A young lady opened her eyes wide in surprise. Her translucent teacup had turned a brilliant pink. The pastel tones and softly shining colors were truly exquisite.
“Oh my!”
“Oh, my God, it’s amazing!”
“It’s sparkling.”
The other ladies also looked at their teacups and exclaimed.
Transparent purple, clear turquoise, crystal clear blue… The ladies’ teacups were all painted in soft, lovely pastel colors. They looked at them in wonder and admiration.
Iris raised her shoulders at the ladies’ positive reactions. She smiled proudly and gave an explanation about the teacups.
“This is a traditional teacup used by the nobles of the Tejan Kingdom. The color of the teacup changes depending on who uses it.”
“The Kingdom of Tejan! You mean it came from that far away?”
“It was difficult to find a set with this many pieces.”
The table was buzzing. The Tejan Kingdom produced many precious resources and had many craftsmen with delicate workmanship skills to utilize them.
However, the Tejan Kingdom was also famous for being closed off to outsiders. This was to protect its outstanding resources and technology. The kingdom opened only one port, Titer, and only allowed trade ships that passed strict screening according to their strict standards to enter the kingdom.
How many trade ships went to Titer and returned empty handed because they could not pass the inspection? But they were able to retrieve such a precious teacup set from the Kingdom of Tejan. The ladies viewed the Lopez family in a new light.
“Let me explain. The younger the child, the more transparent they are.”
At the young ladies’ enthusiastic response, Iris continued her explanation.
” Oh, Miss Welter’s teacup is a very unusual and pretty color!”
As Cecilia looked around curiously to see what color everyone else’s teacups were, her gaze fell on one in particular. It was Hestia’s teacup.
Hestia instinctively knew this was not a good sign and covered her teacup with her hand, but most of the ladies were already showing interest.
It was worth the attention it attracted. Unlike the transparent pastel colors of the other ladies, Hestia’s teacup was an alluring and captivating red.
“Wow, it’s so different, even though it’s the same shape, the color is so dark!”
“That’s right, it goes well with the fair color of Miss Welter’s skin!”
“Thank you for the compliment. The color of the Ladies teacups are also very elegant.”
Cecilia clapped her hands together, complimenting Hestia’s cup. The other young ladies chimed in as well.
“What? No, it can’t be…?”
Miss Iris was the only one in the room who covered her mouth to hide her embarrassment. Cecilia, taken aback by the unexpected reaction, asked cautiously.
“What’s wrong, did I make a mistake…?”
“Dark colors… Are for those who are already married.”
Confusion flashed across everyone’s faces. The term ‘married’ hinted that Hestia was not a virgin.
“Young Lady!”
Diane quickly called out and tried to cover her mouth, but everyone in the room had already heard. Everyone was shocked and didn’t know what to do about the unpleasant incident that happened at the small tea party where only unmarried ladies gathered.
Hestia grasped the handle of the teacup tightly, hands trembling. She was speechless.
She’d known it would happen. That they’d attack her. But she hadn’t expected this. Their insulting behavior filled the once cheerful garden with a silence so heavy that even the sound of someone swallowing rang out.
“Oh my God. Was that rumor true?”
“If you received the scholarship, you should’ve bought a dress!”
“You couldn’t get married because you didn’t have a dress, right?”
“What a disgrace to the aristocratic class!”
Olga and Rebecca, both alumni of the Academy, glanced at Hestia and began to whisper.
They covered their mouths with their fans and muttered amongst themselves, but in this quiet atmosphere, it was impossible for them not to be heard. They were Diane’s followers, to the extent that they were basically her maids.
“Well, there must be something wrong, right?”
Daisy smiled awkwardly and called out to the ladies. Since she brought Hestia here as her own chaperone, Hestia’s honor was her own honor. What kind of slap in the face was this?
However, the ladies’ gazes were cold, and no one took Daisy’s side. Their sneers at Hestia’s honor only increased.
More cold silence was sprinkled over the already chilled atmosphere. Daisy hung her head low, sobbing at the cold response she’d never experienced before.
