8. An Invitation to the Villa

“Oh, the Argenteia family built themselves a new villa?”

“Apparently so.”

The topic came up one day during a chat with my husband. Evidently, Miss Verbena’s father (the prime minister of the Flür Kingdom, Duke Argenteia) had built his family a brand new villa.

“To be more precise, their previous villa had fallen into disrepair, so he chose to reconstruct it elsewhere within his domain. His territory is a key location within Flür, so he has an obligation to keep it well-maintained.”

“Huh, I see.”

His villa had been getting up there in age, so he had constructed a new one altogether. And here my parents never got to rebuild their manor, no matter how downright dilapidated it got... I’m so jeal— Oh wait, I almost forgot! Mr. Fisalis had the place renovated, so now it looks good as new!

Miss Verbena’s family was just about as rich as Mr. Fisalis’s, so I was willing to bet they had villas all over the place.

As the former frontrunner to become Mr. Fisalis’s bride, Miss Verbena—the daughter of the Argenteia family—had initially hated me, but for reasons I still didn’t quite understand, I had found myself promoted to friend status somewhere down the line. Her brother Celosia was likewise a childhood friend of my husband’s. Between all those connections, I’d long since fallen into a sort of “family friend” relationship with the Argenteias.

“It shouldn’t be long before the construction is complete, so they’ve invited us to their upcoming housewarming party.”

“Nice! Isn’t it a pretty long trek to their villa, though?”

“Hmm... I’d say it’s a good way out, yes. The plan would be to stay there for a few days.”

“Ooh! It would be my first time ever spending the night in someone else’s territory—let alone in their very own villa!”

Then again, I suppose my pilgrimage (honeymoon?) to the Fisalis territory at least felt like “someone else’s territory”!

Normally, this was the part where I’d start whining about how I “hate socializing” or “didn’t want to go,” but considering this was supposed to be a housewarming party to show off their newly constructed vacation home, I figured it was going to be a cozy little shindig for only their closest friends. Since it would be Miss Verbena’s family doing the hosting, I wasn’t dreading it as much as I ordinarily might.

“They’ll be sending us a formal invitation once the construction is complete, but I figured I’d give you a heads-up.”

“Got it!”

Considering how long it had been since my last overnight trip, I was feeling pretty pumped.

* * *

Shortly thereafter, we received our formal invitation from the Argenteia family.

The new villa was located about a half-day’s journey by carriage from Rohze. It also happened to be built on a bank of the Wahl River—the same river that ran through the Argenteia family’s main residence back in the capital—meaning it was possible to make the trip by boat! Mind you, that route was reserved for the family and special guests only. Why, you might ask? Because the entire Wahl River was under Argenteia jurisdiction. It did flow right through their manor, after all.

Just as I was thinking about what a wonderful, ingeniously designed villa they’d made for themselves, we received a very special invitation from Miss Verbena: “Would you care to join us for the boat ride?”

Her parents—Duke Argenteia and his wife—and eldest brother had gone to the villa ahead of time to prepare for company. Seeing as she and Celosia would be the only ones taking the boat, she’d reached out to offer us a ride if we so desired.

“Say, Cercis! Since they went out of their way to invite us, what do you say to joining the Argenteias for the boat ride?”

“I like the sound of that. It ought to cut down on our travel time too.”

“Good point! Oh boy, I haven’t been on a boat since we went to see the caverns of Le Cœur!”

Images of that stunning blue cave we’d seen in the Fisalis territory of Le Cœur de la Mer flitted through my mind. Mr. Fisalis had insisted he had somewhere he wanted to show me, only to bring me out to that gorgeous, mystical spot where the seawater shone azure.

“I’d be happy to take you out to Le Cœur whenever you’d like, you know.”

“We can save that for another time. For now, we’d better get our reply to Miss Verbena ASAP!”

The thought of riding a boat for the first time in ages had me extra pumped.

* * *

As the plan was to spend seven whole days at the villa, I couldn’t cut any corners on the packing. From the sound of it, there was going to be a party nearly every evening, so I packed myself six gowns. Since the afternoons were likely to be filled with tea parties and the like, I made sure to bring along plenty of dresses for those occasions too.

Now wait just a second here. I’m hardly going to have a moment of downtime, am I?

I’d had a brand new dress made for the main housewarming event—you know, the usual tradition. Everything else was just a touched up version of something I’d already worn before. Recycling outfits was way less stressful.

