Ara was already fed up with Claire's fake tears. She wanted all this drama to be over with. Ara glanced in the direction of the restroom, hoping to see her sister returning, but there was no sign of her. So now, she had to deal with this on her own.
Ara spoke calmly, as if the issue of the masquerade ball was nothing to worry about. "It's alright... I forgive you... Now can you stop crying?" The tears were starting to irritate her. She watched as Claire wiped her tears with the back of her hand. If someone saw Claire, they would think Ara had bullied her.
"Okay, if you've forgiven me... Why not drink from the glass of wine I gave you? It's a peace offering." Claire exclaimed with a pitiful expression.
In Findara, there was a tradition called a peace offering. When someone sought forgiveness, they offered something in return—anything at all. If the person refused the peace offering, it meant they wouldn't forgive, but if they accepted, everything was resolved. That was why Claire had brought the glass of wine as a peace offering for Ara, not knowing that Claire had spiked the drink she was offering.
Ara had no choice but to drink it, or else she wouldn't see the end of this crazy show Claire was putting on. Ara could already see some people looking toward their table. If she refused to drink it, they might mistake her for the bad guy. She stared at the glass suspiciously. However, Ara could not openly reject the offer. She picked up the glass of wine Claire had offered, just wanting to drink it quickly and be done with the distractions.
Claire and her friends were already inwardly rejoicing as they saw Ara pick up the glass of wine. Now this woman would disgrace herself and never show her face in public again. The spotlight would be Claire's alone. She smirked a little at her own thoughts.
Ara held the glass before her mouth, but then... suddenly, she felt someone bump her shoulder forcefully from behind, causing the glass to slip from her hand and hit Claire right on the face, while the wine inside poured all over Claire's body.
Ara quickly turned to see who had pushed her, but the spot behind her was empty. No one at the table saw anybody behind her; only Ara felt it. She turned back to the ladies at the table and saw Claire's head turning red, her face filled with anger. Eleanora and Catherine also looked shocked. To them, it seemed like Ara had purposely thrown the glass at Claire. The guests in the front seats, who had been watching earlier, also looked shocked at the turn of events, and even Ara was a little stunned.
But there was nobody behind her... Who could have pushed her?
Claire's face hardened with anger. "YOU—" she began but quickly swallowed her words when she saw everyone staring at them. This could be another opportunity for her to make Ara look like the bad guy. Claire quickly put on her pitiful expression.
Ara, still shocked, suddenly had a flash of memory. She remembered attending this banquet in her past life alone, without her sister, and going home... drunk? How? She wasn't the type to drink alcohol, which was taboo for a lady... Could Claire have spiked the drink?
Now everything made sense. Claire was trying to make her drink the wine because it was spiked with who-knows-what, to make her do embarrassing things at the banquet and ruin her image in high society. Scenes from the past came rushing back: Ara drinking the wine Claire offered, and then scenes of everyone calling her names.
Ara smirked as she remembered everything that had happened in the past. She turned to see that all eyes were on them.
Claire didn't say anything and continued to shed her fake tears. At that moment, Luanda's angry face appeared from afar. Eleanora and Catherine stood there frozen; they hadn't expected the situation to turn out like this.
Claire quickly took stock of the situation. She didn't understand why Ara threw the glass of wine at her face, but she quickly came up with a new plan as she saw the people in the hall looking at them. She was going to make Ara pay for stealing her spotlight and for ruining her looks and face. The humiliation was too much for her to back down now.
At the sound of Claire's crying, the hall had turned dead silent, but now murmuring voices began to fill the air. Everyone's attention turned to Luanda, who was approaching them to see what was happening.
When Luanda arrived at the scene, she saw her niece crying with a red bump on her forehead, with wine dripping from her face. Claire looked so pitiful. Luanda's face hardened with anger as she looked around at the ladies at the table—Eleanora, Catherine, and Ara. She could see that it was no small issue that Claire, a noble daughter, was crying like that.
"What is going on here? Who did this to her?" asked Luanda with a displeased look on her face.
Claire was the first to answer in a choked voice, "Aunt Luanda... I came to apologize to Lady Ara with a peace offering, for something I did wrong to her, but... She angrily threw the glass at me... I was just..." Claire couldn't finish her words as she continued to cry, her eyes wet with tears as she covered her mouth with both hands. Luanda handed her a handkerchief in an attempt to soothe her.
