166 2.1.17: Tea Invitation I

The next day, she sat at her desk and began to write him a letter. Of course, in case her letter was examined, she made sure to be moderately polite. Her words very not overly friendly to prevent any rumors nor ambiguous to be interpreted differently. It was a direct yet invitational letter that wrote down her gratitude of being her first dance. What made this particular first dance special was the idea that it was her first social appearance. Her letter had no indication of the magnolia flower and falling incident because it was improper and already embarrassing enough.

With a deep sigh, she hoped that he accepted her letter. It was really difficult to get close to anyone in medieval times because it was either comprehended as indecency or presumed as a motive of status. For her, it was neither and more a motive of survival. Luckily, Xiao Taotao hadn't told her about any point losses of her seven year growth because it accurately depicted the world. She needed to be a noble lady before getting close to a noble man. Which was ironic because she hadn't even had her debutant party yet.

Even though the Duchess was unwilling for an illegitimate daughter to have her debutant party that her decreased daughter couldn't have, she needed for Violetta to make a proper standing in high society for her plan to succeed. Her debutant party, just like every noble daughter, would occur on her fifteenth birthday. On her debutant party, she would choose someone to be her first dance and that would officially be the doorway opened to becoming a lady in the eyes of society.

If she messed up her first dance or messed up who she chose for her first dance, then it would greatly affect her future. Everything about this world was dangerous. Any small mistake could cost her a bad future or reputation. She was still about a year away, but it was best to start thinking about it now. She wouldn't have minded if it was her first target, but the Duchess wouldn't allow such a thing.

It was odd because a debutant was supposed to choose everything so to show that she was capable of making her own choices as an adult, but not in the very high aristocratic families. Such as the Warrington dukedom that was just below the royal family. Ironically, a bastard wasn't supposed to be on the same wavelength and wasn't supposed to get such treatment, but her situation was special and so was her identity.

She gave the letter to a servant she trusted and the servant assured her that she would give it to be delivered. Her blue eyes followed the servant with the letter until she was no longer in sight. This tea invitation was the only way she could think of getting close to him. But in the end, it all depended on whether or not he would accept it.

Two days later, she was mindlessly looking through a book until the same servant asked for permission to enter her room. Once the permission was granted, she brought the letter and showed it to Xiao Yunhua. Her light blue eyes widened with surprise and she took the letter, dismissing the servant. She held onto the letter, her heart both worried and anticipating. She was anxious that he would reject her and anxious that he would accept her. Finally, after all that contemplation, she opened the letter and her eyes began to read the content.

His letter was exactly the same style as hers: not overly polite nor ambiguous to create misunderstandings. For some reason, she could visualize him with his kind but strict behavior as she read the letter. Once she got to the end of the letter, she sighed in relief. He had actually accepted her tea invitation!

Was the party a blessing in disguise? She had gotten introduced with her target—even though he hadn't formally introduced himself—and even got a chance to invite him.

For her first letter that she had sent, she had addressed the tea invitation would be held one week from the day it was sent, if he chose to accept it. Since he had ended up accepting it, it meant that she had five days to make sure everything was perfect!

"Libby!" She called out, summoning the servant from earlier.

"Yes milady?" Libby Horris, a commoner servant who worked in the Warrington mansion, was one of the servants who personally took care of the second young miss. In the beginning, she felt grieved that she was assigned to take care of a sinking ship, seeing as the Duchess hated her and she was an illegitimate daughter. But then, the Duchess had taken her under her wing and chose to train her, so Libby thought that the young girl deserved some chance. During the seven years, Libby had completely changed her mind about the girl because she was just that amazing. She was average in appearance but had the most intelligent mind. She was such a quick learner that Libby noticed that the cold Duchess warmed just a small bit towards her. Seeing as she had such a master, Libby was sure that she was aboard the best growing ship. Yes the young lady had illegitimate status, but Libby was sure that she was destined for greatness. She was cold like the Duchess, but secretly warm towards the servants. This caused them to feel gratitude, such as Libby, towards her.

"I want everything for the tea invitation to be perfect. Libby, I've already gotten permission from Her Grace to hold this and the person I've invited had agreed to come, now the only thing left is for it to be perfect. The only way that it would be perfect is if I could count on you Libby to deliver all my instructions correctly." Xiao Yunhua was very patient in explaining to Libby the importance of the tea invitation and how she had a very relevant guest coming over because of it. Libby nodded eagerly, anxious to meet her master's expectations and swiftly left to tell the instructions about the upcoming tea invitation and the second young miss' guest.

