Lady Clara and Lady Hillaria stood up, smoothing their skirts.
"Shall we go, Lady Aurelia?" Clara asked with a polite smile.
They led me out of the Arch-Treasury room. I followed, flanked by my silent guard.
Just outside the door, Flavia was waiting. She stepped forward immediately, dipping into a curtsy.
"May I know where you are going, My Lady?" she asked, her eyes darting between me and the other noblewomen.
Clara and Hillaria looked surprised. Clara tilted her head. "Is she your personal maid, Lady Aurelia?"
"No," I answered, shaking my head. "She is not my personal maid. She is one of the Palace's servants, ordered to be my attendant while I am here." I turned to Flavia. "These ladies are leading me to tea time."
"Tea time?" Flavia straightened, her demeanor shifting to professional efficiency. "May I prepare that for you?"
"Thanks for that, but I don't know the place. You may ask them."
Flavia walked over to Clara. I saw Clara whisper a few instructions and point down the hall. Flavia nodded briskly, excused herself, and hurried away, telling me over her shoulder that everything would be prepared by the time we arrived.
As Flavia disappeared around the corner, Clara turned back to me, eyes twinkling.
"You are really a special one, Lady Aurelia."
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, confused.
"You have special treatment from the Palace," she listed on her fingers. "They allowed you to have a Royal Guard stationed directly behind you. Now they gave you one of their own servants to serve you exclusively."
"Are people here usually allowed to bring their own servants?"
"Yes, we are allowed," Clara explained as we began walking. "But there is a restriction inside this specific hall. Only servants from the Palace are allowed in the administrative building, so my personal maid cannot be here with me."
"And now where is she?"
"She is in the garden with the others. Usually, she will prepare tea time."
"Our tea time will be in the garden?"
"Yes. It is so spacio—"
Nudge.
Suddenly, I saw Hillaria lightly jab Clara's arm with her elbow.
Clara cleared her throat. "It seems Lady Hillaria is impatient to have tea time with you, Lady Aurelia. So may we continue to walk there?"
We continued down the corridor.
We exited the building and arrived at the Royal Gardens. It was breathtakingly spacious, filled with blooming flowers and manicured hedges. Scattered throughout the greenery were elegant pavilions, each sheltering a table and chairs.
Many noble ladies were already there with their maids, sipping tea and gossiping. Some pavilions were already occupied.
"Now let's search for our spot," Clara said, scanning the area.
Her face lit up. "There it is..." She pointed to a pavilion near a fountain. "And my maid is in there too, with Lady Hillaria's maid."
I looked in the direction she pointed. The setup looked far more lavish than the other pavilions—finer tablecloths, more tiers of snacks.
We walked toward it. As we moved through the garden, I felt the heavy weight of stares. The chatter died down as we passed. Most of the ladies were looking at me, but many eyes were fixed on the imposing Royal Guard trailing behind me.
Arriving at the pavilion, Flavia pulled out my chair. The other maids attended to Clara and Hillaria. We sat down.
For a few seconds, there was silence. The tea steamed in delicate porcelain cups.
Cough.
Lady Clara coughed lightly and looked at me expectantly. I blinked, unsure of her meaning.
More seconds of awkward silence passed.
Finally, Clara leaned in slightly. "Apologies, Lady Aurelia... But you need to start the tea time with a small bite or a sip, so we can enjoy it."
"I am the one who starts it?" I asked, surprised. "But aren't Lady Clara and Lady Hillaria the ones who invited me here?"
"Well, there are rules of etiquette," Clara explained patiently. "So Lady Aurelia needs to start first."
"Rules?"
"The lower peerage rank will not take a single bite or a single drop of tea unless the highest peerage rank at the table takes it first," she said. "At this table, Lady Aurelia is the highest one. So Lady Hillaria and I are waiting for you."
"I was not aware of those rules," I admitted, feeling a flush of embarrassment. "If this offends both of you, I apologize. But what is your peerage rank?"
"Both of us are daughters of Counts, so we are pretty much lower nobles compared to a Duke's daughter," Clara said. "Did Lady Aurelia have tea time before with other nobles?"
Did having tea with Lady Octavi count?
"I usually have tea time with my tutor," I answered. "So I am not aware of this rule."
"May I know this tutor's name?" Clara asked politely. "The one who teaches Lady Aurelia should be an amazing tutor."
"Lady Octavi."
Clara paused, her cup hovering halfway to her mouth. "And what is her family name?"
"Claudi. Octavi Claudi."
Suddenly, the atmosphere at the table froze.
Clatter.
Clara slammed her cup down onto the saucer. She leaned across the table, her eyes wide.
"LADY OCTAVI CLAUDI, YOU SAID?!" she practically shouted.