"Oh, dry your tears, my dear... Stop crying."
"Yes, mother, Lady Ara angrily threw the glass at Claire and said some mean things to her. Claire only meant to apologize with the glass of wine." It was Catherine who spoke, pointing an accusing finger at Ara.
Claire wiped her tears with the handkerchief, then pretended to hold back her sobs, watching as her cousin defended her.
The crowd all turned to Ara. Luanda glared at Ara with a colder look than before.
"Lady Ara, is that true? How could you do such a heartless thing to Claire?" Luanda asked in a cold voice.
Eleanora and Catherine's expressions turned gleeful at the direction the event was heading.
Ara held her ground, even though the people in the hall were looking at her with accusing faces. Then she looked straight at Eleanora, Catherine, and Claire.
The reason she didn't remember this incident was because she was still relatively young at the time. In the future, after experiencing hardships following her family's death, the memory of drinking the spiked wine had faded, which was why she couldn't remember such incidents. Ara wasn't good at defending herself in situations like this. If only she could wield her sword here, she would have made Claire confess to her stupid act without a single hesitation. Then, she would have cut that stupid face of hers just to teach them a lesson about not messing with her ever again. Had that person not pushed her, who knows what situation she might be in now? But who could that person be? She would worry about that later.
However, Ara didn't have the time or strength to explain to all these people what really happened, because she knew they wouldn't believe her over the infamous Luanda's niece. Claire was using her fake tears to play the victim. Ara would deal with her later, but for now, they could believe whatever they wanted.
"You already believe her... So why are you asking me?" Ara's calm question caused the crowd to start murmuring again.
"I told you she did it on purpose, just because I asked her to forgive me," exclaimed Claire with a choked voice.
"Yes, she was jealous of Claire's beauty; that's why she threw the glass at her to ruin her looks," accused Eleanora.
"Oh my! I never knew the young lady of the Boxton family could be so dark-hearted," someone murmured in the crowd.
"Yes, and she looks so innocent; one would never think she had such an evil mind."
"Humph! She was just jealous of the kind and innocent Claire, and here I was comparing them both. She is not even fit to sit close to Claire."
"And look at that dress she's wearing, so old-fashioned. I can't believe I found it beautiful."
The crowd suddenly found Ara distasteful and began spouting hateful words at her. Seeing Claire's pitiful expression, they couldn't help but dislike Ara more, now looking at her as a villainous lady filled with jealousy for Claire.
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Ara felt everyone's judgmental eyes closing in on her. She had no evidence to show them, and her words alone weren't enough to prove that Claire had tried to give her a spiked drink.
"You've gone too far, Lady Ara. Look what you did to her face. Don't you know a woman's face is the most important part of her body? If you didn't want to make peace with her, you could've just rejected the drink instead of ruining her face...if you were jealo—" Luanda couldn't finish her words as Ara calmly interjected,
"Would you believe me if I said the drink Claire gave me was spiked?"
Claire's expression shifted instantly. So Ara had known about her plan from the start? Was that why she threw the glass at her face? How did she find out? Claire quickly pushed those thoughts aside. It didn't matter how Ara knew; what mattered was that nobody would believe her anyway. Ara wouldn't be able to prove anything now that the wine was gone. Claire forced out more tears.
"What? I spiked the drink? Why would I do such a thing to you, Lady Ara?" Claire cried, her tears flowing even more.
Ara couldn't reveal the truth now that she had thrown the wine on Claire. No matter how much she protested, nobody would believe her. People loved gossip, and Claire would give them plenty to talk about. She would make sure rumors spread about the Boxton family's eldest daughter, making Ara unable to show her face at any social event again. Such was the game of high society, and Claire was confident she could play it smarter than anyone else.
"Enough, Lady Ara! We can all see that you're jealous of Lady Claire because she's more beautiful and intelligent. Everything you've done is now obvious to all of us," exclaimed Elizabeth, trying to gain favor with the Morrison family. The crowd in the hall agreed with her.
Ara stood calmly in one spot, her hands folded in front of her chest. When she didn't respond, the crowd began to murmur, their judgment growing louder.
"Enough, everyone! You all think Claire is the victim here, that she's innocent? Innocent, my foot! You're all blinded by her stupid fake acting," came Anne's voice, her anger evident.
