The Villainess

CHAPTER 22

THE FAMILIAR renaissance-style building was the first thing that Tori saw as soon as she looked outside the carriage. Days passed by like a blur. After her birthday party, Sabina's birthday came too. The same lords from her birthday came bearing gifts aside from Marchioness Susana, who only greeted that wench with the fakest smile Tori could see. Nothing out of ordinary, everyone already knew that the Duchess of Castaña would be the one to escort Sabina. Tori came and acted like the benevolent sister as she always did. She even gifted the wench with a sapphire-decorated brooch.

Acting almost all day like a caring sister tired the hell out of Tori so the next day she just spent her day lazing around in her room while Rowan was the one who delivered the Jewel Eyes of Rhea with a personal letter for the queen to the Turvy, Information Guild's Headquarters.

The next day, the Duke became so busy, but Tori knew why. If her calculation was correct, according to the original plot in Season 1, a sudden trend for the Oolong Tea happened. Season One's plot would happen two years from now and that would be the time that another trend from the western southern countries would happen, the introduction of coffee beans. Marquess Zoliel would hold the monopoly of Oolong Tea from the Ming Country since he was the ambassador of the Empire to that country he was overpricing the Oolong Tea to the nobles and aristocrats. Later on in the Season 1 plot, the coffee trend would have an enormous impact on the high society since the noble faction traders would still be the ones to take the monopoly of coffee beans, this would eventually weaken Lord Tofera's food trading business. It was later in Season 2 that they revealed that it was a strategy from the noble faction to weaken the aristocrats who were slowly going bankrupt because of the Oolong tea monopoly.

The two trends of Oolong Tea and coffee beans would shake the future of the aristocratic faction's pillar of support. And this plan was made by Duke Luwen Rozenreff and was supported by Marquess Zoliel.

And if it was starting now, she must stop this before it could become a threat. This was the reason Tori decided to leave the Rozenreff Duchy a day before New Year. She would not attend the banquet. When she told the Duke about this, he was at first against it, but when Tori told her that the headmaster called for her, her father could do nothing but agree. That was the power that the head of the Trifecta Academy had.

"We have arrived, Lady Tori. I'll be guarding you until you come inside your dorm room." Rowan held out his hand for her, which Tori accepted gladly.

"Such a kind knight you are," Tori joked casually. Rowan's ears turned crimson red and hid his face away from her by turning in the other direction. 

How cute.

"Stop kidding around, Lady Tori. People might hear and misunderstand you."

Tori laughed from his concern. "No one will hear us since it is the night of New Year and everyone will be arriving tomorrow."

Rowan glanced at her. "Exactly, Lady Tori. Why are you celebrating the New Year here? Aren't you going to attend the banquet held by the royal family?"

The royal banquet for the New Year celebration was a celebration of thanksgiving from the previous year and a welcoming for the coming year. The two factions were going to attend, and even that person would attend.

Normally, Tori would bear at it, but the bigger reason why she did not use this chance to market her social standing was because of the Oolong Tea trend. She would use this opportunity to stop the Ming country from supplying a monopolized supply to Marquess Zoliel. With that, Tori needed a third party to intervene for her. And she just had the perfect person in her mind, the headmaster.

But she needed something to use as leverage to strike a deal; Tori knew she must not use the queen's power yet. With the sudden action from the queen on her birthday, the two factions would be watching Queen Aurina closely for some time.