When she went to the main room, Xiao Yunhua saw the d.u.c.h.ess waiting as she calmly sipped her tea. She didn"t even acknowledge Juliet as the latter curtsied despite being alone with the d.u.c.h.ess. Xiao Yunhua knew that if she didn"t curtesy, then the evil woman would probably punish her by making her copy hundreds of copies of etiquettes like before. She had to make sure to be proper at every moment, or at least until she was completely sure she was alone and she could slack off. She didn"t speak nor sat down until the d.u.c.h.ess finally gave her an affirmative nod. "You may sit." Cautiously, trying not to slip on her dress, Xiao Yunhua sat across from the d.u.c.h.ess who continued to sip her tea elegantly and coldly. Politely, she was offered tea and she couldn"t deny, so she began to sip tea as well. The tea in this time period was not as tasty—as it was pretty bitter, lacking sugar—however, it wasn"t as processed as the ones in her modern world. There weren"t any unnecessary chemicals nor did the plants undergo any extraneous growing methods. It was soothing to her, especially her throat, and allowed her to forget her earlier struggle of thirst.
"Violetta," the d.u.c.h.ess finally spoke, putting down her porcelain teacup. The tea set was easily discernible as expensive and possibly imported, it just showed how influential the House of Warrington was. "I believe you"re finally ready to come with to me a social event. You"ve completed your training and won"t be too much of a burden."
Xiao Yunhua wanted to snort. If anyone heard her words, they would think she had finished training a dog. Which for the d.u.c.h.ess, that"s probably all she was. Instead, she remained her apathetic face and looked at the d.u.c.h.ess, silently urging her to continue.
"The Roman Household is hosting a party in honor of their young miss" birthday, so I"ll be taking you with me. You must try to be as socially involved as possible and introduce yourself to the other young women. Try to make as many connections as possible and don"t forget which household you hail from." The d.u.c.h.ess picked up her teacup again and sipped nonchalantly, "Don"t make me regret wasting all this effort on you." You must comply with the use I"ve made for you...or else I"ll kill you myself.
"Yes d.u.c.h.ess." Juliet agreed emotionlessly, her calm eyes making the d.u.c.h.ess smile. It was a shame they shared no blood, for the girl was remarkably similar to her, more than her original Vivi. Yet she couldn"t forget why she trained the girl to be so similar to her, all for her Vivi.
The d.u.c.h.ess raised her hand to dismiss her, but suddenly remembered, "Violetta, you mustn"t forget: refer to me as "Mother" whenever we"re in the public." Seeing Juliet nod again, the d.u.c.h.ess dismissed her before instructing for the servants to get her ready.
On her way, Xiao Yunhua softly chuckled. Why did the d.u.c.h.ess want to be considered so intimate in the eyes of the public?
It was obvious.
To be seen as a magnanimous woman that accepted her husband"s b.a.s.t.a.r.d child as her own, raising her as her own. But despite all these years, the d.u.c.h.ess still hadn"t exposed her reason of taking Juliet under her wing. With the glint in her green eyes, Xiao Yunhua could finally guess that the woman was ready to begin with whatever use she had for her.
The servants did their job meticulously and her dress was light lavender, making her look very pure yet beautiful. Her face was clear from anything and her blue eyes s.h.i.+ned despite her cold nature. Her blonde hair was curled behind her, pinned with lilac flowers. Overall, she looked very innocent and cute. Xiao Yunhua was sure that the d.u.c.h.ess had purposely made sure to dress her like this, so people there would think she was harmless and just merely delicate.
This took about fifteen minutes and then she was escorted to the d.u.c.h.ess, who was patiently waiting for her. She took one glance and the servants were relieved. Her silence was acknowledgement that they didn"t mess up her orders. Seeing the d.u.c.h.ess usher Violetta, the servants couldn"t fathom that the girl was once considered an unwanted b.a.s.t.a.r.d. In the beginning, when the d.u.c.h.ess was told the news about a secret child by the Duke, the woman had been angry. The servants didn"t know that the d.u.c.h.ess didn"t harbor any love towards the Duke hence her lack of care of her husband infidelity, so her frustration was only for her deceased daughter that was going to be rolling in her grave at being replaced so easily like this.
The servants all sympathized with her because who wanted to raise the child of another woman? The child of a peasant, no less.
Yet she surprised them all when she decided to take the child under her wing, to teach and to grow her. The servants had a.s.sumed it was just a joke, that the d.u.c.h.ess was going to just use this method to keep the girl away from high society. Yes, she was kept away, but to everyone"s amazement, she was actually taught the ways of a n.o.ble young lady by the d.u.c.h.ess herself. Even the Duke was astonished that his cold wife would ever do such a dubious task, even with his pressure on her. He presumed that the girl was going to be bullied, yet he couldn"t offer to help much in that case either. He couldn"t interfere in the matters of the matron of the house, hence he just silently hoped the girl wouldn"t suffer too much. He did, after all, save her from a life of filth at the village. Such a small price was worth living in luxury.
However, the d.u.c.h.ess had behaved the opposite of his expectations. The servants, the Duke, her son didn"t know what went on in the d.u.c.h.ess" mind.
As the servants were lost in their ponders, she were struck back to reality with the sound of the hooves of the horses clacking on the ground, indicating that they were leaving. The couple of servants who liked the little miss silently sent a couple of prayers. They had heard about the Roman Household hosting a party, it seemed like the d.u.c.h.ess was going to debut the young miss to high society there.
Whether or not there would be disaster purely depended on the young miss herself. It was a party in name, but even the common people knew that the n.o.bles would try to showcase their daughters and sons for potential marriage arrangements, securing an alliance between two clans. Yes the young miss of the Roman Household would be in the spotlight, but it was all a pretense. And since the miss was from Dukedom of Warrington, it meant that she had the backbone to compete despite her impure bloodline. She also had the support of the d.u.c.h.ess, further instigating that her peasant blood was merely a small deal in comparison to where she hailed from.
The young miss either had a storm brewing or a door opened to a brighter future...