Chapter 3: The Terrifying Tea Party

 

 

 

Chapter 3: The Terrifying Tea Party

 

SPRING had sprung out in the courtyard of the Chevalier estate. Streams of water danced around the porcelain goddess statue in the brand-new fountain.

Oh god, it’s the same fountain from the game! The one Iris drowns in! Iris froze as images from HanaKoro flashed vividly through her mind. Back then, she had squealed with delight when she saw the utter despair on Iris’s face, but that didn’t mean she wanted to experience that despair herself!

“Isn’t it wonderful? Father and I wanted to cheer you up with something nice. Oh, and I’m told it’s nearly time for the elusive black irises to bloom,” Nigel explained cheerfully. His grin brought Iris to her senses.

With a small sigh, she donned the best smile she could manage, though she could tell it was stiff and unnatural.

“Iris?”

“It’s…it’s lovely. Really.”

Frankly, it was a miracle her voice didn’t crack. Do I really have to drink my tea right next to my final resting place?!

Meanwhile, the slightest movement made her choker bell jingle, and she felt like a pet cat. But, for as much as it annoyed her today, she would have to hold her tongue.

Iris’s father had made her wear this choker from an early age. Likewise, he’d given her mother a luxurious one of her own, which she wore with pride as a token of his love. And with parents like these, it was easy to see why Iris had happily agreed to wear hers. She’d never thought about it before, but…it almost felt like a mark of ownership in a way. Of course, her mother thought it was romantic, but now that Iris had awakened to her past life’s modern sensibilities, it struck her as far too controlling. No wonder Nigel put chains on his beloved in his ending. There’s being possessive, and then there’s that.

“Iris, my dear, you’re looking much better these days,” her mother, Lady Chevalier, announced in a jovial voice. Her decadent choker sparkled just above her voluptuous chest, and her iris charm, unlike Iris’s, was embedded with sapphires and diamonds.

“Yes, Mother.”

“I take it you’re able to attend the tea party, then?”

“Tea party, you say?”

“Why, yes. The royal tea party, hosted by the second crown prince at the palace.”

Iris gasped.

At age thirteen, young nobles were expected to make their social debut at the royal tea party. Then, at age fifteen, they were formally invited to enroll at the academy. Prior to Iris’s soilpox infection, she’d always dreamed of attending the royal tea party someday, but now things were different. Why? Because the palace was home to HanaKoro’s second love interest.

I’ll pass, thank you! I already have to deal with Nigel’s route since he’s my brother—I don’t have room for more problems on my plate! I’m better off never meeting that boy in the first place!

“Must I go, Mother?”

She smiled gently. “You have nothing to fear, my darling. Your brother will be with you, and as you know, he’s already close friends with the young prince. There’s no reason you won’t be able to get along with him, too.”

Iris’s face stiffened. She knew her mother was only trying to reassure her, but unfortunately, her words had the opposite effect. “But…I’m still recovering…”

“Are you? I hear you’ve been getting your exercise as of late.”

Like any proper young lady, Iris had resumed her self-defense training in an attempt to regain her physical stamina, but now it had come back to bite her.

“But…but I’m ever so embarrassed to be seen with my scars…”

“Lucky for us, they’re not on your face! Arms can easily be covered, my dear. Why, I’ll fashion you some stylish opera gloves.”

Her mother was not good at listening. Iris had no choice but to give up.

“Thank you, Mother,” Iris replied in a small voice as she hung her head.

❀❀❀

IT was the day of the royal tea party. Iris was wearing intricately designed white lace gloves up to her elbows and a dress in her father’s favorite shade of dark-blue. Around her neck was a thick black velvet ribbon with a bell and an iris charm; likewise, another big ribbon adorned her half-ponytail. Her mother had dressed her but in accordance with her father’s tastes. Pleasing him was her main priority.

“Iris, I want you to have this,” her father told her as they were about to leave. He handed her a dagger with their family’s iris emblem engraved in the hilt. For self-defense, presumably.

Iris froze. Wait, but…that’s the same dagger I use to stab Camille! THIS is how I get it?! Moving a little quickly, don’t you think?!

