The seating chart was a single small card.
But the moment I saw it, I thought it was closer to a blade than a piece of paper.
A round table.
The names written upon it.
Seria Blanc.
Liana Bell.
Eveline Rosette.
Eloise Berhardt.
The other young ladies.
The names had been arranged with refinement.
Which made it all the more blatant.
Seria Blanc was seated to Liana Bell’s right.
Eveline Rosette was to her left.
And seated across from Eveline was Eloise Berhardt.
Potential victim.
Potential scapegoat.
Potential berserker.
With the shadow of House Berhardt added to the mix.
Someone had laid out a route to ruin on the table, beautifully arranged.
Like teacups.
I placed a sheet of paper beside the seating chart and picked up my pen.
"First, we’ll send a request to change the seating arrangements."
Eveline immediately asked,
"Will they accept it?"
"Probably not."
"Then why send it?"
"Because we need a record that they refused."
Eveline understood that at once now.
Before, she would have cursed first if I said something like that.
Now, she looked down at her handkerchief and thought.
Her handkerchief was still perfectly smooth.
Not bad.
Liana Bell was studying the seating chart, her face slightly pale.
Only after a long while did she carefully speak.
"Are you trying to change the seats because of me?"
"Yes."
I did not hide it.
Liana’s shoulders drew in.
"I’m sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize for."
"But if I hadn’t been there..."
"Someone else would have been put in your place."
I tapped the seating chart with my finger.
"In this game, Miss Liana is less the cause than a tool. A tool someone can use easily. So what we need to do isn’t feel guilty. It’s find out who is holding the handle."
Liana lightly bit her lip.
The words probably did not comfort her.
But they were accurate.
Too many people in this world are ruined because they never hear accurate words.
I wrote the first line of the letter.
[To Lady Seria Blanc of the Ducal House of Blanc.]
The wording had to be polite.
It could not be aggressive.
Nor could it seem anxious.
Above all, it had to be written so that the other party’s refusal would carry meaning.
I moved my pen.
[Lady Eveline Rosette of the Count Rosette household requests an adjustment, in accordance with etiquette, regarding the seating chart confirmed upon its arrival.]
Eveline looked over my shoulder at the letter and asked,
"In accordance with etiquette?"
"If we write that it is for emotional reasons, we lose immediately."
"I know that."
"You understand it well."
"That annoys me."
"It was a compliment."
"That’s why it annoys me."
I ignored her and continued writing.
[Saint Candidate Liana Bell has only recently been introduced to the capital’s social circles and has been the focus of much attention since yesterday’s ball. Therefore, if she is seated between ladies of two high-ranking noble houses, regardless of her own wishes, it may appear that she represents a position between certain families.]
Liana quietly caught her breath.
She wore the expression of someone seeing the anxiety she had felt put into words for the first time.
I continued the letter.
[Accordingly, House Rosette requests a modest adjustment to the seating arrangements, both to reduce the burden on Miss Liana Bell and to ensure the peaceful proceedings of the Ducal House of Blanc’s tea party.]
"A modest adjustment?"
Eveline muttered.
"Why do the words slide around like that?"
"Noble letters need to be slippery if they are to last."
"How irritating."
"That is normal."
I wrote the final line.
[We request a response to this matter by the morning of the day before the tea party. Should a response be difficult, we will understand the current seating arrangement to be the confirmed intention of the Ducal House of Blanc.]
I set down the pen.
Eveline narrowed her eyes as she read the final sentence.
"Is this a threat?"
"No."
"It sounds like one."
"It is a record."
"It’s a threat disguised as a record."
"In noble society, that is called an official document."
Liana nearly laughed softly, then hurriedly pressed her lips shut.
Eveline noticed, but she did not get angry.
Instead, she read the letter once more.
"If they refuse, it means the Ducal House of Blanc deliberately kept the seats fixed."
"At the very least, we can ask whether that was the case."
"And if they accept?"
"Then the seats change. That would be good."
"Either way, we win?"
"That is what makes it a letter."
Eveline snatched up the pen.
"Send it in my name."
"It would be better under the count’s household name."
"No. In my name."
I looked at her.
Eveline did not avoid my gaze.
"It’s the tea party I’m attending. It’s the seat I’ll be sitting in. If I don’t act myself, it will look as though someone acted for me."
