Chapter 11 – Part 1 – Tea Party (Aria’s POV)

I arrived in the garden, where a large shade was covering a table and some chairs. This was the venue for the tea party, which mom set up for me.

Everything looks fine, now we are waiting for the guest to arrive. I sat there with Letty standing behind me. The first person arrived, she was the daughter of Baron Coldheart. She was slightly shorter than me, had a pale complexion and white hair. Her eyes were brown, and she had long eyelashes. She was wearing a blue dress. It looked a bit plain, but I like such dresses. It looked very comfortable.

"I, Sophia Coldheart, greet Miss Aria Ernius on behalf of the Coldheart Family. It’s a pleasure to meet you. It's an honor to be invited to your first tea party"

She gave a curtsy, I could tell she was trying really hard. Kids can be so adorable.

"Greetings! I am Aria Ernius. I'm pleased to meet you too, Lady Coldheart. Please take a seat"

I gave her a warm smile, as she seemed anxious.

"Don't be so anxious, just relax. We are supposed to make friends, not partake in some formal meeting"

She nodded and kept her head down. So she's the shy type.

Within a couple of minutes, the rest of the people came by and introduced themselves. All except for one person,

"I am Beatrice Rose, the sole daughter of Count Vermion Rose. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Thank you for inviting me to your wonderful abode, Miss Aria Ernius. I hope we can be friends."

Talk about the devil. She wore a red dress with frills all around it. Her complexion was a bit darker than mine. She had a button nose and large green eyes. She held herself up with confidence and took her seat.

The maid following her brought along a small bouquet of blue roses. They are so pretty. I must ask Dad to plant some in our garden.

"Please accept this as a gesture of goodwill"

"I’ll gladly accept your goodwill. These flowers are very pretty"

I handed them to Letty,

If not for her devilish mind, she wasn't half bad. I almost forgot that she was supposed to be my doom, according to the plot. Not that anything could happen now.

There were a total of 8 people, including me, while the maids served various delicacies. Everyone was elated, as it's not every day you get to have such sweets from all over the kingdom.

Everyone was engaged in conversations, except Sophia, she was looking intimidated.

They were talking way too formally, it seemed that everyone had rehearsed their lines at home.

Internally, I couldn't wait to finish this farce and spend time with my precious Letty.

Letty seemed to have realized my disinterest. She quietly whispered,

"My Lady, Lady Martha asked me to relay a message in case you weren't making progress. She'll have you host another tea party, in case you fail to make any friend today"

Aaah, what a headache! That's it, I just gotta fake it.

"Hey guys, since we are friends now, don't you think we should drop the formalities and call each other by our names?"

Everyone gave me a dumbfounded look.

"It would be an honour to be your friend, Aria. I'll be in your care"

Beatrice was the first to answer. Everyone else followed her suit and the conversation became a bit livelier than before. Although, while conversing, Beatrice only seemed interested in making me her friend, as she kept talking formally to the others. As if trying to make it clear that they are not worthy, or something.

"Haha, my mother said to mind my manners in front of Lady Aria, or she might dislike me. I bet she would be surprised when I tell her that you’re my friend now"

"Yeah, same. My mother also told me to be mindful of my words and not disrespect Lady Aria"

"Mine too"

"It doesn't bother me at all. Don't feel so reserved, just speak your mind. I promise I won't come to dislike you"

Although less formally, they were still trying to show off in front of me and Beatrice. At one point, everyone just started ignoring Sophia, as she was unable to make any conversations.

After an hour, it was finally time for the party to end. One by one, everyone took their leave, except for Beatrice and Sophia.

Ignoring Sophia, Beatrice faced me and said,

“I had a wonderful time, Aria. I recently awoke a B-grade Talent as a Mage and will be attending the Royal Academy when the next term begins. We should maintain a good relationship, it will be beneficial for both of us.”

B-grade Talent in Mage class practically guarantees a successful career after graduation. So, she is asking me to become her follower. I should go along with her for now, she’s gonna attend Academy for 4-5 years anyway.

“Of course, Beatrice. It would be an honor”

Phew, at least now mom won’t nag me anymore.

After she left, Sophia timidly approached me.

“A-Aria, can I really be your friend?”

“I said so earlier, didn’t I?”

Well, I didn’t mean it. But whatever.

“Really! b-but I failed to speak even a single sentence properly, I thought everyone disliked me”

"That's probably because of your shyness. But don't worry, you can work on that, then you won't have any trouble making friends"

"Thanks a lot! Th-Then can I write you letters?" She asked with twinkly eyes.

Well, that came out of nowhere,

“Sure, I’ll be waiting”

Her face became brighter.

“Yes! I made a pen pal. I always wanted to have one”

She’s way too excited about this. Contrary to her last name, she is pretty warm-hearted.

After they left, I finally took a sigh of relief.

They were nice, but probably everyone just wanted to befriend the heir to a wealthy family. Except for Sophia, I guess. Hehe, she reminded me of Letty in a way.

I retired to my room with Letty.

“Don’t struggle, okay?”

Before she could answer, I took her to bed and started cuddling.

“Hah, I am being recharged…”

“Seriously, these kids were so annoying. Nobody even tried to be friends with me. They were just boasting about how useful they could be to me. At least that kid, Sophia, was honest, she kind of reminded me of you”

“In what way?”

“She was just as shy as you were, on your first day. Hahaha, do you remember? You’d go red after just a hug. So cute”

She didn’t struggle, and I continued my charging.

“Uhm, are you satisfied now?”, she asked.

I released her,

“Yup! I needed that. Thank You, Letty”

“Let me help you changed into something comfortable”