She really doesn't like you does she, Sylvia?" Violet says.

"Nope, the whole Cromble line somehow believes that they should have been given the Duke's title and not my family, granted having a Duke's title won't make their personality any better. They'll just delude themselves into thinking they're entitled to something greater than what they have now until they'll be swallowed by their greed," I say, "And Violet, use the white ribbon, it stands out more."

"Though, even if your family and hers have been at odds, I think she is more jealous of Rin than you," Monique says.

All of us nod except Rin.

"Whatever do you mean? I don't recall ever speaking to Eppel Cromble before in my life," Rin says.

"Yes, but Eppel hates the girls with a higher status than her, my status is of a Duke's daughter, but technically, you're the daughter of a Grand Duke," I point out. In case you don't know, a Grand Duke is a Duke who is related to the Queen's side of the royal family.

It is a title above Duke. Rin is the Queen's niece so she is technically Ace's cousin. This also means that Rin's status is higher than mine, and my whole family's.

If your daughter marries into the royal family, then their whole family's status will be upgraded. If you are a Marquis then you become a Duke, if you are a Count, then you are upgraded to a Maquis and so on.

This is why so many people want to have their daughters marry into royalty. Once I marry Ace, my father will upgrade from a Duke to a Grand Duke and he will be the second Grand Duke in this country.

There are also Arch Dukes, who are directly descended from the Royal family. If there is more than one heir to the throne, then the heir who doesn't succeed the throne becomes an Arch Duke or Duchess instead.

There is only one Arch Duke in this country and that is the King's older brother: Arch Duke Malachy. The Duke had to change his name from a Royal one to a different one to signify that he has given up his right to the throne.

If I recall, the Arch Duke Malachy had a son our age as well...

"Sylvia!" I snap back to reality.

"Huh, what, Yes?" I say.

"I was asking you how my hair looks," Monique says as she showcases her Dutch braid.

"It looks amazing, I love the flowers weaved into it," I compliment.

"Thank you, I'm trying out new summer hairstyles for the tea party," Violet says as she puts down the brush.

"Have you already chosen your dress?" I ask.

"Yes, I chose a blue and white stripe-patterned dress, it's flowy on the bodice and doesn't require a corset!" Rin describes her dress.

"It's a relief that corsets are going out of style, I couldn't handle not being able to eat and breathe at the same time," Violet sighs.

"I barely wear corsets these days, only at an important event do I wear one," I say.

"My dress is a blue netted dress with sunflowers, perfect for summer," Monique says.

"What about yours, Syliva?" Rin asks.

"Well, I was going to also wear a simple flowered dress however my mother didn't want me to lose to Eppel when it came down to looks. She personally sent a letter to my aunt, asking her to design my dress," I say.

"Serena Scilla, *sigh* Her dresses are outstanding. I'm so jealous that she's your aunt," Violet sighs.

"No doubt that whatever you will wear will become the next trend in fashion. It looks like I'll have to put off buying any new clothes until the tea party," Monique says.

"Speaking of which, when I was at my aunt's boutique, I met the daughter of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lianey... I think," I mention.

"Lianey Garil Swivel, I've only met her before once at the meeting of the ministers. She is kind from what I've heard, her fiancee is the first son of the minister of international trade, and she has a brother. There's no big rumour nor scandal about her, she's fairly invisible in high society and has no discernable personality," Monique informs.

"I heard she likes to draw, she always has a sketchbook on hand with her," Rin adds.

"And she is also best friends with Mikaeyla Garrison, a baron's daughter," Violet says.

"Mikaeyla Garrison? Why doesn't she have a middle name?" I ask.

"Even though she's noble, it's mainly only in name. I heard Baron Garrison had a severe gambling addiction, he gambled away all of their lands and he used Mikaeyla's dowry to pay off his debts. Right now, the only valuable thing Mikaeyla has is her title, but I bet she's scared her father will gamble that away too," Monique explains.

"Hm, a skint baron's daughter, best friends with a rich minister's daughter... that's a surprising match, I wonder how they met," I voice my curiosity.

"Does that Mikaeyla girl have a fiance too?" Violet asks.

"Not that I know of, she seems single."

"Huh, good to know, Owch! Don't brush too hard Violet!" I yelp in pain.

"Sorry, this particular style involves a lot of twisted curls," Violet apologises.

"Oh my gosh, speaking of hairstyles, guess what I have!" Rin squeals in excitement.

"What?" Violet asks.

"I managed to book a whole half-day of prepping at the AquaPearl spa! On the day of the Royal Debutante!" Rin says.

Violet was taken aback and accidentally pulled my hair along with it, to which I yelped in pain again.

"What?! How did you do that?! It's like war trying to reserve a spot even two months before the debutante let alone on the day!" Monique says.

"My mother decided to surprise me, she said a girl's debutante is only once in their lifetime," Ron explains.

"Please thank your mother on my behalf!" I say as I try not to jump up and down in excitement.

"The debutante is only two weeks away now isn't it, I'm so excited!" Violet says.

"Me too, but first let's worry about the tea party, I have a feeling it'll be more taxing than we think," I say.

