164 2.1.15: First Party IV

She stood, a bit worried that the Duchess was going to yell at her for being so socially conservative rather that do her bidding and making connections like she was supposed to do.

Her eyes wandered around and the musicians played soft music, envoking people to dance. Her posture was straightened as she tried to walk towards a group of young socialites to speak with, but they looked at her warily. They had overheard her introduction when speaking to Liliana, hence their cold behavior. Despite being young, the girls knew that the true daughter of the Warrington Household had died seven years ago, so this girl was highly a fraud. But who could be bold enough to impersonate being from the Warrington dukedom, a family just below the royal family?

Unfortunately, the young socialites were too young and not as astute as the Countess, hence they couldn't figure out her illegitimate status. So they decided that ignoring her was the best and safest route to take.

Many of them were already beginning to be asked to dance, and seeing how no one was offering to dance with her, Xiao Yunhua frowned. She turned around and walked in the opposite direction of the central of the garden. The garden itself was huge and the little celebration was being held in the center, hence why once she wandered off, she didn't run into much people.

She sighed as she took small steps around, letting her guard down a little bit. No one, including the servants, had ventured off this far in the garden, so being a little less reserved was fine.

Her sky-blue eyes shifted to a tall, towering tree that flourished with little, white flowers. As she edged closer to it, she realized that they were magnolias.

It was a magnolia tree!

Her eyes lit in fascination because in the last life, Zhou Feng had a penthouse named after the magnolia. She had seen the elusive symbol of the penthouse as a symbol of wealth, but to see the tree and the flower so close, it was enchanting.

From what she remembered, some magnolia trees took up to ten years to bloom, so to see one blooming vitally like this meant that the tree was pretty old. Who would've thought that the Roman Earldom held something so simple yet valuable like this? She hadn't explored the garden at the Warrington mansion, so she wasn't sure what was in it. This was purely based on the fact that the Duchess had isolated and forced her to spend seven years perfecting herself.

Once she was close enough to the tree, she subconsciously stood on her tiptoes and reached to grab the closest magnolia flower. Unfortunately, she wasn't tall enough and only struggled with defeat.

She frowned and tried again; however, she ended up slipping and falling backwards. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for the painful impact, but only found herself in the arms of someone.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and took a peek around, making sure that she didn't hallucinate.

Nope, the long shadow looming over hers was definitely real and not imaginary. The arms around her weren't overly muscular but definitely defined, meaning it was possibly someone young. The calloused hands that gripped her waist meant that this person practiced a lot with the sword.

Neither of the two made any movements for a minute or so until they snapped out of their stupor and he let go quickly, causing her to stumble and almost fall again. Of course, he reached out to help her again, but she balanced herself.

Turning around, her cheeks were flushed from embarrassment. She curtsied shakingly and didn't dare to look up. In such a conservative society, had she really screwed up so badly? On her first public appearance, she was already behaving in ways that would've been dubbed scandalous and unforgiving.

Finally, she looked up and her eyes met a pair of chocolate brown eyes full of kindness. They belonged to a handsome face that gave her a warm feeling. He looked to be no older than eighteen, which meant he was a few years older than her.

Finally, he opened his mouth and asked with concern, "Are you alright?" This snapped her out of her daze and she blushed harder, curtsying again.

"Yes, I must thank kind sir for catching me from my fall and preventing any shameful incidents from happening."

"No problem milady, though you must be more careful for you could be injured." He looked very nonchalant about it, as though he had forgotten the incident where they were close to each other already.

"Yes, yes, I will. Thank you once again." She wanted to ask what his name was but she was sure their encounter would be even more awkward. Hence, she did some more formalities such as curtsying again—her back was really beginning to ache from curtsying so often—and turned around to leave.

Her head turned around to look behind her at the magnolia tree again and she inaudibly sighed. Suddenly, he raised his hand and gently plucked out one of the magnolia flowers. Her eyes followed his movements and she noticed that his hand holding the flower was now in front of her. He looked at her kindly and she reached out to take it with rosy cheeks.

The magnolia flower in her hand felt warm, but she could feel her cheeks were even warmer. She bowed her head and quickly left, not looking behind her due to her embarrassment. Her desire for a flower had caused her to be so irresponsible and embarrass herself like this!

She used her photographic memory to find her way back and was relieved that she didn't too much because they were just starting to go back to the main celebratory hall. None of the young nobles except for a couple noticed she was gone for quite a bit. One of the people was Liliana who worried that the Warrington young miss had run into trouble which would cause her family to be in trouble.

She sighed in relief when she saw Violetta smile in her direction. Liliana walked in her direction and asked her if she wanted to walk back with her. As the host, she felt a bit guilty for not properly entertaining someone with higher status.

She saw Violetta smile weakly and nod, so they walked back to the main room together along with the rest of the people. The servants were escorting them and they were designated to follow since they were all—except Liliana—unfamiliar with the mansion.

In Xiao Yunhua's mind, she knew that this is where the real troubles would start...