“You are the daughter of the noble House of Chevalier. If anyone should threaten to bring disgrace upon you, you must protect yourself at all costs.”

What kind of “disgrace” was he expecting to happen at a little tea party? Surely, Iris wouldn’t need to perform any beheadings…not that a dagger was even capable of such a thing. Though I could probably cut some arteries… Iris shook her head. What was she thinking? Why did her brain always jump straight to violence? And why was she pausing to consider exactly how much damage she was capable of?!

“Father, don’t you think it a bit too much for a royal tea party?”

“It is exactly enough. What do you think all that training was for? You need to be able to use it when the time calls for it. Think of it as a daily precaution.”

Lord Chevalier looked over at his wife, who smiled.

“Your father’s right, Iris. I carry one, too, you know. It keeps you safe.”

And so, Iris reluctantly accepted the dagger.

It’s not a weapon—it’s for self-defense, she told herself. I just have to be careful about how I use it…and that means no unnecessary stabbing of ANYONE!

❀❀❀

IRIS traveled to the palace by horse-drawn carriage. Beside her, Nigel was wearing a plain gray suit—no gloves, no bells. Oh, how she envied him. Iris let out a sigh.

Today, she would meet the second love interest of HanaKoro: Prince Reseda of the “Caged Love” route. Thus far, she’d ensured she wouldn’t encounter him, but she would inevitably have to speak to him because he was hosting this tea party. Not only that, but her parents were expecting her to cozy up to him! They really seemed convinced that Iris would do great. Parental bias, if she had to guess.

In the game, Iris and Prince Reseda were engaged to be wed, and there was a chance things would turn out that way for her too. But in the game, Iris was so terrified of losing her fiancé to Camille that she bullied the poor girl mercilessly, outright stabbing her in the bad endings.

The second prince, Reseda de Geyer, was a handsome boy with flamingo-pink hair and eyes to match. He was always seen with a charming smile on his face, and he treated everyone with kindness; in the game, he tolerated Iris’s selfish demands with such grace that Iris’s past-life-self wanted to scream, “How could she talk like that to a literal prince?!” In-universe, he received a lot of female attention—actually kind of a womanizer, if anything. The girls all went nuts for the chivalrous gentleman type.

But Reseda’s behavior was the result of a hole in his heart. He was smart enough to know that the masses only fawned on him because he was royalty, so in a desperate attempt to be loved, he acted nice to earn their approval. Then, following the death of his older brother, he would become Crown Prince of the kingdom, and everyone’s attitudes toward him would change practically overnight. As a result, he would find himself unable to fully trust the people around him—including his own fiancée.

Enter Camille, a commoner who didn’t care about social status. She was an enigma Reseda couldn’t parse, and after seeing the way this Holy Maiden treated all people equally, he would find himself drawn to her. Likewise, the young prince would offer shelter from the harsh realities of aristocratic society, and Camille would feel safe and secure with him.

In his happy-bad ending, Reseda would ask her to pledge her life to Floraison as the kingdom’s Holy Maiden. She would serve him as his wife, and after that, she would never again set foot outside the Tower of Prayer—imprisonment in all but name.

But it would cause a scandal if word got out that the Holy Maiden had stolen the prince from his fiancée: therefore, Camille would never be formally recognized as queen. Instead, a now-voiceless Iris would serve as a puppet queen in her place. This was the only ending in which Iris avoided death…as a silent queen who sat and waited for a husband that would never return to her…watching him and his true love with reproachful eyes as tears streamed down her face… Beautiful, really.

However!

I don’t want this happening to me, thank you! I don’t want to stab anyone, and I really don’t want to lose my voice! Our engagement will surely spell my doom. No fiancé for me, no sir!

The game never depicted how Iris and Reseda got engaged to begin with, but His Highness never seemed all that interested in her—they were practically strangers. Maybe it was arranged by their parents, or maybe Iris herself talked him into it…

Sorry, Father, but after today, he’s not going to like me!

Iris’s plan was as follows: if she could make him hate her, then he would surely never agree to be her fiancé. And since the prince’s feelings would take priority, the engagement would never come to pass. Problem solved!