A/N: Don't steal my plot, you thirsty hoes. Enjoy!
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Piper raised an eyebrow as everyone's attention turned to her. She was, of course, innocent of the physical deed, but she had been clued in on Annabeth's plan. Neither had expected that Piper herself would be accused. How the tables had turned, Piper thought grimly.
But perhaps Medea hadn't planned what would come after this. Piper had seen how Medea used her fascination magic to prevent the maid from speaking the truth of whoever had planted the salt.
"I've never seen you before in my life." Piper answered calmly back. "Poisoning the Colchis princess and trying to frame the princess of Cythera, you have some big guts. Who are you to frame me?"
Piper stepped closer to the maid as a shorter distance made the magic easier to work with. The maid trembled, until her eyes met Piper's eyes. Piper felt the magic working through her voice, permeating through the maid and washing over her mind. Listen to me, Piper's voice seemed to call. No one else. Just me, her voice soothed in the maid's mind. Piper could feel Medea's magic working to fight back in the maid's mind.
Surely, Princess Medea would now know that she, too, had fascination magic, but the choice had to be done. The investigation would eventually clear up the truth, but it could take days for Medea's fascination magic to wear off. By that time, Piper's reputation among the Cuora nobility would be in tatters.
Baroness Kelli, Annabeth's cousin, shifted uncomfortably. It was just salt, a harmless prank at the very least, so why was poison being mentioned so much?
"Hmmph. The truth is out there, and you're trying to deflect blame, Princess Piper." Medea scoffed. "The maid clearly said it was you, as everyone else saw."
"Tell us clearly the incident," Piper ignored Medea's words. "Are you sure that it was I who instructed you? Or are you lying?"
Medea had miscalculated here. It was easier to make someone tell the truth using fascination magic than to tell a lie. Lying went against the person's instincts.
"Come now. Telling the truth is easier, isn't it?" Piper said softly. This time, she pulled every fiber of her magic into the notes of her voice.
The maid shivered as Piper's glance swept over her again. Piper's magic was still battling against Medea's in her mind, making the maid confused.
"W-well, it was late at night three days ago so I couldn't get a good look, but a lady with brown hair and brown eyes paid me a pouch of gold and told me in the shadows to p-put salt in a teacup and then serve it to the princess."
"Preposterous! Brown hair and brown eyes, that is clearly a description of you, Princess Piper! How dare you!" Medea slammed her hand against the table. Piper felt a wave of a force pushing back against her own magic.
The sudden action frightened Princess Hazel, who accidentally dropped her teacup, spilling the hot tea over Medea's hand.
"Ow!" Medea cried out, snatching her hand.
"Oops, I'm terribly sorry, Princess Medea! You startled me there. Please forgive me!" Hazel cried out innocently. But the Inferis princess hid a small smirk as Medea shook the hot tea off her hand.
The moment the hot tea had spilled, Piper felt the force pushing against her magic decrease. Medea's rubbed her hand with a handkerchief, and her onyx ring dimmed. Piper took the opportunity to increase her magic once more, quickly overpowering any remnants of Medea's magic.
"There are a lot of people in the castle with brown hair and brown eyes, including some of the other attendees here. Brown eyes, you say?" Piper turned towards the lanky maid. "You said it was dark, but you apparently got a good enough look that a lady with brown eyes and brown hair gave you instructions to salt the tea."
The maid nodded fervently. It was the truth that she had met with a brunette female with brown eyes, but she had lied about meeting in the dark. The maid avoided looking at Baroness Kelli's direction.
Piper smiled. At Piper's carefree smile, Medea frowned with unease. Piper had pointed out the flaw in the maid's version of the story. If it was dark, how could you even tell tell the color of one's eyes or hair? Either the maid had clearly seen who had bribed her, or she was making it up that a brunette had given her instructions.
"Everyone, I'm sure we can trust what we see with our own eyes. What color are my eyes then, young miss?"
The lanky maid stared back. It was no open secret that the princess from Cythera had a spectacular set of eyes. Her irises seemed to reflect every color that nobody could determine a final answer for what color her eyes were.
"I-I don't know. I can't tell," the maid muttered in a miserable voice.