She was right.
Precisely right.
Eveline Rosette was beginning to realize that she was a piece on the board.
And she was trying to become a player rather than a piece.
I slid the letter toward her.
"Then sign it yourself."
Eveline signed it.
[Eveline Rosette.]
Her handwriting was a little sharp.
But it did not waver.
A system window appeared.
[Eveline Rosette: Drafted a response document under her own name]
[Alternative to Berserk Behavior: Documentation]
[Poisoner Framing Event Success Rate: 52% -> 49%]
Three percent.
Small.
But important.
The moment anger becomes words, a person becomes harder to manipulate.
The reply arrived only three hours later.
Too quickly.
A quick response meant one of two things.
Either they were truly diligent.
Or they had already prepared it.
In noble society, the former was rare.
I opened the envelope.
Blue wax.
A lily and a serpent.
Once again, it bore the crest of the Ducal House of Blanc.
The letter inside was brief.
[To Lady Eveline Rosette.]
[Thank you for your courteous request.]
[However, the seating for this tea party has already been finalized in consideration of status, first entry into society, the movements at the previous day’s ball, and the burden upon those attending.]
[In particular, to ensure that Miss Liana Bell does not feel uncomfortable in an unfamiliar setting, we have chosen an arrangement in which the two young ladies receiving the most attention sit on either side of her, naturally offering her protection.]
[Therefore, a change of seating will be difficult.]
[Seria Blanc of the Ducal House of Blanc.]
I set down the letter.
The instant Eveline read it, she bared her teeth.
"Protection?"
"Yes."
"She puts me up as a shield and calls it protection?"
"More precisely, she has put both you and Seria Blanc up as shields."
Liana’s face grew even paler.
"Using the words ‘to protect me’..."
"They have fixed you in the center."
"Then if I refuse..."
"You become the person who rejected protection."
Eveline spoke quietly.
"Disgusting."
"Noble etiquette."
"No. This is simply disgusting."
That was true.
I took out a fresh sheet of paper beside the letter.
Then I wrote.
[Request to Change Seating: Refused.]
[Reason for Refusal: Protection of Liana Bell.]
[Effect: Fixes Liana between Eveline and Seria.]
Liana stared at the words for a long time.
"Seeing it written down... I feel like I’m becoming less stupid."
Eveline turned her head.
"You weren’t stupid."
Liana looked at Eveline in surprise.
Eveline seemed a little surprised herself after the words left her mouth.
But she did not retreat.
"You just didn’t know."
It was short.
Blunt.
Yet strangely accurate.
After a moment, Liana slightly lowered her head.
"Thank you."
Eveline looked out the window, her expression uncomfortable.
"It wasn’t something to thank me for."
A system window appeared.
[The relationship between Eveline Rosette and Liana Bell is changing.]
[One-Sided Hostility: Deactivated]
[Trust Amid Mutual Wariness: Slightly Formed]
Good.
Relationships did not change all at once.
But if words could take the place where a blade had been lowered, that was a beginning.
The problem remained.
The seating was fixed.
Next came the first cup.
"You must not refuse the first cup."
I was not the one who said it.
It was Beatrice Morgan.
She arrived at the Count Rosette household late in the afternoon.
A gray dress.
Immaculate gloves.
A posture straight as a needle.
She was the female instructor who had nearly killed Eveline with etiquette before sending her into the ballroom.
Honestly, I was a little glad to see her.
There were many frightening people in this world, but few frightening people one could trust.
At least when it came to etiquette, Beatrice Morgan took no one’s side.
She read both the seating chart and the letters, then delivered her assessment in a single sentence.
"Perfectly rude."
Eveline lifted her head.
"It is rude, right?"
"Yes. But outwardly, it is perfectly polite. That makes it worse."
An expert indeed.
A good etiquette teacher was not someone who knew etiquette in order to torment people.
They were someone who knew how people used etiquette to torment other people.
Beatrice examined the jar of tea leaves as well.
She did not bring her nose close to it.
Like Clara, she created a breeze with her hand.
Then she immediately said,
"The fragrance is excessively uniform."
"You know about it?"
When I asked, she looked at me.
"If a person who teaches tea etiquette does not know fragrances, they are a fraud."
"I see."
"Teacher, you occasionally ask obvious questions in a rude manner."
