Revenge of the Duchess

Chapter 23

A/N: I own nothing but story. Enjoy! Rated M for mature and gory scenes.

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When it was announced that Crown Princess Thalia would be hosting a tea party, the female Cuora nobility were eager to receive an invitation. In fact, only the most influential female members of society were invited. Aside from their beautiful appearances, the fifteen or so attendees were the wives who owned businesses or had husbands and family members who were prominent members in government and military. There were rumors that stated that Cuora moved according to the wishes of this circle of influential female nobility.

A tea party hosted by the crown princess was rare. Crown Princess Thalia was not a tea party hosting type and preferred hunting competitions to the boring social affairs of drinking tea. But she had no choice as this was an order from the King himself. So the crown princess had sought to make the best of the situation.

The tea party was held in the famous Dahlia Garden of the royal palace. A previous Cuora Queen was enamored with flower so the King back then had built a grand garden full of the different varieties and colors of dahlias just for his beloved wife. The couple were much lauded as the most romantic royal couple in the history of Cuora.

A long rectangular table had been set up in the gazebo there. Crown Princess Thalia sat at the head of the able in an elegant throne befitting of her position. On her direct right sat Princess Piper, followed by future Duchess Annabeth. To Thalia's direct left sat Princess Hazel and then Princess Medea.

Hazel put an innocuous smile on her face, but even as the youngest attendee, she knew what political games were afoot. She just preferred using young naivety as an excuse to keep out of the battle of the princess candidacy. The Inferis nation had no intention of sending marrying their princess to the Cuora nation, but they were interested in keeping business relations. While the Cythera and Colchis princesses battled each other, Hazel would be privately negotiating business contracts with the Cuora royals. But sometimes there were occasions when Hazel was unwillingly thrown into the midst of the battle, like today for instance.

Even the seating arrangements were the result of political manipulations. Thalia's placement of Princess Piper on her very right side showed her stance that the Cuora Crown Princess was favoring Princess Piper as the future wife of Prince Jason. Lady Annabeth's seating next to Princess Piper meant that Duke Perseus Jackson, a powerful military figure and wealthy businessman, was also in support of Princess Piper.

As for Hazel's seating, Hazel had gotten the other honored spot of being directly to the left of Thalia, though she was much younger than Princess Medea, who should have been in the direct left seat. In other words, Thalia was both showing her disfavoring of Princess Medea and using Princess Hazel as a shield.

If Princess Medea recognized this, she did not show it on her her outside. What a great composure, Hazel commended. The three princesses were all great actresses, including Princess Piper. Hazel had heard whispers that the Cythera princess had been attacked while travelling to Cuora and had been on the run with attackers chasing for three weeks by herself. Anyone who could survive that long was no simple person. Princess Piper just hadn't revealed her claws yet.

Meanwhile, the rest of the seating arrangements were left up to the guests' discretion. Hazel had to applaud Crown Princess Thalia here. Typically tea parties had prearranged seating, but by placing the top princess candidates on either side of the singular rectangular table meant that not only were the Cuora nobility forced to choose their seats on the side of the table, they would be declaring which faction they were. Thalia was able to determine who were the allies and who were the enemies in one fell swoop.