The Duke's Daughter Is A Villainess (10)

Stella's debutante ball was a great success, and it seemed she really did manage to find a few friends amongst the younger guests. Dahlia was watching it all with a proud little smile as the duke bragged about his new daughter to the other parents attending.

Though Noah didn't speak to them again that night, Dahlia knew that it would only be a matter of days until she would see him again. It was likely that tonight he would return to the palace and look deeper into the matter of Stella and the supposedly dead princess.

In the mean time, while Dahlia was waiting for an invitation to the palace to arrive, she did a few more tasks here and there to collect more points. Most of them were mundane things, like helping Stella get dressed one day, getting the duke a present, or even helping some of the maids or knights with specific problems. All the tasks were designed to help her achieve her end goal, so with every extra task she completed it seemed she was gaining more and more of a positive reputation.

Her name was even beginning to spread to the commoners, who were usually not very involved in the lives and goings ons of the nobles. Dahlia made a point to go out to town often, sometimes with Stella or sometimes on her own, but it was often enough that a lot of the people who worked in the shops she frequented knew her by name. Dahlia would always treat them kindly and respectfully, so she was a favourite amongst a lot of them.

Any time the store owners would gather together to drink and complain about how nobles were making a fuss in their shop again or how they were unjustly demanding and hard to please, the people who got to serve Dahlia would always brag about her presence in their establishment. Dahlia ended up becoming somewhat of an idol to the towns people of Lunaria, to no one's shock but her own.

Just as Dahlia was beginning to get bored, an invitation for the Baudelaire family to visit the palace arrived.

The duke thought it was strange, but since it was the royal family, he couldn't refuse. So on a bright Tuesday morning, the three Baudelaires climbed onto a carriage headed for the palace.

On the way there, Dahlia quizzed Stella on the proper way to address the royal family as the Duke rested with his eyes closed. Dahlia herself was quite excited. She had a 'Rumour Rumour' talisman for Alice waiting in her pocket and she could not wait to finally put her plans in motion.

Everything was going to happen in the palace, this was where the story really started, and it was where Dahlia was going to change everything.

[Host, are you nervous?]

~Nervous? Not really. I'm excited! I'll finally get to see the heroine in the flesh!

[....I hope you don't get too distracted from your objective....]

~Hey, I know what I'm doing, okay?

[...I'm not convinced. Why don't you purchase another item? You can do a lot more at the palace with more items!]

~Well... I guess I could. What've you got for me?

[Let's see.... oh! There's the 'Love Scenario' gun you can purchase with 80 points! If you shoot someone with this gun, I will be able to manipulate this world and create a love scenario for the both of you.]

~What kind of love scenarios?

[Something like... you're not looking at where you're going then bump into them and you lock eyes!! Or someone's about to attack you and they save you!!! Or even you trip and injure your ankle and so they have to carry you!!!!! Or-]

~Okay! That's enough! I get it... I'm not sure that will be useful or not though.

[What are you talking about???? Love scenarios are the best way to start a romance!!!!]

~Have you been watching too many movies or something?

[.....Maybe.....]

~....Ugh, fine. I'll take one 'Love Scenario' gun.

[Purchase completed. 80 points have been deducted from your points collection, rendering the total amount of points you have to 230. The 'Love Scenario' gun can now be found in your dress pocket.]

~This better be worth it...

[You won't regret this, Host! I promise!]