"I hear that often."
"For good reason."
Eveline gave a very quiet laugh beside us.
When Beatrice looked at her, Eveline immediately composed her expression.
Even Eveline was still a little tense around Beatrice.
That was good.
There were fears in this world that helped people grow.
Beatrice sat at the table.
"Let us summarize. The seating will not change. Drinking the first cup is dangerous. But refusing the first cup insults the host. In particular, refusing tea at a tea party held by the Ducal House of Blanc? That creates a grudge longer-lasting than a challenge to a duel."
Eveline grumbled.
"All this trouble over one cup of tea."
"Do you not stake your family’s honor on a single sword? Tea is the same sort of tool to them."
Eveline fell silent.
Explaining it through swords was faster.
Beatrice looked at Liana.
"Miss Liana Bell. You must not refuse the first cup."
Liana nodded with a tense expression.
"Yes."
"But you must not drink it immediately, either."
Liana grew even more tense.
"Then what should I do?"
Beatrice snapped shut her fan.
Snap.
It was a small sound, but the entire training hall fell silent.
"Do not refuse it. Delay it."
The moment I heard those words, I picked up my pen.
A good sentence.
You did not refuse the first cup.
You delayed the first cup.
Beatrice continued.
"When a fine fragrant tea is served, a guest may praise its aroma and ask the host to explain it rather than drinking immediately. It is not rude. On the contrary, it is etiquette that praises the host’s discernment."
Liana cautiously asked,
"May I say something like that?"
"You must."
"But I do not know much about tea..."
"That is why you ask. If you pretend to know, you will make a fool of yourself. If you drink in silence, you will be used. Bring up the fact that you do not know, politely."
Beatrice immediately gave an example.
"Say this. ‘The fragrance is truly lovely. I am not well versed in tea, so may I ask from which region these tea leaves come?’"
Liana repeated it.
"The fragrance is truly lovely. I am not well versed in tea, so..."
Her voice wavered.
Beatrice did not give her an inch.
"Again. Do not bow so deeply. It sounds like an apology, not a question."
Liana tried again.
"The fragrance is truly lovely. I am not well versed in tea, so may I ask from which region these tea leaves come?"
"Again. Do not raise your tone at ‘may I ask.’ It sounds as though you are begging for permission."
Eveline muttered beside her,
"Terrifying."
Beatrice’s gaze turned to Eveline.
"Lady Rosette, you must do it as well."
"Me?"
"Of course. You are seated beside Miss Liana Bell. If you remain silent, it becomes pressure. If you interrupt, it becomes a berserk outburst. Therefore, carry on her question."
"Carry on what?"
"The question."
Beatrice held up a teacup.
"Miss Liana Bell asks about the region of origin. Then Lady Rosette adds this: ‘Then it would be proper to take the first cup after hearing the explanation.’"
Eveline frowned.
"That sounds unbearably oily."
"At times, oily words save lives."
"I would rather pick up a sword."
"That is why I am here."
Beatrice was firm.
I wanted to applaud quietly.
But I restrained myself, since clapping might make me a subject of the lesson too.
The training began at once.
Liana delivered the first line.
Eveline picked it up.
I recorded from the side.
Beatrice cut off incorrect breathing patterns with her fan.
"The fragrance is truly lovely. I am not well versed in tea, so may I ask from which region these tea leaves come?"
"Then it would be proper to take the first cup after hearing the explanation."
"Lady Rosette, the ending sounded as though you were inviting someone to fight."
"I am inviting someone to fight."
"Fight with etiquette. Again."
"Then it would be proper to take the first cup after hearing the explanation."
"This time, it sounds as though you are sneering."
"That woman is doing something worth sneering at."
"Which is why you must not sneer, my lady. The best way to expose another’s rudeness is not to abandon your own manners."
Eveline clenched her teeth.
Her handkerchief nearly crumpled.
But she stopped herself.
She spoke again.
"Then it would be proper to take the first cup after hearing the explanation."
This time, it was acceptable.
Beatrice gave a small nod.
"That will suffice to keep you from killing anyone at the tea party."
"Was that praise?"
"The highest praise."
Eveline looked thoroughly displeased.
A system window appeared.
[Justification for Declining the First Cup Has Been Created.]