Beyond that, I needed shoes, accessories, et cetera...

“This is so much stuff...”

Ughhhh.

When she caught me grumbling as I struggled to cram everything into my trunk, Stellaria only laughed. “Seeing as you’re about to head off on an overnight socializing marathon, there’s no getting around it.”

A socializing marathon, huh? Wow, how strange—any desire I had to go on this trip suddenly went up in smoke.

While I was still reeling from the crushing blow to my morale, my maids darted around the room packing my things for me. Leave it to the pros to get the job done quickly!

“For the evening parties, I recommend you wear those Viola Eye accessories you had made not too long ago,” Stellaria suggested as she rifled through my various necklaces and earrings, polished them one by one, and loaded them into my suitcase.

“Sure, will do.”

Not a single gem had yet surpassed the sapphire we’d used for my last necklace—the one made for the party at the royal palace—so we’d held off on ordering any new jewelry for this particular occasion. To be honest, that one sapphire might have been a little too breathtaking. It was going to be a good long while before we found a jewel a cut above that.

* * *

Then the night before our departure arrived.

“According to the forecast, it’s supposed to rain just as hard tomorrow,” reported Rohtas.

As an aside, there were certain people in the royal capital well-versed in the art of predicting the weather—“sky-reading,” as we called it. Their primary duty was to divine the weather patterns for the year and figure out how best to mitigate their effects on the harvest, but if you made a point of asking them, they could also tell you what the weather was going to be like the next day. Whatever method they were using to predict the weather was strictly confidential, but rumor had it that it went something like: “Throw a shoe—if it lands right side up, it’s going to be sunny; if it lands on its side, it’s going to be cloudy; and if it’s sticking straight up, there’s going to be a storm.”

Digressions aside, there’s rain in the cards for tomorrow, huh? And a downpour, at that.

Even now, a glance out the window revealed a driving rain, accompanied by the occasional flash of lightning.

“I suppose that rules out tomorrow’s boat trip. Even if it does stop before our departure, the water levels will be too high for safe sailing,” said Mr. Fisalis as he gazed outside.

Setting out on our voyage amid a raging storm... Just the very thought was terrifying.

“Should we send a messenger to let the Argenteias know we won’t be making it tomorrow?”

“Yes, making the trip by land ought to be the safer—”

Just as Mr. Fisalis was getting to his feet, however, a maid showed up to relay an incredibly well-timed message. “Master Fisalis! A messenger from the Argenteia family has arrived.”

Wow, Miss Verbena, were you listening in on our conversation?! Nah, couldn’t be.

“Perfect timing. Rohtas, go hear what he has to say.”

“Yes, Master.” At Mr. Fisalis’s command, the butler gave a quick bow and stepped out of the parlor.

“No doubt they’re reaching out to inform us that tomorrow’s boat trip has been canceled. Even Celosia and Verbena won’t have much choice but to make the journey on land.”

“Yeah. Besides, it’s not like this is their only chance to take their ship out for a spin.”

“Exactly. And the same goes for you, Vi; if you ever want to go for a boat ride, just say the word.”

“I just might! I’d really like to see that blue cavern and orange sunset again.”

Whenever I closed my eyes, I could see flashes of that vibrantly blue cave and the sun shining an almost-gold hue. Le Cœur was such a beautiful place. The town of Le Pied was lovely in its own right too. My husband’s territory is just full of sights to see. Now my parents’ territory, on the other hand... Well, uh, I guess it has its good points. It’s just a little bit lacking in sunshine and greenery, that’s all!

While we were caught up in our idle conversation, Rohtas returned to the parlor.

“Pardon me, Master Fisalis. The messenger did indeed come bearing news that tomorrow’s trip has been canceled. Quite convenient timing, seeing as we were just about to decline the offer from our end.”

“I thought as much. Very well then—though I know driving through this rain won’t be an easy task, make sure the carriage will be ready for us tomorrow.”

“Certainly.”

It was too bad, but there was nothing anyone could do about the forces of nature.

Given the circumstances, our river cruise was a bust. The new plan was to head to the villa over land.

* * *

Just as the forecast had predicted, it was pouring rain on the day of our departure.

“It sure is coming down hard,” Mr. Fisalis said, frowning up at the sky. “So much for making it there in half a day.”

The rain was well past the pitter-patter stage and all the way to rat-a-tat-tat. This was a bona fide downpour.

