•?••? ? ?••?•

“Miss! Wake up! You’ve rested more than enough. You can’t be lazy any longer.”

Jane pulled back the curtains of Iva’s bedroom, loudly waking her from her slumber.

“Ugh, nooo- just five more minutes.”

Iva burrowed deeper into her blankets, evading Jane’s reach. Without missing a beat, Jane swiftly whisked the blanket away, leaving no hiding place for Iva.

“You’ve overslept for three days. At this rate, it will become a habit.”

“So what? Haven’t you heard the saying that beauties are allowed to be sleepyheads? I could sleep all year round and still not have enough rest.”

Without even opening her eyes, Iva tried to pull the blanket back over her, groping in the air.

“Isn’t there some kind of law that declares today as my official lazing-around-without-bathing day?”

“There’s no such law. And right now, there are so many invitations waiting for you to confirm.”

“Huh? What invitations?”

She had already sent out the palace party invitations long ago. Could it be that her successful event had all been a dream?

Did I regress to before the palace party? I thought I only regress when I die?!

“W-wait, is today my debutante ball?”

“What? No! Your debutante ball was ages ago.”

“So it’s before the palace party?”

“No, you wrapped up the palace party perfectly three days ago.”

“Oh, thank goodness. My heart almost dropped.”

Just the thought of starting a fourth life cycle made her all drowsiness vanish.

“Then, what are these invitations about?”

“Various young nobles wish to invite you to their tea parties.”

“They’re inviting me to a tea party?”

At Iva’s incredulous expression, Jane clapped twice. Responding to the signal, another maid entered the bedroom, carrying a box nearly the size of her torso.

“Whaaat?!”

The box was brimming with invitations of every color and design.

“A-All those are invitations?”

“Yes.”

“That’s way too many.”

“And they keep coming.”

At a glance, Iva could see the sheer volume and clicked her tongue in disapproval.

“Now they’re all suddenly trying to act friendly.”

Before she took charge of Claude’s party, she had never received an invitation to a tea party.

While the Blanche family itself wasn’t that prominent, leading to limited interactions, another reason was her villainess character. No one wanted to get close to Iva.

Chase, her childhood friend, was the only true friend she had.

After the envoy party ended, the emperor himself expressed his satisfaction during the imperial conference, which was then published in the empire’s newspaper.

Iva’s parents had held onto her, talking about it all day long. They even went as far as to frame the newspaper article mentioning Iva on one side of their living room wall.

Iva also felt a bit of satisfaction having exacted some minor revenge on Julian, who had presumed her party would be a failure.

This success seemed to have led to all these tea party invitations.

Those who felt the potential growth of the Blanche family were now seeking to connect with her, even if it was a tad late.

“Master saw the invitations and said he’s delighted that you seem to be making so many friends.”

“Really?”

After living as an orphan before this transmigration and having parents for the first time in life, the fact that they were pleased made Iva’s mood lift as well.

Maybe I should at least take a look at what they wrote? She began perusing through the invitations one by one.

Without opening many, she could tell the messages were strikingly similar:

“I would like to share the pleasant afterglow of the party with Miss Iva Blanche.”

“I wish to discuss the impressive party.”

Though the words seemed friendly enough, all of it was just political talk. Conversations would start with the party and naturally drift to talks about Claude. 

Then, they would slyly inquire about the gifts she received from the royalty. If it’s a better gift than what they have, they’ll laugh it off and make a witty comment, but if it’s less, they’ll mock and dismiss it.

“Nowadays, I can see their true intentions with just a single sentence.”

Having lived three lifetimes, she had become adept at deciphering the cryptic language of high society.

“I’m not attending this one, nor that. Yep, not going.”

As she was rapidly filtering through the piled-up invitations, a particular phrase caught Iva’s eye:

“To the esteemed Lady of the Blanche family, Miss Iva Blanche, I sincerely send this invitation. I wish to seek romantic advice from Young Lady.”

This sentence was entirely different from the other invitations and had a risky phrase.

Someone with ill intentions could use this sentence to spread rumors about the noble young miss’s unrequited love, portraying her as suffering from intense infatuation

For the noble young misses, where marriage is one of the most pivotal moments in life, such a rumor would be fatal.

It was impressive that the sender had the courage to send such a letter to Iva, knowing the potential consequences.

“Right. It has to be this impactful to pique my interest. Jane!”

“Yes, Miss.”

“I need to prepare for the tea party.”

With anticipation for an intriguing event, Iva got up from her bed.

* * *

“Oh my! Miss Iva! Thank you so much for attending the tea party.”

“No, thank you for inviting me, Miss Rosie.”

The protagonist who sent the romantic counseling invitation was Rosie, the young miss of Count Orfel’s Family.

Count Orfel’s Family was a family that had greatly succeeded in the dessert business, even supplying the royal family.

Naturally, the mansion’s reception room was filled with mouth-watering desserts.

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Sainy.”

“I’m truly delighted to meet you like this. My name is Yuzure.”

Apart from Iva, two other daughters of counts had arrived earlier.

Given that their names didn’t appear in the original work, it seemed they were quiet individuals without distinctive traits.

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