Chapter Three
A Petty Revenge Plot
Two days came and went, and before I knew it, it was time for Bella to return to the tea shop in the hope of gaining an audience with Ezra. I wasn’t sure if my attempt would be successful, but I already doubted it.
If it were easy to meet with him, Illusion would be just any old information guild.
“Lady Alicia, I have your invitations here,” one of the maids said from outside my door with a gentle knock.
“Oh, please come in,” I said, tucking my notebook into the hidden drawer in my desk. “Have they been sorted through?”
“Yes.” A red-headed maid with a freckled face carried them over to the table on a silver tray.
I took a seat on the sofa and reached for the top one. “Who sorted them?”
“The marchioness did.” The maid clasped her hands over her stomach.
I paused. If my stepmother was responsible for sorting through my invitations, I’d bet they were all from lower-ranking noble houses.
One flip of the envelopes told me I was correct. The first was from the daughter of a baronet; the second, a viscount’s daughter; and the third I checked was from a baroness who’d recently moved to the capital city and was desperate to make connections.
“What’s your name?” I asked the maid.
She swallowed. “Annie, my lady.”
“Annie, do you know what happened to the invitations the marchioness discarded?”
She didn’t say anything.
“Please do not make me repeat myself. It’s exhausting.”
“They were put in the drawing room early this morning for Lady Sophia’s perusal, my lady.”
Ha.
So, they were going to make up some excuse why I couldn’t attend and send Sophia in my place, then when it was found out that I’d attended a tea party from a lower-ranking noble instead, I would look awful in high society.
Well, two could play at that game.
“Is the marchioness home?” I asked.
Annie shook her head. “No, my lady. She went with Lady Sophia to get their dresses fitted for the spring banquet’s ball next week.”
Ah, yes. The ball I was due to attend… without anything to wear.
“Very well. Please bring me the invitations the marchioness discarded.”
She hesitated, shifting uncomfortably. “I—”
“I’ve already told you how I feel about repeating myself, Annie.”
“Yes, my lady.” She bowed her head and backed out of the room, pulling the door closed behind her.
I sighed and buried my face in my hands. Why couldn’t I have reincarnated as a cat? I barely liked modern-day society, so this noble high society was going to be an absolute killer for me.
It was all politics, politics, politics.
If I was interested in that, I’d have become a politician instead of a lawyer in my past life.
Ugh.
“Here you are, Lady Alicia.” Annie set the invitations down in front of me on the table.
“Is that all of them?”
“It is.”
“Thank you.” I picked up the pile of envelopes. They’d already all been sliced open, which made me frown.
Wow.
She was shameless.
Although, it had made my life slightly easier.
As if these weren’t all addressed to me in the first place. Was I really sneaking into my own post?
The names signed on all these envelopes were from daughters of high-ranking nobility, just as I’d suspected. My stepmother was going through them and splitting them out, forcing Sophia into my position in society.
The old Alicia may have let it slide, but the new Alicia was going to fight back.
I picked up the envelope marked with the Alansia seal and pulled out the letter.
The invitation was from Lady Georgina Alansia, the third child and only daughter of the duke and duchess.
She was a year younger than me, and from the letter, it seems as though she’d invited me twice before, but I’d been unable to make it.
That was news to me.
I had no memory of ever receiving an invitation from her.
She was also the number one person that my stepmother would want Sophia to make friends with—while I knew she was determined to marry my sister off to the Crown Prince, there was no way she’d turn down a marriage proposal from House Alansia.
Well, I was going to blow all that up.
There was another invitation from the wife of the young Marquess Velian who was hosting her first tea party since he’d inherited the marquessate, and that was a contact I very much wanted.
House Velian were heavily involved in the fashion market, and one of the reasons Marquess Velian had married Lady Isabelle was because of her eye for fashion.
His mother had seen someone she could pass her personal exclusive boutique down to, and if I could become friends with Lady Isabelle, I would have a fast track to the trends in the empire.
Ugh.
I hated weighing people up based on how useful they would be to me in society.
Well, to be accurate, one half of me hated it. The part of me that was attuned to this life thanks to this body’s memories had no issue with it at all.
The sooner these two sides of me melded into one, the better. I was beginning to feel like I had multiple personalities.
I carried the stack of letters over to my desk and copied down the time and date of both tea parties, plus the names of all those I would be rejecting, before returning them to their respective envelopes.
