Unfortunately, I'm an Evil Villainess

Chapter 94 - Engagement (II)

In the novel, this was about when the original Valentina struck out seriously, albeit stupidly, for the first time. She went to a tea party Catherine held and used the opportunity to sneak in a maid, who then disguised herself as one of House Bryant's servants. The maid poisoned the tea before serving it to Catherine, but Sophia, her friend with barely any presence, realized the matter was suspicious and told Catherine not to drink it.

Valentina stormed out in the fashion of a true villainess, upset that her ridiculous plan didn't work. Sophia had the tea tested and they found out it was indeed poisoned, but Catherine decided not to tell anyone, since she knew House Bryant could never win against House Avington. The affair was brushed over until later, when she told Oscar about it, and it was the final straw that made him break off the engagement.

In this life, I knew that I unfortunately couldn't kill Catherine directly because it would risk awakening her divine powers. However, her personal maid was already poisoning her slowly to weaken her and to render her infertile, Sophia was studying happily on the other side of the world, and unpopular as she was, Catherine wasn't planning any gatherings.

This event could have been prevented altogether, replaced with my engagement reception in a few days, which I had pushed forward from its original schedule in the novel of next February, to fit in with the rest of my plan. As part of said plan, and also for my own enjoyment, I decided to hold a tea party with my friends to celebrate in advance.

"Congratulations, Lady Valentina."

"Mother said that the declaration was the most romantic thing that had ever happened in the parliament!"

"Lady Valentina, you're so lucky!"

I included just my usual close friends to uphold the sense of exclusivity the king's dinner was going for. Though they were all influential, the reception was so selective that Delilah was the only one out of them who was invited, as a future duchess. Catherine was obviously not on the list, but I'd brought her to the tea party as entertainment.

"Thank you so much for inviting me, Lady Valentina! Congratulations on your engagement!"

"Thank you, Lady Catherine. I'm indeed very glad that my relationship with His Highness is able to move forward, despite the misunderstandings we had to overcome."

Her bright green eyes widened with guilt, but I'd long mastered the art of suppressing laughter. I was also happy to see that she seemed to have grown paler and more frail over the summer, which meant the poison was working. Soon, she'd wilt away quietly, and no one would care. Everything I had would be safe, except the nuisance with Damian, but I didn't want to think about that.

We sat down around the table in the beautiful greenhouse of our mansion, and tea was served. I noted with satisfaction the current arrangement of maids. Zoe was away working as my secretary instead of wasting her talents on physical chores, Tia had become an excellent servant under my command instead of supporting Catherine, and presently attended to us with proper professionalism, and Catherine's own maid at home was poisoning her everyday. These domestic affairs may be small, but they added up.

The conversation began and immediately flowed chaotically, because everyone wanted to talk about themselves and hear about everyone else. It was fun, the kind one could only have with dear friends.

"So, how was everyone's summer? I was rather busy, managing the new spices business Mother just gave me full control over. It's the first one I'm running all by myself."

"Congratulations! I was out riding most of the time. We just bought some splendid new horses from Alcastor, and they're awfully fierce. I had no trouble taming them, of course."