“I concur. Is it me or does that remind me of something from the past?”
“Something from the past?”
“Oh, what could that be?”
The lady who first spoke seemed to hesitate for a moment before cautiously speaking again.
“Lady Charlize doesn’t have a family, doesn’t she?”
“Ah…”
.The aristocrats’ expressions bee quite solemn.
Having experienced the same pain herself, Lady Charlize understood the pain felt by the children better than anyone.
A sharp voice broke the silence.
“Well, there are a lot of things she hasn’t learned from her family, resulting in her ing up with such a shallow idea.”
Lady Bennet squinted her eyes and sneered.
“I don’t understand why the orphanage kids were invited in the first place. They’re noisy and frankly, annoying. Are they not?”
“Please, Lady Bennet. Lower your voice. The children might hear…”
“I’m asking that you listen. Those kids should also know about this. How can those orphans ever think of attending a tea party like this?”
Lady Bennet raised her voice and shouted.
“At this rate, Viscountess Antes’s status will plummet!”
For a moment, the tea party’s atmosphere fell silent.
‘What is this frigid atmosphere?’
Lady Bennet narrowed her brows and lifted her head.
At the same time, a cold voice pierced Lady Bennet’s ears.
“Lady Bennet doesn’t seem to know who the host of this banquet is.”
Charlize, who suddenly came closer, was glaring at Lady Bennet with a sharp gaze.
Behind Charlize were the huddled children, who were staring at her in a scared daze.
Charlize repressed her anger and retorted.
“No one forced Lady Bennet to attend the tea party, so why bother these kids?”
“Do you think I came here because I wanted to?”
Lady Bennet sprang up from her seat.
“Don’t get me wrong. If it weren’t for Her Majesty, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress being here, I wouldn’t have e to this place!”
Charlize narrowed her eyes.
Well, I can understand why Lady Bennet is so desperate.
Even now, Lady Bennet’s situation is precarious, in more ways than one.
She’s lost her popularity in society and has long since been despised by the Empress, whom she saw as her only friend.
As a result, Lady Bennet grew more attached to the Empress.
The only way to turn around her current predicament was to have the Empress’s favor.
“So you’re at this tea party because of me?”
Suddenly, another sharp voice interjected into the conversation.
It was the Empress.
Lady Bennet, who was always lively when it came to Charlize, stiffened her shoulders.
“Then shouldn’t you have made an effort to impress me?”
“Y-Your Majesty!”
A teary-eyed Lady Bennet continued speaking in a tantrum.
“What do you mean? I attended this demeaning, low-class event just to meet the two of you, Your Majesties.”
“What are you getting at? Are you asking me to be proud of you?”
There was scorn in the Empress’s eyes.
“Are you aware that what you said was disrespectful to Viscountess Antes?”
Lady Bennet gasped.
She was so busy degrading Charlize at every chance that she pletely forgot that the organizer of this tea party was Sienna.
The Empress looked at her relative with a pitiful gaze, shaking her head.
“Why do you always disappoint me?”
“N-No I…”
“If you didn’t want to e so badly, you shouldn’t have e in the first place. Why attend and ruin the atmosphere everyone’s enjoying?”
Faced with the Empress’s words again, Lady Bennet couldn’t move her lips.
Just as the Empress was about to rebuke her.
A loud cry came from afar, much to Lady Bennet’s fortune.
“The puppet show will begin shortly! If you’d like to see a puppet show, please e this way!”
“…that’s enough. The more I say, the more will fall on deaf ears,” concluded the Empress.
The Empress frowned, turning to Charlize.
“There’s a puppet show. Let’s go.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Come on, kids.”
Charlize led the children and walked with them to where the show would start.
Lady Bennet bit her lip, wearing a face of resentment for not being acknowledged.
***
The colorfully decorated puppet resembled a toy.
“Whoa, look at that!”
“Pretty…”
The children were mesmerized, unable to take their eyes off the puppet.
As the show went on, Charlize looked around.
The Empress Dowager, who was seated next to Sienna, motioned for Charlize to sit with her and the Empress.
“Come here.”
So Charlize took a seat next to the Empress Dowager.
At the same time, the children’s eyes lit up.
“Scoot a bit; I’ll sit next to you!”
“No, get out of the way!”
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