The rest of the day was spent talking about the tea party, future tea parties we might host, the Royal Debutante, future sleepovers and most importantly, future shopping trips. What can I say, I'm a tough girl but still a girl in the end.

Unfortunately, we were having so much fun talking that the time flew by, pretty soon, 4 hours were gone. It was actually 9 in the night now and we didn't realise it until the twins came in.

"Rinnnn! It's too louddddd!" Alister whines as he opens the door. Alister was holding Aristella's hand in their pyjamas. It was sooooo cute.

"Oh my gosh, those pyjamas are adorable!" I gush.

"Kitties are cute! Just like Poppers!" Aristella says.

"Poppers?" Violet repeats.

"Yup! Poppers is our cat!" Alister says.

(The twins in Cat pyjamas)

"Alister! Aristella! Come here, don't bother the girls!" Allen says as he runs in with a blanket on his shoulder.

"Len, are you on babysitting duty again?" Violet asks.

"Yep, my parents are out of commission when it's dark. Well, it's more like my father refuses to work after 9 and instead spends the rest of his time doting on my mother," Len says.

"I won't be surprised if there's another set of twins along the way," Monique says.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aristella asks.

"Nothing, come on, it's bedtime," Allen says as he picks Aristella up.

"Oh my god, it's this late already?!" I freak out as I see the pitch-black sky. "My parents are going to kill me!"

"Forget my parents, my brother is going to kill me!" Violet gasps as she scrambles off the bed and tries to put on her shoes.

"Why would your brother want to kill you, you're technically at your fiance's house," Monique asks.

"That's exactly the point!" Violet says.

"Ugh, Ivan..." Len grumbles in a menacing tone.

"Do you have any siblings who are overprotective?" Rillaine asks Monique.

"Hmm, Do you mean Arsen, Lionel, Colette or Elizabeth?" Monique lists all of her older siblings. "I'd say Arsen and Lionel are the most overprotective of the bunch, Lionel especially keeps an eye on Nicolette.

"It's so late though, will you be alright?" Rin asks.

"Yeah my carr- OH MY GOSH I TOLD MY CARRIAGE TO LEAVE!" I yell in realisation.

"Me too! I thought I was going to ride back with you!" Monique says to me.

"Girls relax! I can take you home! I've been there plenty of times," Violet says.

"How? Your carriage left too," Alister says.

"WHAT?! How do you know?!" Violet panics.

"We sent them home saying you already left," Aristella confesses.

"Why would you two do that?" Rin asks the twins, kneeling in front of them to get to the same height.

"We were bored," they both said in unison.

"No matter, I'll just use that," Violet sighs as she reaches for her purse.

"Use what?" Len asks.

"My power," Violet answers as she shows us a key. Then I remember, Violet's special magic allows her to create portals to anywhere she's visited so long as she turns the location into a key.

"I have a key connecting my house to Monique's, to Sylvia's, Rin's, the town square, and basically a point in every village up to the border," Violet lists.

"Well isn't that very useful, I wonder if you can mass produce them for the shop," Monique says as she writes something in her book.

"That's a discussion for another time, for now, let's drop you both off home, Monique's room first," Violet says as she holds a very pretty looking key in front of her.

It was an intricate design with a dark purple rose attached with a silver leaf.

(Gatekey to Monique's Room)

"OK people, watch and learn," Violet grins as she turns the key in the air, activating a keyhole and forming a door out of thin air.

The twins clapped in astonishment with oohs and ahhs. I clapped a bit too. It was a very complicated door design. It had a purple rose in the middle with an M which I assumed stood for Monique.

"Come on then, the more we dawdle, the more chance that someone will know that we're missing," Violet says as she opens the door.

"Okay, goodbye Rin!" I say as I hug her.

"Bye you guys, see you at the tea party," Rin says.

"See you later Len," Violet says as she grins like a cat. I could take a hint on where that was going; Another lovebird in my group.

We all went through the door and arrived in Monique's room. Just in time too because we could hear someone walking towards the door.

" Quick, hide!" Monique whisper-shouts to us as she kicks off her heels and hides under her covers.

I and Violet silently panic as we scrambled to hide behind the very big money board which I don't know why she has in her room.

The person who came in was a maid, she did a quick sweep of the room before leaving, closing the door silently.

All three of us sigh in relief. Suddenly the maid quickly opens the door again and we all hold our breath. She, again, closes the door very slowly and we didn't start breathing until we heard her footsteps leave.

"Okay, quickly send me home before Lillian decides to give me a surprise check-up," I say to Violet who pulls out a similar-looking key to Monique's, except this one has a blue rose.

(Gatekey to Sylvia's Room)

"Let's go!" Violet whisper-shouts as she reveals a blue door and opens it. The door transported us to my room, where I said my farewells to Violet before flash changing into my pyjamas and going to bed.

I was lucky too because Lillian came to check on me not long after. I sigh in relief as I managed to make it home without anyone noticing. Suddenly, a wave of drowsiness overcomes me as I close my eyes and drift off to sleep...