Going out in such miserable weather was a real drag, but canceling our plans on the day-of would have been a big no-no. Even I understood that much.

“It’s not safe to go too fast in this rain,” I warned. “Let’s take it slow.”

“And here I’d been hoping we could stop at a village along the way. I’m sorry, Vi.”

“Oh no—how unfortunate! Let’s make sure to stop there on the way home, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Since the boat trip had been called off, we’d instead chosen to make the trip with three carriages. One was for us, one was for our attendants, and the last one was for our cargo.

“We were scheduled to get there just past noon...but given the weather, we might have to stop for lunch along the way instead.”

“Perhaps. Have the knight-guards leading the way to find you a good place to eat. We’ll inform the Argenteia family that you’ll be running slightly behind schedule.”

One of the servants slipped away upon hearing Rohtas and Mr. Fisalis’s exchange. No doubt he was going to take a horse out into the pouring rain to deliver our message. We truly appreciate it!

While the servants loaded our luggage into one of the cars, we got into our own personal carriage.

“Take care of the place while we’re away, Rohtas.”

“Of course, Master. Have a safe trip.”

“Off we go! We’ll be sure to bring you back a souvenir!”

“Take care!” came the servants’ answering chorus.

Our team of house-sitters—Rohtas, Dahlia, Mimosa, and the rest of the servants—saw us off as our carriage quietly rolled away into the distance.

* * *

Given how hard the rain was coming down, the carriage ride was going much slower than it normally would.

“Jeez, look at how gray it is out there,” I remarked.

“Did it really have to pick today of all days to rain this hard?”

“You said it. The scenery is part of what makes traveling fun!”

“It’ll be sunny on the way back, at least.”

“And what makes you so sure of that?”

“You want to see nicer scenery, so the weather has to clear up.”

“How does that make any sense?”

The rain slamming against the roof of the carriage was loud enough to drown out the noise of the wheels rolling over the ground. And to make matters worse, I was even seeing lightning streak across the sky every now and then!

“Yeesh, that one spooked me!” I yelped when one flash took me by surprise, only to overhear my husband mumbling, “Now if only she’d act a little cuter when she’s startled...” Everybody knows I’m not that kind of girl, though, so I didn’t dignify that remark with a response.

Along the way, we stopped for lunch somewhere near the heart of the Argenteia family’s territory. From the sound of it, we didn’t have much farther to go before we reached the villa, but the rain was coming down just as hard here as it had been in Rohze. Despite all the distance we’d covered, it hadn’t been enough to escape the deluge.

Our stopover was a modest provincial town much like Le Pied. If only the weather had been nicer, I imagine it would have been a lovely place to visit—no doubt the streets would have been bustling with people. What a shame it was that the rain had drowned absolutely everything in gray.

“Our original plan was to arrive at the villa just past noon, so we were supposed to have lunch there. Mother and Father would have joined us at the table too.”

“Oh! I didn’t realize your parents were invited.”

Come to think of it, I never had heard the list of attendees. Father Fisalis was close to Duke Argenteia, so I supposed it only made sense that he would get an invitation.

“Oh, really? I’m sorry for neglecting to mention it.”

“Don’t be—it’s fine. Who else is coming?”

I’d jumped to the conclusion that it was going to be “a cozy little shindig for only their closest friends,” so I’d never bothered to ask who else was invited. Better late than never.

“You and me, my parents...and there’s Duke Argenteia’s subordinates too...”

That was my husband for you—it seemed he knew the entire guest list, and he started listing off the names without missing a beat.

Apparently, all the big-name nobles of Flür had been invited: all the rest of the dukes, along with every single marquis. Uh-oh. This is turning out to be no different from the usual social affair.

Due to capacity concerns, those with the rank of earl or lower had to be dropped from the list. Thus, the only non-dukes and non-marquises to be invited were Duke Argenteia’s work colleagues. What surprised me, however, was that some of the names toward the end of Mr. Fisalis’s list were actually fairly low-ranking nobles—barons and the like, that is.

“About the last few people you mentioned... Are they work friends of the duke?”

“Not exactly. They were invited as the lords of the adjacent territories.”

“So they’re the neighbors. Gotcha.”

The Argenteia family’s territory was so vast that it shared a border with five other territories. Talk about impressive.

Forget that whole “private party” thing—this really was just going to be your typical soirée. And an overnight one, at that. A socializing marathon.

All of a sudden, I found myself dreading the days ahead.