New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World
Chapter 72: NOT A VILLAINY VILLAINESS

Chapter 72: NOT A VILLAINY VILLAINESS

"You all... fought the man?" Marchioness Eldridge asked, pausing her steps.

"Yes, we did. My heart beat so quickly." Serina said with her hands on her chest. Now that they had returned to the safety of the palace, she seemed to have forgotten how scared she was earlier.

No one spoke about how unladylike it was or how it was unheard of. The safety of the children mattered the most to them.

"He’s still tied up in the street, somewhere in the corner." Alicia chuckled.

"We all worked together and taught him a lesson." Beatrix laughed.

"He was very stunned." Alicia giggled.

The mothers said nothing. They didn’t know what to say. But they all agreed that it was better for the man to be injured, than for their children to turn out hurt.

"Thank the Lord Nerin you’re all safe."

[Hey! Lord Nerin did nothing. We did all the fighting. We saved ourselves, not your Lord Nerin.] Aristia wanted to voice out but she didn’t.

Instead she asked, "Is Mama going to tell Papa about this?"

Beatrix and Serina perked up to listen. If their aunt told their uncle about this, wouldn’t their father find out too? It was either he heard about it from Rowaine, or he heard about it from Wilson.

"What do you think?" Catherine replied and Aristia sighed, then slowed her steps.

"You all are probably regretting leaving the palace, aren’t you?" She asked her cousins and Alicia Eldridge in a low voice.

Their mothers were walking in front of them, and they were also conversing with each other. Even so, the children spoke in hushed voices.

"Not quite so." Serina smiled. "I actually enjoyed it. If you exclude the part where the man was involved."

"Same as me." Beatrix said.

"And me." Alicia raised her hand shyly. "It was... fun."

"You can join us another time." Serina said.

"Really?" Alicia asked, surprised. "Oh, but we promised our mothers we wouldn’t try this again." She said perplexed.

"I’m not talking about sneaking out. I’m talking about coming to the palace." Serina said. This was an invitation to the palace.

"Oh..." Alicia said, her cheeks turning pink as she felt embarrassed.

"Hehe," Aristia chuckled.

Alicia happened to hear this, causing her cheeks to turn a deeper shade as she looked away.

Aristia’s smile widened. [This Villainess... isn’t villainy at all.]

***

They returned to the banquet hall like nothing happened. It was time for the feast. There were long tables arranged in the banquet hall. Everyone settled down in their assigned seats.

From the corner of her eye, Aristia saw Wilson give Catherine a questioning look, to which Catherine shook her head with a reassuring smile.

[I’m dreading the end of the banquet. Can the banquet continue forever?] Aristia wondered.

The banquet had officially started. It was time for the feast. .

Alaric had already woken up. Before the banquet, Aristia had had him fully fed, read him a story, and sang him a lullaby to lull him to sleep.

All of this was so that he wouldn’t interfere with the escape plan, in case he looked for her and alerted their parents.

"Welcome, dear subjects and delegates from your respective kingdoms." The king started, causing the voices of the seated aristocrats to cease.

"With profound joy in my heart, I am pleased to welcome you all to the nine hundredth year anniversary of our beloved kingdom of Amberale. May praises and thanks be to Lord Nerin for granting us the opportunity to live to see this day. May Lord Nerin continue to help us, protect us, and keep us strong, that we may continue to remain hale and hearty in the years to come."

Fedor raised his wine glass. "I propose a toast. To Lord Nerin."

The aristocrats and envoys raised their glasses of wine. "To Lord Nerin!"

After the king had completed his speech, he sat down. With a benevolent smile and a raise of his hand, he announced. "Let us enjoy the feast."

The banquet officially began.

With that, the chatter continued, this time accompanied by food and wine.

[I’m not allowed to have wine yet.] Aristia thought grumpily. She was still a child, after all.

Her eyes happened to meet Marchioness Charlotte Oswalt and they exchanged smiles. The Marquis looked over from beside her, but Marchioness Charlotte ignored him, instead focusing on her meal.

