I've been reincarnated into another world as a witch

Chapter 11: Trouble before the Tournament

"Riley Delton? The newest member of the Royal Mage society?" She asked eyeing me curiosuly

"Yes, my father's latest prodigy." Commented Riley.

She smiled stifly at me.

"Well then, I should be getting back home, but while I was shopping in town, your favourite fruits were in stock, so I bought some for you." Her maid then revealed a brown sack filled with a type of fruit called 'rosenplums'. I had eaten them with Alice before and they were delicious.

"Why thank you Rosalie!" Alice took the bag from Rosalie's maid. "This is very kind of you." Alice looked really appreciative.

"It's nothing really." She gushed. "I'll see you both at the tournament then." Then she walked off with her maid following close behind. I let go of a large breath I hadn't realised that I was holding in. Rosalie had a bad vibe about her, I would have to be careful of her in the future.

From the middle of the training barracks a man shouted that the break was over, so Lucian said his goodbyes to us and jogged back to fighting practice.

"Alice, who exactly is she?" I asked.

"She is a Third rank noble, from the Stanburg family."

Even nobles were separated by class in Girannon. Only the founding families of Girannon could be first rank nobles, this included the Marcellus's. However, if a family had contributed substantially to the prosperity of Girannon, their noble rank can be raised, thus if someone did something amazing for Girannon, their rank could be raised to First Rank noble.

"She's always been a bit jealous of me... She always tries to compete with me over the most ridiculous things. Such as who could sing the best, or who could play the harp the best, or who could spend the most money on gowns. That's probably why she wanted to see my gown... To see if hers was better." She seemed to be a bit exasperated with the situation between Rosalie and herself. "But perhaps I have misjudged her... I mean, she did buy me these fruits, my favourite fruit." She smiled down at the sack.

"Alice, you should still be weary of her, becasue I saw her give you a really mean look when you werent watching." I warned her.

"Maybe it was just the sun in her eyes.."

I knew it wasn't though.

After that we walked back to the mansion, just in time for dinner. The food in this world was pretty good but all the food seemed very similar to each other: Everything was some kind of variation of stew. Stew with different kinds of meat, stew with vegetables, stew with fish, stew, stew, stew. I was beginning to get sick of it. It wasn't that it was bad stew, it's just that I was getting really bored of it.

For desert we were all going to have the rosenplums that Rosalie had given Alice, everyone was about to take a bite, when I suddenly had a bad feeling about the plums. I quickly used my Appraiser skill (a skill that allowed me to see the worth of any item, even human beings) which would allow me to see if anything was wrong with the plums.

"Wait!" I shrieked after using my skill. "Dont eat the rosenplums!" I called out desperately.

"What on earth is the matter Riley?" Asked Eleanora, looking concerned.

"Is eveything alright madam Riley?" Called one of the butlers.

I decided that a demonstration would be better than explaining. I picked up a knife from the dinner set on the table and cut the rosenplum in half on my plate. Immidiately a disgusting black liquid oozed out of the fuit, it's consistency looked thick and slimy, but the putrid smell that eminated from it was even worse than how it looked. It smelled like an unholy mix of month old rotting fruit and a really smelly wet dog...

The two youngest: Tyrion and Audrey gagged at the smell and immediately dropped their fruit. Lord Marcellus cursed and pinched his nose while Alice moved, got out of her seat and moved far away. Cornelius came closer to take a look while holding his nose.

"Take them away!" Commanded Lord Marcellus and the butlers and maids quickly scurried over to us to take away the rosenplums.

"Goodness girls! Where on earth did you find such rotten fruit?" Eleanora laughed, fanning herself trying to get rid of the lingering smell.

"That two-faved little vixen!" Cursed Alice. "Rosalie gave these to me... she probably did something to them to make them rot on the inside." She scowled.

"Well don't jump to conclusions she might not have known they were rotten..." Eleanora tried to defend Rosalie.

"No my dearest. Those fruits weren't only rotten, someone had to have specially tampered with them to make the inside rotten and also make the outside look completely healthy." Lord Umfrey shook his head upset, suspecting that Rosalie had tried to give their family food poisoning.

Little Audrey started to cry. Partly because the smell had made eyes water and partly because she realized that she wasn't going to get any dessert.

"Don't be such a baby." Teased Tyrion. Which only made her more heartbroken. She began to sob uncontrollably.

"Nanny to make them to their rooms and give them some warm milk." Called out Lady Eleanora, not in the mood to deal with her kids. This was typical of the society, rich parents didn't take care of their children, the house staff did

"Thank you for stopping us from eating that." Alive said taking my hand and squeezing it appreciatively.

I smiled in a response.

"So what are we going to do to that evil Rosalie?" Asked Alice with a vengeful glint in her eye.

"It's best not to accuse her publicly of tampering with the fruit. She will probably say that she didn't know that is was rotten, and we don't know what she did to them so we have no proof." Stated Eleanora.

I frowned and Alice scowled.

"This seems to go a bit beyond jealousy..." This was way beyond a little jealousy between two nobles.

Alice sighed and began to talk, "She resents the fact that I am higher ranked than her in status and in the Mage society. I guess she has decided to make our relationship a lethal one." Alice tightened her hand into a fist. "She's also going to be competing in the Mage tournament... I'll teach her a lesson then." She smirked cruelly.

Poor Rosalie.

"Speaking of the tournament!" Cornelius butted in.
"I have taken the liberty of advertising the tournament around the city, so I'm sure a bigger crowd will show up this time. So I just want to remind you two to give us a good show... use the flashiest most extravagant spells, use beautiful and shocking techniques, just give us a show worth remembering..." He grinned mischievously. I nodded I didn't quite understand his reasoning but I would leave his schemes up to him.

"Also, Riley me dear," began Lord Umfrey, "remember that we have registered you as a triple user at the society so remember to only use Dark, Water and lightning magic." He reminded me.

"Of course." I replied.

I was getting really pump for the tournament.