The villainess will survive!

Part 64: A surprising welcome

Seria's arms enclosed around me as soon as I came back, and I couldn't even find a moment to retaliate back.  

Ciana and Emerald stood at the side watching me with bright and relieved smiles.

I haven't seen them since the competition which I parted with them to do the medical competition. 

Having them as the first people I made contact with when I came back the the academy made my mood much better. 

For our reunion and the fact that I had much free time to spend away right now, a small tea party with them sounded rather pleasant. 

Seria had always been the one with more experiences when it came to organising a party, so we left it to her. 

I appreciated the fact that she had bothered to put some potted plants to make it look nice and formal. 

Tea was served by her, and the chosen Earl Grey black tea filled our porcelain cups. 

I took a moment to look at the liquid in my cup and realised that it was indeed of high quality, both ingredients and level of serving. 

Seria was indeed brought up very well, and put my lady etiquette skills to shame. 

Not that I had focused much on them that much, just the basics for appearance. But even that I did very well. 

"Is the tea I brew such an amazing thing to look at, Roselyn?", Seria joked when noticing my staring. 

"Well, it is very well done after all.........I've been thinking." 

"About what?" They answered in unison , as if they had wholly expected this. 

I was surprised about how calm they appeared to be, contrary to the first time I had this conversation with them. 

At that time, I was fully prepared to let them leave me due to social circumstances, standing with me wouldn't improve anything. 

Things weren't really bad then because there were only groundless rumours that circulated around. 

The only reason I wanted them to leave me was so that they could repair their reputation. 

But this time, the rumours were about me poisoning Ivy but walking out innocent. 

A rumour that was quite popular in gossip talks was the relationship between me and Ivy, which was clearly not good at any angle. 

Throw in Albert, the crown prince himself, and things get much more out of control. 

All of society already had the thought of me poisoning Ivy but somehow getting away with it (thanks to my status, that would have been easy in their eyes) but with no true evidence. 

I could do nothing to stop these rumours other than force, but that would only worsen my already-damaged reputation. 

"How come you were still waiting for me like this? Do you not suspect that I poisoned Ivy?"

I sipped my tea right after delivering the words like knives of truth, not sugarcoating anything. 

There was no need to take any detours around the point I wanted to deliver. 

"Roselyn, sometimes I feel like we know you better than you accept yourself as." 

I was taken aback by Seria's words and rendered speechless. 

Ciana, who didn't talk much at all, said, "That's right. I agree with Seria." 

"Yeah! Roselyn, you underestimate how much of a good person you are!", Emerald chimed in.