A/N: I own nothing but story. Enjoy! Rated M for mature and gory scenes.
When it was announced that Crown Princess Thalia would be hosting a tea party, the female Cuora nobility were eager to receive an invitation. In fact, only the most influential female members of society were invited. Aside from their beautiful appearances, the fifteen or so attendees were the wives who owned businesses or had husbands and family members who were prominent members in government and military. There were rumors that stated that Cuora moved according to the wishes of this circle of influential female nobility.
A tea party hosted by the crown princess was rare. Crown Princess Thalia was not a tea party hosting type and preferred hunting competitions to the boring social affairs of drinking tea. But she had no choice as this was an order from the King himself. So the crown princess had sought to make the best of the situation.
The tea party was held in the famous Dahlia Garden of the royal palace. A previous Cuora Queen was enamored with flower so the King back then had built a grand garden full of the different varieties and colors of dahlias just for his beloved wife. The couple were much lauded as the most romantic royal couple in the history of Cuora.
A long rectangular table had been set up in the gazebo there. Crown Princess Thalia sat at the head of the able in an elegant throne befitting of her position. On her direct right sat Princess Piper, followed by future Duchess Annabeth. To Thalia's direct left sat Princess Hazel and then Princess Medea.
Hazel put an innocuous smile on her face, but even as the youngest attendee, she knew what political games were afoot. She just preferred using young naivety as an excuse to keep out of the battle of the princess candidacy. The Inferis nation had no intention of sending marrying their princess to the Cuora nation, but they were interested in keeping business relations. While the Cythera and Colchis princesses battled each other, Hazel would be privately negotiating business contracts with the Cuora royals. But sometimes there were occasions when Hazel was unwillingly thrown into the midst of the battle, like today for instance.
Even the seating arrangements were the result of political manipulations. Thalia's placement of Princess Piper on her very right side showed her stance that the Cuora Crown Princess was favoring Princess Piper as the future wife of Prince Jason. Lady Annabeth's seating next to Princess Piper meant that Duke Perseus Jackson, a powerful military figure and wealthy businessman, was also in support of Princess Piper.
As for Hazel's seating, Hazel had gotten the other honored spot of being directly to the left of Thalia, though she was much younger than Princess Medea, who should have been in the direct left seat. In other words, Thalia was both showing her disfavoring of Princess Medea and using Princess Hazel as a shield.
If Princess Medea recognized this, she did not show it on her her outside. What a great composure, Hazel commended. The three princesses were all great actresses, including Princess Piper. Hazel had heard whispers that the Cythera princess had been attacked while travelling to Cuora and had been on the run with attackers chasing for three weeks by herself. Anyone who could survive that long was no simple person. Princess Piper just hadn't revealed her claws yet.
Meanwhile, the rest of the seating arrangements were left up to the guests' discretion. Hazel had to applaud Crown Princess Thalia here. Typically tea parties had prearranged seating, but by placing the top princess candidates on either side of the singular rectangular table meant that not only were the Cuora nobility forced to choose their seats on the side of the table, they would be declaring which faction they were. Thalia was able to determine who were the allies and who were the enemies in one fell swoop.
Clever. Hazel turned towards Thalia, who merely smiled when she met Hazel's eyes, everyone was spinning their own sticky web of lies and tricks.
Hazel took a cookie when a hand towards her left caught her eye. It was Princess Medea's hand, and she was wearing that black onyx ring again. The onyx ring was quite subtle compared to the flashier rubies that Princess Medea preferred to wear.
Hazel's smiled dimmed the slightest behind her teacup. As the wealthy Inferis nation's main economy dealt with jewels and mana stones, Hazel was the best expert in the royal family, save for King Hades himself, at examining jewels. She knew that the onyx was no ordinary precious stone but a mana stone.
Not that it was uncommon for royal family members to wear mana stones. In fact, Crown Princess Thalia's coronet held a diamond that was a defense mana stone. Even the sapphire earrings that Princess Piper was wearing were defense mana stones worth a small fortune (Hazel was quick to note that Piper's earrings were indeed the ones gifted by Prince Jason, while the earrings gifted to Medea and herself were just common jewels).
But Medea's was one that amplified power. What kind of power was Princess Medea hiding?
