All the ladies present curtsied and greeted 'your grace', when their hostess Duchess Emma, arrived. 

Duchess Emma acknowledged the girls and began addressing them, "Good afternoon everyone and thank you for attending the tea party my family has arranged. I hope all of you would have a great time today. Now, before I leave you young ladies to bond and enjoy, let me reintroduce my daughter, Lady Annalys Cross, or just Anna, as we fondly call her." 

Anna smiled at the ladies present, since there were no princesses nor elders around, she as a duke's daughter did not curtsy and remained standing, while the girls curtsied, except for Serena who was of equal social status to her.

The duchess left, and the girls were left to their own devices.

Although Anna was haughty, she knew that she must at least get herself on Serena's good graces. Everyone acknowledged her as the crown princess and the next queen, so it was only proper that she address her first. 

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you lady Serena." She greeted. She also read about her and Charlton. A part of her was jealous with how good they looked together plus their work and how people used to call them the golden pair even dubbing them as Cherena. However, she knew that Serena was engaged to Geoffrey and what they have must be nothing more than friendship, so she laid her unfounded jealousy aside. Other than that, she kind of like Serena for always putting that Emily on her place.

Serena smiled thinking that although Anna gave an arrogant vibe, she was polite enough to greet her, "The pleasure is all mine, Lady Anna."

After that, Serena's former classmates, there were 4 of them as the other 2 were more inclined to stay with Emily, introduced themselves. Anna also smiled politely and greeted the others. They were all older than her, but in their society, social standing was of greater importance than age.

When their greetings and introduction were through, Anna excused herself to walk around as she was playing hostess.

"Lady Anna although young, carries herself very well." Cornelia observed.

"Indeed. Anyway, do you think her brother, Marquis Christopher, will join us later?" Brigette asked. 

"Oh… I don't know but I wish he would. He's the only reason I came here today. Serena, you're so lucky, you don't have to worry about finding a match this season. The pressure on us graduates is real." Hannah frantically.

Serena tried to smile but she was afraid that her smile maybe just looked like a grimace. 'If only you guys knew.' She thought.

"Oh, by the way, have you guys read the news Esquire published this morning?" Cornelia gossiped.

"Nope, I've been tired reading that as all they ever did was praise Emily to the high heavens. Gods, if only they knew. I can still remember how she was during our first year." Lydia answered.

"Just ask me for the sake of asking then." Cornelia suggested.

Serena not wanting to hear about it chose that time to excuse herself to get some refreshments. Nothing good would come of it if she were to listen. She purposely did not read it so that it won't get to her.

As she walked, the girls all looked at her and smiled. She smiled back being friendly. At some point, she mused becoming the leader of these girls, but then changed her mind. She knew that if she does, the main reason they would follow her was because they all thought she will become the queen. She did not want to have that title attached on her, so she decided that she would just act nice and be friendly to everyone instead. At least that way, when she later marries Charlton, they would not be able to say anything much against her.

Anyway, as she was looking at the selection of snacks on the buffet table, she heard two girls chatting.

"Did you notice that Lady Anna has greeted almost everyone already except for Ms. Emily?"

"Yeah, I think Lady Anna dislikes her."

"Really? Why did you say so?"

"Why else? Do you even need to ask?"

The other girl laughed, "Oh yeah. But who in this party is not dreaming of catching Lord Daniel's fancy? Though I do get Lady Anna, Ms. Emily is just a baron's daughter. Not a match with Lord Daniel at all."

"Ugh. I wish everyone shared that sentiment. Because as far as I know, some people dub Emily as Cinderella's incarnate and Lord Daniel as her prince charming. It's disturbing, but very popular."

"Indeed. Then again, the views of those commoners doesn't matter. And…"

Then, the two ladies finally noticed Serena who was standing behind them.

"Lady Serena, sorry, were we blocking the way?"

Serena smiled as she shook her head at the two. "No, it's alright." She said. Then she went to return to her group. Since she carried some light snacks, she opted to sit under the canopy and her classmates followed to accompany her.

She tried not to sigh as she sat and looked around. Honestly, she went away from her group to avoid listening to crap like that, but instead, when she heard the two girls talking about the same topic, she was not able to stop herself and listened to the two like she was some gossip monger.

--

Serena's eyes landed on Lady Anna who finally deigned it time to approach Emily's group. 

She noticed that Anna talked to her 2 classmates but obviously chose to ignore Emily. She could not help but think that the scene looked awfully similar to a villainess girl treating the female lead poorly because the male lead likes her.

She almost found the situation funny. There they were fighting over one man without knowing that said man has long been inside her pocket for the keeping. 

Anyway, after a while, a group of gentlemen came into the garden, and when Serena looked towards their direction, like magnets, their eyes were drawn to each other and instantly met.

--

TBC