Chapter 2

It was a clear early summer day, with the rhododendrons in the garden in full bloom, when Amelia clearly realized that the discord between her and Amelia was a dissonant note. It had been three months since Amelia came to the Johnston Duke's residence.

Melissa invited several young ladies of her age and held a tea party in the Johnston Duke's garden, where the rhododendrons were in full bloom. Melissa, who was attending the royal castle for princess education as a candidate for the engagement to the second prince, Christopher, was close to Jacqueline, the daughter of the Hammond Duke and a candidate for the engagement to the first prince. On that day, she invited Jacqueline, along with the daughters of the collateral branches and foster daughters of the Hammond Duke, to the tea party.

"This is Amelia, my mother's cousin, who has become my sister."

"My name is Amelia Johnston. Please be kind to me, everyone."

Amelia, who had been a viscountess until recently, demonstrated a splendid curtsey that was hard to believe.

This tea party was held at the request of her father to introduce Amelia. Melissa had heard that Amelia had attended tea parties as a viscountess before coming to the Johnston Duke's residence and had started to learn the manners of the upper nobility, so both her father and Melissa thought that a tea party for children would be fine.

"…I'm so sorry. I can't eat this properly, it's embarrassing."

Amelia, who could not even eat a simple cake properly, held back tears and apologized shyly.

Under normal circumstances, there should have been criticism for Amelia, who lacked table manners, but the sight of the beautiful girl trying her best to eat neatly evoked sympathy.

Why did they introduce Lady Amelia, who still lacked manners? Was Lady Melissa intentionally putting Lady Amelia on display to make her a laughingstock?

The young ladies, captivated by Amelia's pitiful appearance, thought so. Some even calculated that this could become a disgrace for Melissa, knowing that her engagement to the second prince was still at the candidate stage and that many young ladies were vying for the position of fiancée.

Jacqueline, who was the same age as Melissa and a candidate for the engagement to the first prince, was actually the daughter of the current Hammond Duke's younger brother and had been adopted by the Hammond Duke to become a candidate for the first prince's engagement. Originally a countess from a collateral branch, Jacqueline secretly felt inferior to the legitimate duchess, Melissa.

In this situation, the appearance of Amelia, who shared a similar background, resonated with Jacqueline. Not getting along with her adoptive mother, the Duchess, Jacqueline projected her own situation onto Amelia and felt resentment towards Melissa when she saw Amelia's earnest efforts.

"Lady Melissa, Lady Amelia is so pitiful."

With this one statement from the most influential Jacqueline, it was decided that this tea party was meant to mock Amelia.

If Melissa had intervened to support Amelia, this situation could have been avoided, but at the moment when Amelia was apologizing for her lack of knowledge, Melissa was talking to another young lady. The timing was bad, and Jacqueline's unfortunate background only added to the situation.

Originally, Amelia had no trouble eating mille-feuille in front of her family and had even demonstrated excellent knife and fork skills with a difficult fish dish at breakfast that morning.

Amelia had been set up.

By the time Melissa realized this, Jacqueline had already promised to teach Amelia the manners of a tea party and invited her to a tea party at the Hammond Duke's residence, taking the young ladies with her.

From that day on, Jacqueline became cold towards Melissa whenever they met at the royal castle, while Jacqueline and Amelia became close friends, acknowledged by all.