The Duke's Daughter Is A Villainess (8)

A week passed by in a flash. Stella worked hard in her lessons, and Dahlia worked hard completing some daily tasks as well as furthering her plans for becoming the new heroine of the story.

The timing of the talisman worked out perfectly. Coincidentally, when she put the talisman on, that was also when the invitations for Stella's debutante ball were mailed out. Before long, people started to discuss the new Baudelaire daughter, and about how they heard a rumour that Dahlia was the one that brought her into the family.

There were different variants of the rumours about Dahlia and Stella, some people saying that they heard Dahlia had rescued Stella from drowning and then adopted her on the spot, while other people were saying that Stella was a sickly child and Dahlia brought her home to give her a better life before she died. Either way, all the rumours seemed to lead to one conclusion, that Dahlia was this child's saviour.

Previous to this event, though Dahlia was well known for being Duke Baudelaire's treasured daughter, no one was really sure what she was like as a person. They'd heard of how she was in love with Prince Noah and chased after him constantly, but those kind of stories were very common and so no one paid much attention to it. Originally, according to the plot, Dahlia's reputation would plummet once she discovered the identity of Alice, as she would visit the palace almost daily to cause a ruckus there and try to bully Alice every time.

Right now, while she was still mostly unknown, her reputation had unexpectedly soared to new heights. While Dahlia thought it was thanks to the talisman, in truth it only did a small part compared to the Baudelaire staff.

The maids and servants who worked in the Baudelaire estate began to gossip about Dahlia, specifically about how kind she had become. The chefs talked about how she once cooked them all breakfast, the maids talked about how she now remembered all their names and spoke to them as if they were friends, and the Baudelaire knights spoke about how she saved a poor orphan child by bringing it home to the estate.

[.....]

The system saw this all and felt somewhat aggrieved. Dahlia didn't even need Buddy at all for this!

The first prince, meanwhile, only felt confused as the rumours finally reached his ears. His original impression of Dahlia was as if she was just a pesky little fly, someone who constantly hovered around him despite him repeatedly turning her down. Then he had received a letter from Duke Baudelaire that felt more like a slap in the face than anything. He remembered not believing the contents of the letter, as the duke had implied that Dahlia wasn't interested in Noah anymore and even implied that she felt the opposite now... that she disliked him. Noah, having experienced Dahlia chasing after him first hand, obviously thought that this was just a lie and that this was just some sort of trick or gimmick.

But then she really stopped showing up. In fact, he stopped hearing about her all together until the rumours. The letter he received from the duke paired with the new rumours had him rethinking... maybe she really wasn't interested in him anymore and changed. Thinking that, he felt less conflicted about attending the Baudelaire's ball for their new daughter. Originally he was heavily considering cancelling due to Dahlia's presence, but if what the rumours were saying was true, then he probably wouldn't have to worry too much. And he was truly curious about the new Baudelaire daughter. The news came so sudden and out of nowhere, everyone was wondering about it.

"Noah? What are you thinking about?"

As Alice's sweet voice left her mouth, Noah suddenly jerked to attention and couldn't help but smile brightly.

"Nothing. What are you doing, Alice?"

Looking at Alice, any and all other thoughts were completely suppressed. Noah always felt like this when he was in her presence, as if the two of them were the only people in the world.

"I was just going to deliver this tea to your mother." Alice replied, smiling gently.

Noah felt his heartbeat quicken. "Oh? I'll go with you then, I was just thinking of visiting her."

"Okay."

As the two of them walked to the Queen's room, they discussed many different topics. Noah asked Alice about what her work was like now that she was an official maid, and Alice asked Noah about the kind of things he had to do as a prince. This was becoming a usual routine for them, casually chatting while Alice was on her way somewhere. While Alice was thinking that it was nice to have a close friend like him, Noah was desperately wishing that one of these days she would notice him as a man.

Dahlia, in the mean time, was more or less completely carefree as she continued to help prepare for Stella's Debutante ball.