Aristia looked beside Charlotte to see Wade sitting awkwardly. He hadn’t ever properly spoken to his new mother. She just seemed to always ignore him.

He paused in confusion. Which spoon did his etiquette teacher say was to be used for salad? His hand stopped on a spoon. Then, he retracted it.

In the end, he decided to pick another. Before his hand could make contact with the cutlery, he saw a spoon placed beside his hand on the table.

Wade looked up in surprise at the Marchioness, but she wasn’t looking at him. She was focusing on her meal.

He turned back to the spoon she placed beside him. Then, he picked it up. "T-thank y-you," he whispered to her.

She didn’t reply. She just took a sip of her wine.

Wade turned to the food in front of him. Suddenly, his new mother didn’t seem so cold anymore. He felt a small warmth in his chest as he lowered his head to eat.

Aristia, who happened to see this scene, smiled. The nobles were particular about etiquette. If Wade had picked up the wrong spoon, it would have attracted to himself more scorn from the Nobles. The Marchioness had been discreet in handing him the spoon in order to avoid this.

[I don’t think the Marchioness did this because of her reputation. Maybe deep down, she can’t take her anger out on him. She knows he’s not to blame and it’s not his fault.] She concluded as she assisted Alaric in cutting his meat.

"Thank you, Tia." Alaric smiled, showing his cute, white teeth.

Aristia smiled back at him and turned back to her food while also keeping her ears open for any juicy conversation, better called gossip, she might overhear.

And overhear, she did. Her ears managed to pick up a conversation.

"...the new building in the capital." A lady said.

"Indeed. I am quite curious about its intended purpose and its owner. It is mysterious, don’t you think?" Another lady added.

"Yes. I haven’t seen or heard anything about its owner. I am unsure of whether its owner is an aristocrat from our kingdom or not." Another lady commented.

"A commoner couldn’t possibly do that. It looks too sophisticated to be built by one." Said another disdainfully.

"I must say, I am quite enamored by such mysterious ways. We can only wait and see." The second lady said again.

"Yes. That seems to be the case. My maid asked one of the workers there and he didn’t even know who hired him. Isn’t that too..."

Aristia lowered her head to hide her smile. She couldn’t hear what they said next but that didn’t matter.

They were talking about the restaurant. The matter of the new building in the capital with unknown origins had created a spark of curiosity among the atistocracy. It had already gained the nobles’ interest, not to speak of the commoners. It was a good thing.

[It’ll take about one more month till the restaurant is completed. About a year and three months before the... Famine. Oh My God! I totally forgot, and papa hasn’t said anything about it either. We’ve all been busy. But I know that he and uncle have already made plans for that.]

The banquet ended on a positive note. The aristocrats left the palace, leaving behind only the members of the royal family, and servants to clean up the hall.

"This banquet was most enjoyable." Serina said as they exited the banquet hall.

"Was it the banquet that was most enjoyable?" Rowaine asked and Serina immediately looked elsewhere.

The men were obviously confused. They could tell that there was something they didn’t know.

"Is there something we don’t know?" Fedor asked.

"There is. In fact, the children did something very interesting." Catherine replied.

The children sighed. There was no escaping it now.

"Perhaps, we should take this discussion to the parlour. It wouldn’t do good to stand in the hall." Wilson suggested and they all nodded, heading to the parlour.

As they settled down in the parlour, the door opened and in came the royal grandparents, Melvin and Melissa.

"So, what is it? What did the children do?" Melissa asked after she had sat down comfortably.

A servant had told her and her husband about an issue involving the children being reviewed in the parlour and they had made their way there.

Ivan turned to his sisters in confusion. He had seen them at the banquet. But now that he thought about it, there was a time he didn’t see them in their group, but he just assumed they were somewhere else in the large banquet hall. What could they have done?

Rowaine turned towards the children, her eyes revealing the seriousness of the matter.

"Come on, tell what happened." She demanded.

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