Angelina smiled and nodded.

"I would feel honored if lady Angelina would grant me the pleasure to come over for tea." Harper asked. She lowered her head and her cheeks turned rosy.

"Of course, lady Harper." Angelina responded. She wasn't completely sure about Harper's character. She knows she needed to be on alert.

After all, looks can be deceiving.

"Lina. What are you doing?" Angelina heard the voice of a grumpy young lady approaching them.

"Who's this...?" Rienne pursed her lips and glared at Harper.

Harper cowardly lowered her head.

The golden eyes widened. Angelina smiled embarrassingly and asked, "Rienne, we are attending her debut. How could you not reconize her...?"

"Hmph! How am I supposed to catch a glimpse of her face, if she was surrounded by those mindless people?" Rienne crossed her arms and humped.

"Pft-..." Harper, accidentally letting the sound of her giggle slip out, felt embarrassed and immediately lowered her head even more.

"Sorry..." The honey brown haired young lady muttered. Her face flushed red.

"H-hey! Who are you laughing at...!?" Rienne's face flushed as well. She started telling, as if trying to cover up her embarrassment of being laughed at.

"Shh... Rienne... don't cause a scene." Angelina pulled her shoulder and whispered.

"B-but.... she!" Rienne pouted.

"Lady Harper didn't mean it. Right?" Angelina glanced at Harper. Seeing Harper quickly nod her head up and down, she turned her attention back to Rienne.

"See?" Angelina chuckled.

"Hm...mm...fine!" Rienne turned around and embarrassingly fled.

"Did...I upset her..." Harper nervously played with her fingers. Did she mess up? Did she do something bad already...?

"No it's alright. Rienne... that's just how she is..." Angelina sighed.

"She seems like a fun and pleasant lady...I hope to befriend her one day..." Harper shyly stated.

Angelina smiled and nodded in approval. It would be good if this lady wasn't a threat.

"Lady Harper!" The voice of a lady entered their ears. They turned to look and saw lady Sonia walking towards them. Or more specifically, walking towards Harper.

"lady Harper! I would like to get to know your better. Would you lend me your time and come with me to chat for a moment?" Sonia smiled and took Rienne's hands. Completely ignoring Angelina's existence.

"....." Angelina, not wanting to see Sonia's attempt to buttering Harper up, left in annoyance.

' This bootlicking trash... actually dares to ignore me? She surely is bold... Sonia white... I won't forget this.' Angelina gritted her teeth and walked away. Though she seemed calm on the outside, she was filled with rage. She hated being ignored and humiliated the most! How could she let a mere baron's daughter act so disrespectfully to her? She'll definetly get back at her for this!

*********

"Lina, look over there." Rienne snickered and pointed to a certain direction.

Angelina followed Rienne's line of sight and saw Rulias. He wasn't surrounding Evelina anymore. She doubted Rulias's feelings for Evelina was no longer there. He was probably just trying to keep a low profile.

After the incident, his reputation had been greatly damaged. There were even rumors flying around about how the viscountess reprimanded him for 4 hours straight.

But Angelina didn't feel bad. Not even a little.

The humiliation he felt couldn't be said to be small, but she faced much worse backlash because of him in her past life.

Evelina would regularly annoy her 'accidentally', and back then, Lilith's temper wasn't too good.

When Lilith would scold her and insult her, he was always coming to Evelina's rescue when Chase wasn't present.

He would tell her how ugly she was compared to Evelina, and how she was merely an evil woman trying to ruin Evelina's life.

Back then, she didn't have anyone to back her up. Everyone would just point at her and laugh at her. She wasn't even given the chance to seems herself, just like her trial. It was very much one sided.

With everyone judging and humiliating her, and her failing to defend herself.

Not only that, Rulias was also one of the people who spoke against her during her trial. He told everyone how he saw with his own eyes, how Lilith tried several times to kill Evelina.

And everyone believed him.

It seems he didn't care that at that exact moment, he was helping others decide her fate. He didn't care it was a matter of life and death.

He didn't care that his words would send her to being burned at the stake!

"Lina? What's wrong?" Alice, who was clinging to her arm, asked cautiously.

A sigh escaped Angelina's lips. She smiled and reassured Alice.

"I heard he was heavily scolded by her grace the viscountess. The viscountess even took away a year's worth of Rulias's allowance!" Rienne snickered.

"Hmph! Taking away allowance? That's not enough for hurting Lina at all!" Alice moved her arms and took Angelina into a tight hug. Angelina almost couldn't even breathe.

"Hey you! Stop hugging Lina! Your going to hug her to death!" Rienne was the first to notice Angelina's 'suffering' and rushed to break them apart. But her efforts were in vain, as Alice held on with all her strength. Unintentionally suffocating Angelina.

(A/N: and that's how Angelina died... JK...)

Arianna, witnessing this scene, could not help but chuckle. She sighed and finally released Angelina from the 'deadly bear hug', by pulling Alice's ear. Forcing her to let go.

*********

"Where are you taking me lady Sonia?" Harper asked as she was led to the corner of the ballroom.

"I just thought it will be quieter here. Lady Evelina too would like to spend some time getting to know you." Sonia smiled with delight. She was happy that Evelina now acted close to her!

If she keeps this up...maybe lady Evelina will introduce her to the Skyler family's young master, and she could finally leave behind the title of 'a baron's daughter' once and for all!

"Oh...um alright..." Harper obediently followed behind.

As she watched the two ladies slowly approach her, Evelina sneered.

Though Harper is annoying in her eyes, she's simple minded and innocent. Which means she's easy to manipulate. The more innocent one is, the more vulnerable they are of course.

But remembering those words coming out of those aristocrat's mouths, Evelina's eyes turned fierce and frowned.

"Lady Harper reminds me of someone..."

"Lady Evelina right? I too had that feeling."

"They could be great friends! And perhaps the relationship between the Bailey and Skyler family could finally be mend."

"Indeed. They are both such beautiful ladies. Perhaps lady Harper could make it to the empire's top beauties list!"

Those words really annoyed Evelina.

Great friends? Similar? Make it to the list of the empire's top beauties? Ridiculous! How dare they compare her to Harper!?

Harper is merely a bug, waiting to be stepped on!

Evelina steadied her breathing and fixed her expression. She couldn't let the two young women walking up to her notice.