Annabeth had gone through her memories twice for what had happened on the tea party day in her previous life. Of course, last time when she had attended this very tea party, she had been the newly wedded Countess Annabeth Castellan. Since she had married Luke, she had to align herself with sitting on Princess Medea's side, although Annabeth had chosen to sit at the very end of the table since her family was also supporters of the royal family faction. Now she was sitting right beside Princess Piper in the midst of all the machinations going on. Funny how things turned out.
She nibbled on a cookie, wondering if the events that were supposed to happen today would occur. On the surface Annabeth looked cool, almost bored perhaps, but her mind was on haywire alert.
In her previous life, Princess Piper had not been in attendance, so Princess Hazel and Medea were placed on different sides of the banquet table. Most of the Cuora nobility had supported Princess Medea then, but today the nobility was fairly split down the middle.
Annabeth cast a casual glance among the other attendees. As expected, the wives of the aristocratic faction sat on Medea's side. Fortunately, most of the neutral nobility sat with the royal family's faction, though Annabeth knew that the neutral faction still needed to be convinced more. A tea party was just meant to test the waters.
Her grey eyes met Baroness Kelli's. Kelli let out a small sneer, which Annabeth returned with a cool smile. Kelli was sitting right next to Medea, hinting that the White Knights Order was supporting Princess Medea. At least, that's what Kelli and Princess Medea wanted. Annabeth had no intention of letting things pan out that way.
"May I sit beside you, Lady Annabeth?" A low and feminine voice rang out.
Annabeth smiled inwardly. She didn't even have to turn around to know who the owner of the seductive voice belonged to.
"Of course, it would be an honor, Lady Soleia."
Lady Soleia sat to the right of Annabeth. Quite a few eyebrows were raised at this interaction, especially since Annabeth and Soleia's terse conversation during the last hunting party of the season. For the pair to suddenly seem amicable was quite strange?
"I hear that we may have another wedding to attend soon, Lady Soleia." Annabeth's voice was not loud but everyone's ears were perked at the new information.
"Oh, my, I didn't think the news of Count Castellan's and my engagement would travel so quickly." Lady Soleia laughed, the sound just enough that it didn't sound fake.
Across the table and slightly to Annabeth's right, Kelli stiffened at those words. Of course, Annabeth knew Luke was also less than pleased with his family's forced engagement and even less enthused with the accidental demises of Lady Soleia's two previous husbands. Would he be the next husband to pass away under mysterious circumstances?
But what could Luke do when his powerful elders were pressuring him to? He would have to come up with another suitable marriage candidate that the Castellan elders would agree to, and the elders were already dissatisfied that Luke's first marriage engagement had been disrupted.
Kelli could do even less to help other than to complain. Annabeth had recently planted a spy in the Castellan mansion, who sent word back that Baroness Kelli and the count's relationship were on the rocks. Kelli was especially jealous that Lady Soleia was quite a famed beauty and had a title far more noble than Kelli's. With such a jealous streak in Kelli, her temperament would certainly have caused her to clash with her lover over the sudden appearance of a fiancee. And due to a stroke of fortune, Lady Soleia and Baroness Kelli were sitting right across from each other.
Annabeth cheerfully took a finger sandwich from a platter. The jam sandwich tasted better today. Was that because she got to see such an expression on Kelli's face?
The other attendees scrutinized the situation before them. The rumored lover of the head of White Knights Order and now the new fiancee of the head was sitting on different sides of the table, confusing some of the less astute nobility. Which princess was the White Knights Order supporting? The power balance seemed to favor Princess Piper slightly. Those on the aristocratic faction still sat down on Princess Medea's side. But most of the neutral side had been swayed over.
Crown Princess Thalia smirked while Princess Medea's face stiffened slightly. No doubt she had been informed on Cuora politics, and the tides were not in her favor.
The attendees soon settled down, and Annabeth took care to remember which noblewoman sat where. Her eyes landed on Countess Thrassa, who was sitting right next to Kelli. Countess Thrassa was the daughter of Marquis Ares, a distant relative to the Cuora royal family. Percy had warned her to watch out for the family of Marquis Ares.
Thalia said some greeting words, and each noblewoman performed their perfunctory role in complimenting each other.
Then, Annabeth's first anticipated event occurred. It had taken Annabeth much brain-wracking in order to piece together her past memories, especially since she had been sitting far away from the princesses last time. In her previous life, the tea party had been the catalyst for the deciding factors over whether Princess Medea or Princess Hazel would be chosen.