Anne entered the hall with Mary beside her. Anne couldn't just stand by and watch Claire bully her sister. While in the restroom with Mary, Anne had comforted her until Mary revealed everything about Claire's plan to spike Ara's drink. Not on her watch. Anne had been waiting for an opportunity to expose Claire, and now was her chance.
"What are you saying, Anne? Can't you see what Ara did to Claire's face?" Luanda asked, her displeasure clear.
"Oh yes, I can see it clearly. Claire deserved it. She should consider herself lucky I wasn't the one to throw the glass, or else I'd have ruined her face permanently," Anne retorted, her anger flaring.
"Aunt Luanda... you see, the Boxton sisters hate me when I did nothing but be nice to them," Claire said, trying to gain more sympathy.
"Oh, come on, Claire, enough of your stupid drama already. I know all about your plans, so save me the trouble of shutting you up. Just stop with the fake tears already," Anne demanded, her hands on her waist.
The guests looked at Anne in shock. They had heard of the Boxton family's youngest daughter and her lack of respect for anyone, not even her father, but they hadn't expected her to be so blunt.
Ara glanced at her sister with a small frown, wondering what she was up to and how she knew about Claire's plans. But she knew Anne wouldn't act without reason.
The hall fell silent again, all eyes now on Anne as she held the dark-skinned lady's hand, bringing her forward. Everyone knew the dark-skinned lady was Claire's friend. Claire noticed Anne holding Mary's hand, and her expression darkened.
"Mary here will tell you everything Claire had planned," Anne announced, then turned to Mary and said, "Mary, tell them what you told me in the restroom."
Mary glanced nervously at Claire, who glared at her, warning her to stay silent. Anne noticed Claire's warning and reassured Mary, "Mary, don't be afraid. I'm right here with you. Nobody will dare hurt you while I'm here."
Claire's mind raced as she tried to think of a way out if Mary were to expose her. She knew how naive Mary could be, but she couldn't let Mary ruin her plans. Claire clenched her fists tightly.
Ara watched the drama unfold, her arms crossed. She noticed how frightened Mary looked, as if she wanted nothing to do with it. Mary finally opened her mouth to speak.
"I... Claire had planned to give Lady Ara a spiked drink. She asked me to keep Lady Anne in the restroom so she could have enough time to embarrass Ara. She even—" Mary couldn't finish her sentence as Claire cut her off.
"Mary, why are you lying? Did she force you to go against me?" Claire questioned, still playing the victim.
"Claire, shut up and let the lady speak," commanded John Morrison, who had been watching the drama unfold. He knew Claire well and had been observing her expressions, deducing that she was guilty.
Mary continued speaking, even showing the drug Claire had used to spike the wine. Mary had been nervous at first, but she eventually recounted everything with confidence. The guests looked at Claire, murmuring to each other as the noise grew louder.
"So that's what happened. And to think I was defending that Claire. Turns out she's the black-hearted one."
"I agree. She acted so righteous, but she's an expert at playing the victim. A frail young lady like her cooking up such a devious plan—how despicable."
"I can't believe it. She looks so innocent, but she's really a demon disguised as an angel."
"The young lady from the Boxton family was innocent, but we all blamed her unjustly. Lady Claire should be ashamed of herself for harboring such evil thoughts."
Claire's face twisted in anger as she realized the tide was turning against her. Honor was as important as life to the nobility, and if rumors spread about what happened today, Claire wouldn't be able to show her face in high society again. Her attempts to ruin Ara had ended in her own defeat.
Luanda looked embarrassed by her niece's actions. She had never imagined her innocent niece could do such a thing. The women who had badmouthed Ara earlier began to walk away from the scene with their heads hung low in shame. Eleanora and Catherine also looked ashamed; they had been part of the plan, but now that Mary had exposed them in public, they had no defense.
Claire had ruined the happy celebration.
Ara turned away from them, deeming them no longer worthy of her attention. Her eyes met her sister's, who stood on the side with a smirk as she watched Luanda scold her niece.
The hall quickly emptied as everyone began to leave. Ara and Anne thanked Mary for her help and walked to their carriage parked in a corner. Just as they reached it, Anne suddenly stopped, as if she had remembered something.
"Sister Ara, I think I left my bracelet in the restroom. Let me go get it. Wait for me in the carriage," Anne said, running off before Ara could say anything.
Ara watched her sister's disappearing figure and shook her head in disbelief. She was about to turn back and head to the carriage when she felt someone cover her mouth and drag her away.
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