LUCIA

Chapter 20 The Ducal Couple

The first tea party was pretty small. She had invited a total of eight people, mainly wives of the duke's vassals and elderly noble women. She followed Jerome's advice on whom to invite and the atmosphere of the party stayed amicable.

Lucia was somewhat nervous at first, but later she realized it was unnecessary.

The social system here was different from the one in the capital where you had to be ready at any time, to fight tooth and nail anytime in such gatherings. In the north and as the Duchess of Taran, she was already in a superior position.

They all exchanged pleasantries and were harmonious so she had no needless consciousness of mood. If Lucia had used her authority and hurt any of these old lady's pride, no matter how much they laughed in front of her, the instant she turned her back, they would heap criticisms.

Lucia kept her courtesy at a level where it was not too much but neither was it too little. This was Lucia's first time being the host for a tea party.

In her dream, Count Matin pestered her excessively to socialize but he never supported her properly. After all, once you hold a tea party, you had to keep holding one.

Throwing a tea party once and then deciding to quit was not something one could do. There was also the fact that throwing tea parties regularly cost a pretty good amount of money.

Count Matin was a miser who would grasp money tightly and wouldn't let go. On that subject, her body was pretty lenient on her considering what she ate and used.

Although Lucia's experience as a host was lacking, for many years, she had attended countless parties in her dream. Even though it was mainly from listening to someone else's words and then quickly putting it into action, an experience was an experience.

All the noble women in attendance were experienced madams. The atmosphere of the party flowed well even if Lucia did not take the lead. Or rather, the elderly noble women were easier to handle than the young maidens.

There was no need for the needless exchange of nerves which was prominent amongst young female nobles and everyone here was in a relationship where they would be seeing each other's faces for a long time so there was no need to hide what they wanted to or not wanted to say.

As she listened to the conversations of the madams, there were times where she'd join in the chat or even laugh. The ones who were surprised were the noblewomen. The young Duchess was now 18 years of age but she was not nervous in the slightest.

The women here had daughters or even granddaughters of the same age as the Duchess, but compared to the Duchess, their children could only be described as immature.

'Indeed, a princess.'

'She's full of elegance.'

'To think she'd be so steady.'

Lucia was merely one of the common princesses in the palace but she was of the royal household. In the northern social circles, it was a big occasion for one to go to the capital and visit the royal palace and for the nobles, the status of a princess, even if it was just one, was an existence they had to look up to.

Compared to those her age, she was unusually calm and they had all accepted her with dignity and elegance. The older they were, the more satisfied they were with the young Duchess' serene appearance.

The young Duke of Taran was a very rash, coarse and hard to approach opponent so the relatively mild Duchess was very appealing to these noble madams.

"Soon, are you going to open up a grand ball? My granddaughter told me to definitely ask you."