[Classification: Etiquette-Based Delay Rather Than Refusal]
[Liana Bell: Speaking Stability Increased]
[Eveline Rosette: Acquired Etiquette Conversion Response]
[Poisoner Framing Event Success Rate: 49% -> 44%]
Good.
Refusal was an attack.
Delay was procedure.
The moment that distinction was grasped, the first cup became evidence rather than a weapon.
But it was still not enough.
I looked at Beatrice.
"Instructor Morgan."
"Go ahead."
"Could you attend with us?"
Eveline and Liana looked at me at the same time.
As though she had expected it, Beatrice lowered her eyes.
"To the Ducal House of Blanc’s tea party?"
"Yes."
"I have not been invited."
"That is why we will request it."
"It will be refused."
"We need a record of that refusal."
Beatrice looked at me for a moment.
Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
"Teacher, you have a talent for making people uncomfortable."
"I hear that often."
"This time, it is not praise."
"I know."
Beatrice looked over the seating chart again.
Her gaze passed in turn over Seria Blanc’s seat, Liana’s seat, Eveline’s seat, and Eloise Berhardt’s seat.
Then she said quietly,
"This is not a tea party. It is an execution block covered in etiquette."
Liana’s face stiffened.
Eveline did not get angry.
She understood at least that much now.
Beatrice closed her fan.
"Fine. Write the request. But I will decide the justification."
"What justification?"
"Follow-up instruction after Lady Rosette’s return to society. An etiquette instructor’s attendance to ensure that, after yesterday’s ball, she has fully learned tea etiquette as well."
Eveline frowned.
"That means I am still lacking."
"It is true."
"You say it too directly."
"I am not paid to lie."
She was a good person.
Frightening, but a good person.
Beatrice continued.
"With that justification, it will be difficult for the Ducal House of Blanc to refuse. Since it is on the grounds of correcting Lady Rosette’s etiquette, a refusal would make it appear that the Ducal House of Blanc is obstructing a guest’s etiquette training. If they accept, I become a witness at the scene."
"Either way, we win."
"Is that not the method you like, Teacher?"
"It is."
"How unpleasant."
This time, Eveline nearly laughed for real.
I wrote the second request.
This time, Beatrice Morgan’s name was included.
[House Rosette requests the attendance of Lady Beatrice Morgan for follow-up instruction following Lady Eveline Rosette’s return to society.]
[The purpose of the attendance is tea etiquette correction and documentation, and she will not interfere with the host’s proceedings.]
[However, should it be necessary for educational purposes, we ask for your understanding that she may advise Lady Rosette regarding her remarks and actions alone.]
After reading it, Eveline asked,
"She can only advise me about my actions?"
"Yes."
"Then what about Miss Liana?"
"She cannot advise her directly."
Liana looked a little anxious.
I added one line to the bottom of the letter.
[However, general answers to etiquette-related questions from other attendees at the same table fall within the attending observer’s authority.]
Beatrice read the sentence and nodded.
"That will do."
"Thank you."
"It is not praise yet."
"I will receive it someday."
"Where does that confidence come from?"
"The desire to survive."
"You are an exceptionally tiring man."
I heard that often as well.
The second reply came just before evening.
Once again, it was fast.
That meant it had already been prepared.
The Ducal House of Blanc had been waiting.
To see what move we would make.
I opened the envelope.
The letter was in Seria Blanc’s handwriting.
[To Teacher Leon Cart.]
This time, Eveline spoke first.
"Why do they keep sending things to you?"
"I would like to know as well."
"How obnoxious."
"I think so too."
I read the letter.
[We gladly accept Lady Beatrice Morgan’s request to attend.]
[We hope Lady Rosette’s return to society continues smoothly, and the Ducal House of Blanc will likewise extend every courtesy possible.]
[However, attendance will be limited to one observer.]
[Teacher may use the garden-side record seat.]
I narrowed my eyes.
A record seat.
Seria had not excluded me.
Instead, she had given me a separate seat.
Outside the table.
But in a place where I could see.
A seat from which it would be difficult to intervene but easy to record.
Was she testing me?
Or was she trying to use me as eyes she needed?
I did not know yet.
The letter was not over.
[Ah, and regarding the first cup Teacher is concerned about.]
[I will drink the first cup myself.]
[That should put you somewhat at ease.]
Eveline snatched the letter away.