"Please enjoy this ginger and orange black tea." At Thalia's words, maids went up to each attendee and served them the fragrant and spicy tea.
Annabeth picked up her cup and enjoyed the warmth. It was a tea especially used for beating off the chillness of winter. The tangy and spiciness washed away the sweetness of the jam sandwich to refresh the palate.
"Pwehhh!"
Everyone was startled as Princess Medea suddenly spat out her tea. Her pretty face had a contorted expression.
"Water. Quickly!" The Colchis princess screamed.
Thalia frowned and waved her hand. An attendant brought out a glass of water that Medea quickly swallowed.
"What is the meaning of this? Is the tea not to your liking?" Thalia asked.
It was an insult to the Cuora nation and royal family that the princess had spat out the tea, especially as the tea was a product of the Gardner family. Lady Katie Gardner, whose family was on the neutral side, wore a hardened expression. Even if the tea wasn't to one's liking, the etiquette was to take small sips or drink something else, not spit out the tea entirely. Princess Medea had now gained an enemy of the wealthy Gardners.
"I should be asking you this, Your Highness. What tricks are you trying to pull by putting salt in my tea?" Medea said coldly as she wiped her mouth daintily.
"Salt?"
No other attendees' tea had been spiked with salt. Annabeth calmly took another enjoyable sip of the tea. In her previous life, it had been Princess Hazel who suffered the salt attack. The young girl's palate was accustomed to luxurious foods, so the overwhelming salty taste had given the Inferis princess an upset stomach, offending the Gardners and causing her to lose reputation in front of the influential Cuora noblewomen. This time, Annabeth was only repaying what had been done.
"Bring out the maid who served Princess Medea's tea." Thalia ordered.
While the maid was being found, Thalia's butlers quickly investigated the incident. The teapot itself had not been contaminated, so the tea must have been spiked in the time after the tea was poured and then served.
A lanky maid was pulled out and forced to kneel on the ground. "It wasn't me, I swear. It wasn't!"
Princess Medea's eyes widened just a fraction, but Annabeth caught the look of surprise and fury in the princess' face.
"How could it not be?" Thalia asked fiercely. "We have all the witnesses here today who saw you were the who served Princess Medea her tea. Besides you, no one else touched the tea from the butler who was steeping the tea in the teapot. If it was not you, then who was it? Who ordered you to put salt in her highness' tea?"
Kelli paled, for the truth was Princess Medea had instructed Kelli to bribe a maid into putting salt in the tea. However, the spiked teacup was supposed to go to Princess Piper. How did the teacup end up going to Medea instead?
It was Annabeth using her past memories and had others secretly watch the teacups and tea, catching the lanky maid in the act. Instead of changing out the tea, Annabeth deliberately switched the cup to be given to Medea instead of Piper while letting the lanky maid serve the salty tea to Medea. Annabeth was also tempted to put salt in Kelli's tea as well, but she quickly had to reign in that petty grudge.
Princess Medea was quietly simmering underneath in anger at her scheme gone awry. "Yes, tell me. Who was the one who ordered you to put salt in my tea?"
"Who knows if it was just salt?" Annabeth quietly said, adding fuel to the fire. "Poisons have quite a variety of taste profiles. You should be charged with attempting to murder a royal family member of Colchis."
The maid collapsed, her knees giving way at Annabeth's damning words. Medea's eyes flashed towards Annabeth. Oh, if looks could kill, Annabeth thought.
"Yes, indeed, it could have been poison." Medea said, slowly.
Annabeth had been observing the Colchis princess intently, and she noticed something strange with the quality of Medea's voice. It was more sultry than usual. Medea rubbed her hands together, and perhaps it was a trick of a light, but Annabeth thought she saw the onyx ring on Medea's finger glow.
"Who ordered you?"
The lanky maid stiffened then suddenly pointed. "It was her! She told me to do so!"
Her finger was pointed towards Princess Piper.
A/N: This entire chapter is just Annabeth sipping tea while watching the show, though the conclusion was something she perhaps did not expect. Or did she?
Speaking of tea, yo, fam, has anyone tried the boba brown sugar milk tea popsicle? It's insanely good. I've only been able to find in Asian supermarkets so far. Things have been quite tough lately, so this popsicle is just a small joy of life that's keeping me going.
Anyways, thanks for reading so far, and I hope to see you next chapter!