Piper gestured to her own two maids. "None of my maids have brown hair and brown eyes either. So, are you going to claim that it was I who ordered you to do so? I don't even have any Cuora money. All my money is from Cythera and haven't even been exchanged for Cuora gold. There is no way I could have given you the pouch of gold."
"Oh," the maid answered in a small voice. Piper's magic was now in full command. "I-I was told to say that it was Princess Piper," the maid admitted, her eyes full of tears.
The nobility gasped or murmured at the reveal of this new information.
"So who was it that commanded you to do this heinous act?" Crown Princess Thalia demanded.
"You must have heard the voice of that mysterious person." Lady Annabeth said sharply.
"Y-yes, now that you mention it, the lady's voice doesn't sound like Princess Piper."
Baroness Kelli gasped, but most people were not paying attention to her. Medea shot a glance for Kelli, most likely warning her to shut up lest the maid recognized Kelli's voice. However, the maid was already looking in Kelli's direction.
The maid murmured, her eyes drifting towards Kelli again. "Her voice..."
The damage had been done. Many turned towards Kelli, who matched the description of brown hair and brown eyes. Kelli began to protest as people's suspicions turned to her. But why would a lady-in-waiting disgrace her own mistress? The baroness was supposed to be a favored lady of Princess Medea. Unless the target wasn't supposed to be Medea in the first place?
"I came here to give my sincere congratulations. But why does the atmosphere seem quite strange?"
Everyone stood up and curtsied except for Crown Princess Thalia. She had been observing the scene quietly for some time now. "Brother," she greeted.
"Sister," Prince Jason said. "You've outdone yourself this time." He acknowledged the beautiful decorations and the elegant food.
Even some of the married noblewomen were not immune to the way his handsome smile brightened his face.
Piper instinctively rubbed her wrist. These days, she discovered that Jason did not need to touch her for the mark to appear on her wrist. Just simply being near her was enough for the mark to burn.
Shit, Piper cursed in her head. Why was Prince Jason here, and why was he coming closer to her?
Prince Jason stood by her, and she felt a brush against her shoulder. Was he trying to reassure her? She could take care of things just fine by herself. Piper gave Jason a frown.
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Perhaps it was because Piper's facade slipped that Jason's smile grew bigger. In front of him, Piper had never shown a frown before. A gentle smile that belied her emotions, yes. Annoyance, yes, but never displeasure. All the emotions she'd shown were because she was still wary of him. Did she not like his interference? Too bad, he had his own agenda as well.
"Take this maid away," Jason drawled as his men took away the maid. It was also his attempt to protect the maid before the maid could be killed before Jason could get information out of the maid. "I assure you, Princess Medea," as the Colchis Princess was about to protest, "we will get to the bottom of this right away so the truth will be revealed."
Despite this affirmation, Princess Medea did not look happy. Sensing that it wasn't the appropriate expression to have, the princess quickly assumed a grateful look.
"If it is Prince Jason, then my worries are assuaged." The blonde princess curtsied daintily.
"I am honored that I am trustworthy in your eyes," Prince Jason returned. "After all, we must also have justice for Princess Piper who was wrongfully framed."
"Ah, yes, of course."
Princess Medea's voice became chillier, but Jason didn't give a shit about the Colchis princess' mood. The woman beside him was all he cared about.
"Now then, I have prepared gifts for everyone here."
Jason's servants brought out the gifts. A beautiful silver bow was given to the Crown Princess, since he knew that Thalia had broken her favorite one fighting off an assassin three weeks prior.
"How beautiful." Thalia was pleased.
"As for the rest of the ladies, I hope you find these flowers to your liking."
Since it was winter, it would normally be difficult to find blooming flowers. These were dahlias freshly cut from the royal greenhouse where magic was used to sustain flowers even in winter. The noblewomen exclaimed over the gift, except for Lady Annabeth. She had received a bouquet of blue roses instead of dahlias, their fragrance lovely in the air.
"I'm afraid I can't claim credit for your flowers, Lady Annabeth, since your fiance has decreed that no man should give you flowers except for him. He wouldn't make an exception even for me, a prince." Jason teased lightly.
Lady Annabeth's face flushed but she was clearly happy with the roses. "Then I must at least thank you for bringing them over to me, Your Highness. No doubt the Duke saw you bringing the dahlias over did he think to gift these roses."