Once Libby closed the door, Xiao Yunhua sighed. If Libby were to mess this up, it would possibly cause her entire mission to mess up. How? He would think she was a frivolous woman and she didn't want to use her precious points and restart the mission.

For her first world, it costed one hundred thousand points to restart, and she didn't even have any points. Now, she had accumulated more than a million, it brought her shivers thinking about the astronomical price the swindler Xiao Taotao would give her. But overall, this world has been much more boring than her first one. At least it could occupy her and she didn't have to be alert at all times. Now, this world, behind every smile of a noble was a hidden dagger.

'Taotao, give me some games I'm bored. This world is so boring I don't understand what the system was thinking.'

>

Xiao Yunhua was speechless. Yes she wanted less chaotic and dramatic, but she didn't want a snooze fest. 'I wanted less chaos not more boring.'

> The little fairy said in exasperation. Her Host was behind a bit silly and an airhead! Was her lack of modern technology messing with her head this much?

'What complexities other than nobles and their smiles full of malice?' Xiao Yunhua thought dryly. 'Taotao, you're worrying too much.'

Xiao Taotao wanted to open her mouth to refute, but she couldn't. The system was giving her a warning that she was starting to take too much. How complicated this world gets...that's something her Host would have to figure out herself! She chuckled and her small voice echoed in Xiao Yunhua's head. > Then Xiao Taotao disappeared from her head and left Xiao Yunhua alone again.

Xiao Yunhua rolled her eyes. It wasn't that she didn't believe the little fairy, but other than schemes of power and corrupted greed, what could these nobles and peasants do? Maybe a disease? She couldn't fathom why the little fairy was so worried over this world. It was mediocre at best.

Once she thought of the mediocracy of her second world, her throat began to itch crazily again. She yelled for Libby to bring her the same cold water and prayed that it would go away. Her random thirsts have been getting more frequent and the Duchess actually took notice of it. She secretly summoned a physician to take notice but all the physician said was that she was fine and that it was her body growing and changing. It was her way of adaption.

As much as Xiao Yunhua wanted to call it bullshit—seeing as her original self had already gone through puberty and was eighteen years old—she couldn't because the physicians here weren't modern physicians. And she deemed it as an allergic reaction to something. Allergies were common in the modern world so it didn't matter to her that much. Besides, it wasn't life threatening. All it did was cause her to feel an itchy throat and have a desire to drink something. Usually, water did the trick, but if it didn't, then it was simply a matter of waiting and pretending that it didn't exist.

The more she got close to her fifteenth birthday and debutante party, the more this thirst got more frequent. Seeing how it was just the beginning of her fourteen birthday and it was this annoying, she couldn't imagine how much worse it would be once she was near the age of fifteen.

Once Libby brought her the cold water, she drank it all in one gulp and her burning throat immediately soothed. It was beginning to itch again but moderately enough for her to ignore it.

"Thank you Libby." She politely said as the servant grabbed the cup to take away.

"No problem milady, it is an honor to be of help to you." Libby bowed her head and then added, "I've already informed the other servants to order pastries and other sweet delicacies for the tea invitation next week. The bakery will make sure to have them ready for that day." Libby made sure to tell them to get the pastries from a popular bakery that was worthy of serving the second miss of the Warrington dukedom. "They will also prep the garden so that it would be available to decorate and make decent on the day before the invitation. As per your request, I made sure to let them know it needed to be simple and not overly extravagant. However young miss, how simple is simple enough to not shame the Warrington Household?"

Libby saw Violetta tilt her head in confusion and then her eyes widened as an idea came in her head. "Flowers. Flower decorations but not too much and make sure to balance out the simplicity of the flowers with one of the finest tea sets we own. This way, it would be humble yet status apparent." Libby marveled at the intelligence of the young miss and nodded, asking to be dismissed to let them know. Xiao Yunhua smiled at her enthusiasm and waved her off. She was once again in her room, bored, with nothing to do. As much as she wanted to bother Xiao Taotao for games, she couldn't because she was sure that she had annoyed the little fairy enough for one day. Instead, she picked up the book from before and started to read it.

All of a sudden, her cooled throat started to itch again and she rolled her eyes in irritation.

Oh shit, not again.