“Please put these back where you found them. If she asks, tell her you moved them when you were cleaning.” I handed the stack back to Annie. “Bella will handle my responses.”
Annie swallowed. “Yes, my lady.”
“Oh, and Annie? Let’s keep this between you and me.” I pressed a finger to my lips in a ‘shh’ motion and smiled. “Please do let me know if any more invitations arrive for me.”
“Ah, of course, my lady.” A ghost of a smile flickered across her lips, but it wasn’t cold—just apprehensive. “I will be nearby if you need anything.”
I nodded and sat down at my desk, pulling out my stationery to reply to all the invitations.
I intended to reply positively to Lady Georgina and Marchioness Isabelle Velian but send polite rejections to everyone else.
I would express my thanks for the invitation and my sorrow that I couldn’t attend, explaining that I was on a light social schedule due to my recovery from my accident.
I also planned to add that I hoped they would look after my sister Sophia as she’d mentioned attending.
Hee hee hee.
If she was invited herself, there would be no issues. However, I already knew how gossipy this society was from both the book and this body’s memories, so if Sophia hadn’t been invited, the ladies would be sure to mention it to me.
I couldn’t begin to imagine how long she’d been taking my place at these events, but it wasn’t going to last much longer.
Writing my responses took me much longer than I’d anticipated, and Bella arrived back just as I was wrapping up my final rejection.
“Well? How did it go?” I asked.
“I’m sorry, my lady. I spoke to Mister Jinx, and he said their master is too busy to meet with you.”
I pursed my lips. “Don’t worry, Bella. I expected as much.” I slipped the letter inside the envelope, sealed it with the wax seal of the Vermillion family, and signed my name on the back. “I have some letters to be delivered, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course, my lady.” Her eyes bugged when she saw the stack. “Goodness. How many are you sending?”
I quickly explained the situation. “So, could you make sure these are delivered as soon as possible?”
She nodded. “I will give them to Barney. He’ll make sure they get there with no problems.”
“Perfect, thank you so much. Can you ask if there were any replies from Sophia? If so, Barney would do well to make sure those ones get lost in transit, if you get my meaning.”
Bella’s eyes twinkled. She hated my sister as much as I did.
I stood up and stretched my arms out in front of me, linking my fingers.
“Ah, that’s better. Also, Lady Georgina Alansia’s tea party is in three days, so please prepare me an appropriate outfit for a greenhouse event.
Once we’re done there, we’ll go into town to purchase a dress for the spring ball and pay another visit to the guild. ”
“Another visit, my lady?”
“Yes. I happen to have some information on Jinx’s master that will get me what I want.” I smiled, tilting my head to the side. “Oh, and do make sure that Harry is available for us on Thursday.”
“What carriage will you be taking, my lady? You can’t take the one I did today to go to the Alansia manor, but you can’t take the main carriages into that side of town.”
I tapped my finger on the side of my nose. “Don’t worry. I have a plan for that.”
***
“Good morning, Lady Alicia. It’s nice to see you out of your quarters. Are you feeling much better?”
I smiled at the older man who’d been the Vermillion family butler since before I was born. “Good morning, Caldwell. I am, thank you for asking. How are you?”
“All the better for seeing you, my lady.” He bowed. “Is there anything I can help with?”
“Yes, I was looking for Father. Is he here?”
“He’s in his office. Would you like me to escort you there?”
“If you don’t mind.”
“Please, follow me.” He handed the box in his hand off to one of the maids. “Take this to the Head Maid.”
I hadn’t seen my father since the day I’d woken up when he’d come in to speak with the doctor, so I wasn’t looking forward to this visit. However, I had little choice. I was leaving the house tomorrow for Lady Georgina’s tea party, and it would be rude of me not to inform him of my plans.
I knew it was safe to do so.
The memories left behind in this body told me that he rarely, if ever, spoke of me with my stepmother. I was little more than a ghost in this house unless my stepmother or siblings needed someone to be cruel to on that given day.
I’d avoided that so far, but there was no doubt the abuse would commence. Especially after the tea party tomorrow when I would be embarrassing Sophia in public.
Caldwell knocked on the door. “My lord, Lady Alicia would like to see you.”
“Bring her in.”
Caldwell pushed open the large door and held it for me with a bow. “I’ll bring some tea.”