"You indeed have a caring fiance, Lady Annabeth." Jason said. "I only hope my future bride will see me as half as caring as Duke Jackson. By the way, Princess Piper, your earrings are quite lovely."
Piper looked startled at his sudden compliment but recovered quickly. "Thank you, Prince Jason. Your Highness is quite adept at selecting gifts."
"I thought that sapphires might suit you." Jason's eyes twinkled at her.
"They're not half as lovely as the color of your eyes, Your Highness."
The attendees watched this exchange with interest. So far, Prince Jason had not supported any candidate, treating each princess equally. But now Jason was publicly flirting with Princess Piper and even gifted her earrings the color of his eyes. Those from the aristocratic faction were quite confused, as Prince Jason was supposed to side with Princess Medea. As for those from the neutral faction, they would take it as Jason preparing to select Princess Piper as his future bride.
Princes Jason addressed the tea party with a few more elegant words before exiting graciously. Piper glanced at him, perplexed, but Jason only gave her a small smile that revealed nothing.
As he walked away from the Dahlia Palace, Jason dropped his smile. Jason had gotten word of Lady Annabeth's plan but didn't do anything to prevent it from happening. In fact, he also had an infertility drug added to the salt, hoping that the salt would cover the drug's taste. The drug was strong enough that only a sip would do the deed. Unfortunately, he had been informed that Princess Medea had taken only a mouthful of tea and had spat the majority out. Pity. If Princess Medea had only ingested less than a sip of that drugged tea, then it might not have worked.
Shame, really quite a shame.
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Back in her assigned quarters, Princess Medea slammed down her teacup. After the day's mishap, Medea thought the maids had some nerve trying to serve her tea. She stared at the full teacup with hatred, remembering how she had been humiliated at the tea party. That loss of her reputation would be very hard to come back from. The Cuora aristocratic faction was demanding answers, wondering why the prince seemed to be favoring the Cythera princess instead of Medea.
Medea snarled inwardly. No matter how much jewels she adorned herself or worked fascination magic onto the prince, Prince Jason did not treat her any differently until now. Just what did that Cythera witch do to him?
"Get me some wine. Now!" She ordered her maids, who quickly scrambled away to do her bidding. It was a blessing that she didn't throw the steaming hot teacup at them.
Kneeling on the ground where Medea sat was Kelli. Kelli's head was bowed so Medea couldn't see her expression, but Medea didn't give a shit that Kelli was in such a shameful position.
"Explain to me what happened today." Medea's words cut into Kelli's body as the baroness jerked.
"I-I don't know, Your Highness. The maid should have performed everything perfectly. I told her to place the salt in Princess Piper's cup, not yours, I swear!" Kelli cried out.
Princess Medea gnashed her teeth. No matter how much she could berate Kelli, the fact remained that her plan had failed. The fault lay somewhere during the time where the maid had put the salt and when the tea was served. But Medea couldn't interrogate the maid, who was now locked up. Even Medea's spies were having a hard time penetrating the fortress of a prison the royal family had. Had her plans leaked out, and there was a double agent inside her own camp?
The only ones who knew of the plan were her two personal and trusted maids she had brought from Colchis, Baroness Kelli, and that stupid maid, who couldn't have known that it was Medea who ordered the salty tea since Medea had used Kelli as a shield. There was no way her personal maids let it slip, so was it Baroness Kelli? The mentioned woman still lay prostate on the floor, her shoulders trembling.
"Get up," Medea said coldly.
Kelli got to her feet, shaky.
"I gave you a title and money, yet you failed at such a simple task."
Medea stood up and gripped Kelli's throat tightly, her long fingernails digging into the skin. She felt the familiar flow of power seep into her voice. "Do not fail me again on this next task. Bring that Cythera bitch's head before me, or yours will substitute."
She released the Baroness, her body dropping to the floor as Kelli gasped for air.
Medea ignored the struggling woman as she sipped on her red wine, the color similar to blood rubies.
Eyes that turned into a kaleidoscope of colors, huh? Medea suddenly had an inkling to dig those very eyes out and display them on the Cuora throne room once she became queen.