“Yes, I can assure you, Hestia is not one to let a man near her!”
After a few eerie seconds of silence, a pale-faced Diane finally replied. She was shocked, embarrassed and dizzy, seemingly struggling to come back to her senses.
The ladies paused for a moment in thought. Should they take Diane’s side or Iris’ side?
If they sided with Diane, they would be able to defend Hestia’s honor, at least to her face. Whatever was said about Hestia behind her back was none of their concern.
However, if they did so, they would be admitting that Iris’s teacups were fake, damaging Iris’ reputation.
If they take Iris’s side, they could protect the honor of the Lopez family, but their relationship with Diane, who took Hestia’s side, would fall apart.
Of course they chose Diane.
“It’s an interesting ‘toy’ teacup, though.”
“That’s right, and Miss Welter’s character is best known to you, her closest friend!”
Iris’s face darkened sharply.
The young ladies, who’d ignored Daisy’s comment, smiled awkwardly at Diane’s words, and one by one they sided with her.
Even Olga, Rebecca, and the other Academy alumni, who’d looked down on Hestia, sided with Diane.
But even as they spoke, they cast cold glances at Hestia as if she were dirty.
Tomorrow, this rumor would spread throughout all the social circles. Hestia Welter was a dirty woman who dared to ignore Goddess Lillian’s words and play with a man.
“Come on, ladies, put the tea away. I must now prepare lemonade and champagne for the lords and ladies!”
Many of the young ladies hadn’t yet touched the refreshments, but Diane hastily summoned the maids to wrap up the tea party, that was only on the outside though. On the inside, she was smirking in ridicule.
She shielded Hestia by placing the blame of this unpleasant incident, not on himself, but on Iris.
Without even mentioning it, she also implied that she forgave Iris, who ruined the small tea party she’d carefully prepared.
Most importantly, she accomplished her goal by letting everyone know that Hestia is not a virgin. There couldn’t have been a more perfect ending.
Countess Carlton would banish her to her home in the backwoods of the Welter estate, wherever that might be, for disgracing the Carlton family. She’d successfully removed an eyesore.
* * *
BANG-!
A bullet, fired from a hunting rifle, passed straight through the boar’s front leg.
The wild boar, losing its balance and falling, tried desperately to escape by flailing its uninjured legs, but the servant who’d brought the net already captured the wild boar, covering its large body.
A screech echoed throughout the hunting grounds.
“It’s a hit!”
The servant exclaimed to the prey’s master, more pleased than he was. Indeed, it was Lord Kingston who’d hit the beast with perfect accuracy.
In the nearly twenty years he’d been serving noblemen on the hunting grounds, he’d never seen anyone hunt so well, but Colin, who rode up on horseback beside Adrian, grumbled.
“Stop hunting, you’re drying up the Haleson hunting grounds!”
“Shut up before I target you instead.”
Adrian loaded his rifle again, despite Colin’s protests. He was quite irritated at the moment.
First of all, this was the Haleson family’s hunting grounds. Second, he’d been forced to come here when he didn’t want to. Lastly, and most importantly, he’d just been dumped.
Colin knew all the reasons he was upset, but thought he’d just have to live with it and come back to reality.
“I’m going to have to take care of all that leather, it’s going to be a pain in the ass!!”
Colin protested, already estimating he’d have to work two nights of overtime. Adrian glanced back at him irritably and offered a compromise to shut him up.
“You keep half.”
“You’re the king of the hunt after all. Looks like there’s a deer over there, right?”
They ran west, following Colin’s lead. The number of attendants, which had been five or six when they first started hunting, had already been reduced to one.
Adrian had gotten an enormous bear as soon as he started, and after that, he’d successfully hunted so many others – boar, birds of prey, silver fox, marten – that most of the servants had left to carry the game back to headquarters.
Adrian and Colin finally arrived at the spot where the deer were grazing peacefully.
“That’s a fine one.”
Plump, with no fawns around. Best of all, it had huge antlers. Colin points at one, and Adrian doesn’t hesitate to aim his long rifle. He was lined up for a perfect shot.