After reading it, she frowned.
"Doesn’t that mean it is safe?"
"It could."
"And it might not?"
"Yes."
Beatrice said quietly,
"A host drinking the first cup before their guests is etiquette meant to reassure them. But that etiquette does not guarantee the safety of every cup."
Liana asked softly,
"What if it is not the first cup?"
At that question, a system window appeared.
[First Cup Avoidance Strategy Confirmed]
[A New Warning Has Occurred.]
[Warning: It Is Not the First Cup.]
I set down the letter.
Right.
Of course it would not be that easy.
The first cup was bait.
Everyone would watch the first cup.
Seria would drink first.
Everyone would relax.
Liana would relax too.
Even Eveline would let out her breath for a moment.
And then the incident would occur afterward.
The second cup.
Or the sugar.
Or the water.
Or the moment the cups were switched.
Or perhaps the moment someone who had not drunk the tea collapsed.
I wrote a new line on the paper.
[The first cup is bait.]
Eveline saw the sentence and folded her handkerchief.
Very slowly.
"Then we just do not drink the second cup?"
"Then a third cup will probably come."
"This is truly irritating."
"It is an information war."
"Is it always this frustrating?"
"Yes."
"I know. I know that well enough to hate it now."
Liana cautiously raised her hand.
"Then what should I watch for at the tea party?"
It was a good question.
Yesterday’s Liana would have asked, ‘May I go?’
Now she was asking, ‘What should I watch for?’
I told her,
"Watch your own physical condition."
Liana blinked.
"My body?"
"Yes. Whether you are dizzy, whether your fingertips tingle, whether the scent is too strong, whether your stomach is empty, whether you have had water. Say all of it aloud. Do not let someone else explain it for you."
Eveline asked,
"What about me?"
"You watch people."
"Who?"
"Watch who grows uncomfortable when Miss Liana speaks. Watch who relaxes when Seria drinks the first cup. Watch who averts their eyes first when the Berhardt name comes up."
Eveline’s eyes became calm.
"And the sword?"
"Leave it behind."
"I know."
This time, she did not protest.
"What about my handkerchief?"
"Take it with you."
"Why?"
"Because it will remind you of everything you have learned so far."
Eveline looked down at her handkerchief.
The handkerchief that had not been crumpled.
It had nearly been torn apart in the first lesson.
It had survived the ballroom.
And now it was going to the tea party.
She quietly folded the handkerchief and tucked it into her bodice.
A system window appeared.
[Tea Party Response Preparation Status]
[Record of Seating Change Request: Secured]
[Record of Seating Change Refusal: Secured]
[Justification for Delaying the First Cup: Secured]
[Attending Witness: Beatrice Morgan Secured]
[Liana Bell’s Independent Speaking: In Training]
[Eveline Rosette’s Berserk Suppression: In Training]
[Poisoner Framing Event Success Rate: 44% -> 38%]
Thirty-eight percent.
It had fallen considerably.
But it was still high.
In this world, thirty-eight percent was enough to kill me.
And enough to make one villainess into a criminal.
I looked once more at the final line of the letter.
[I will drink the first cup myself.]
Why had Seria Blanc written that sentence?
To make us trust her?
To make us suspect her?
Or...
To tell us not to watch only the first cup?
The Smiling Poison-Tongued Woman.
A woman who had stabbed at everyone’s weaknesses with words, and whom no one trusted because of it.
And now, she was slowly leaking the shape of her own ruin to us.
I still did not trust her.
But I knew one thing.
Seria Blanc was not a fool.
And if someone who was not a fool had sent tea leaves that smelled like a trap, a seating chart, and a warning about the first cup herself...
Then it was not a simple provocation.
It was a distress signal.
A thoroughly obnoxious distress signal sent by someone who could not say, ‘Save me.’
I picked up my pen.
The final record before the tea party.
[Do not avoid it.]
[Do not walk into it exactly as laid out, either.]
[Leave proof that the trap is a trap.]
I added one more line beneath it.
[Warning: It Is Not the First Cup.]
Outside the window, darkness had fallen completely.
Less than a day remained until the tea party.
[Time Remaining: 23 Hours]
The next day.
We would go to the Ducal House of Blanc.
Without swords.
Without poison.
And to avoid drinking the first cup.
Wearing the most polite expressions possible.
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