Her maid rushed forward, panicked. "My Lady… My Lady… please watch your manners to Lady Aurelia…"
Immediately, Clara pulled back, sinking into her chair, looking mortified. "Forgive my burst of behavior, Lady Aurelia. I am just surprised that Lady Octavi is your tutor."
I knew Lady Octavi had a nickname in the Academy—"The Hawk"—and that even the Crown Prince admired her. But I didn't realize her fame was this widespread.
"Is she really that amazing?" I asked.
"Does Lady Aurelia not know it?" Clara gushed. "She is popular in the Capital, especially among the noble ladies. Her elegance, her swordsmanship, her cool demeanor! She was the best of the best in the Palace Academy."
"Well, her appearance is similar to Lady Hillaria," I noted, pointing at Hillaria. "Surely, Lady Hillaria is popular too."
Clara's face scrunched up in a frown. She pointed a finger at Hillaria without looking at her.
"Look closely again, Lady Aurelia."
I looked closer at Lady Hillaria.
She was currently stuffing a scone into her mouth. There were crumbs on her face and dusting the front of her manly dress. Her cheeks were puffed out like a squirrel.
"She may look the same as Lady Octavi with her manly dress," Clara sighed, "but she is so obsessed with treats that it makes her like that."
"You... munch... shut up... munch," Hillaria retorted with her mouth full. "Sugar is... munch... important, you know."
I laughed softly. "I see. If Lady Hillaria is quiet, she is like Lady Octavi. But in front of snacks, she changes."
"Usually she doesn't act like this because we are the ones who prepare the table, so the sweets are limited," Clara explained, eyeing her friend disapprovingly. "But this time, the Palace servant prepared it on Lady Aurelia's behalf. Surely everything is more abundant than usual."
"So that makes Lady Hillaria lose control."
Clara turned her face to the guard standing stoically behind me.
"Talking about Lady Octavi," she mused, "I remember the rumor that she was the senior of the Crown Prince... and the leader of you, Mr. Guard."
Huh? The leader of him?
I turned around in my chair to look at him. He shifted his weight, avoiding both Lady Clara's eyes and mine.
"Ah! I still don't know your name," I realized.
"Lady Aurelia doesn't know his name?" Clara asked, surprised.
"No. Does Lady Clara know him?"
"Everyone here knows his name and him," Clara said with a knowing smile. "He is the Lieutenant of the Blue Order, Milo."
MILO!!
My heart skipped a beat. Found him!
I didn't need to search for him. From the very beginning, the key to saving my fate was standing right behind me.
I looked at him closely. Short, curly brown hair. Just like the description I remembered from the book.
"Blue Order?" I asked, feigning ignorance.
Hillaria swallowed her mouthful of cake and wiped her lips. "There are Orders scattered among the Kingdom. The Blue Order is the regiment of the Royals. I believe Lady Aurelia's family has it too. I think it is the White Order."
"My family has it too?" I blinked. No one ever told me about that.
"Yes," Hillaria confirmed. "I am curious: does Lady Aurelia bring this Order here as your escort? Or maybe Lady Octavi, your tutor, is the one who escorts you?"
Clara immediately leaned in, her eyes sparkling. "Does Lady Octavi come to this Capital?"
Her maid gently touched her shoulder again to calm her down.
"I was not aware of this Order until Lady Hillaria told me," I answered honestly. "There was no one from the family who escorted me; it was just my personal maid. And surely, Lady Octavi will come to the Capital in the next couple of days, after my arrival here."
"Really? She will come to the Capital?" Clara clasped her hands together, thrilled. "You need to introduce me to her, Lady Aurelia!"
Hillaria looked surprised. "Is it really just you and your maid, Lady Aurelia?"
"On the trip, I hired two mercenaries to become my escorts, and right now they are my own personal guards. I brought them here." I pointed toward the training grounds. "They are on the training ground."
I turned my face to Milo. "With my maid, for some reason."
"It makes me curious what type of person you hired," Hillaria said, wiping crumbs from her lap. "May we go there?"
Hearing that, Clara recoiled. "Heeeeee... why do we need to go to the training ground?"
I looked at Hillaria. "Can we go there?"
"Surely we can. How about we go there right now?" Hillaria stood up energetically.
"Sure. I want to check on them too."
"Come on," Clara whined, gesturing to the tiered stand of pastries. "Why do we need to go there? Look at the table; there is plenty of everything left."
Hillaria and I were already standing. Seeing she was outnumbered, Clara sighed dramatically and stood up as well.
"Fine."
We left the garden. They led me toward the training grounds, followed closely by Milo and Flavia.
Behind them, I could overhear Clara and Hillaria whispering.
"You need to control yourself this time," Clara hissed.
"I know, I know," Hillaria muttered. "Just don't tell me again about this."
"You say that every time I tell you about it… and every time you step out of your boundary and make a mess."
Hillaria just rolled her eyes and ignored her. We kept walking toward the sounds of steel and shouting.