Please Support Revenge

There was silence as Jade and Lobelia took their respective seats. Feeling awkward in the silence, Lobelia looked at Jade, but he seemed indifferent. I should get some rest as well, she thought. She drew the curtains halfway and admired the remaining two parts of the opera. Midway through, she glanced at Jade. It must be true that he had seen the same show dozens of times, as he was listening to the duet of the two lead actors with a bored expression. Still, his aura was formidable as always.

Lobelia realized it was like a dream that she had just spoken comfortably with him. When he entered the lounge, she remembered the awe in the eyes of the people who stared at him—and the shock on their faces when he had defended her. Lobelia was no exception. Was it a fair exchange, or was he being generous? She needed to keep the scales balanced at all times.

Yes, I can’t ask someone like this to get an invitation to Countess Dora’s salon.

Just as Lobelia thought so, Jade turned to her. When their eyes met, Lobelia was taken aback. She tried to divert her gaze, but somehow she couldn’t. For once, his aura stifled her.

“Why are you staring at me so intently?” Jade asked sullenly, oblivious to her nervousness.

“Did you notice?”

“It would be strange if I didn’t notice someone staring at me like that,” he said, looking at her with a puzzled face. He brushed his chin with one hand and asked, “Do I have something on my face?”

Lobelia shook her head blankly. “It’s nothing. You don’t have to worry about it,” she said, turning her gaze to the stage. She prayed he would ignore her. She remained unmoved as she watched the last scene unfold through the double panes separating the two actors. In the middle of the performance, Jade had called an employee to instruct him to do something, but Lobelia pretended not to notice. As the duet ended and the climax took place, Jade looked at Lobelia. Feeling his gaze, she spun around and looked back into his eyes.

“Why are you doing that?” she asked.

“Cake,” replied Jade. His voice was calm and natural, as if he was continuing a conversation that had been interrupted earlier. “I told them to bring a new one.”

“Pardon?”

“You wanted to eat in Part 1, but you didn’t touch it, did you?” Jade shrugged. Just in time, an employee with a wide silver tray opened the door and walked in. Lobelia could hardly form a sentence after beholding the scrumptious cakes on the silver tray. The employee greeted them politely as he set the sweets and tea on the table and quickly left.

“Why are you doing this…” Lobelia muttered absentmindedly.

“Whenever we ate together at the mansion, you rarely touched the food, only the sweets.”  Jade said as he placed the silver fork beside her plate. “Almost nothing sweet is served in the mansion because that’s how I like my meals,” he continued. After speaking, he stared at Lobelia. He seemed to wonder why she hadn’t raised a finger.

Lobelia clasped her hands on her lap. She could feel the scale leaning slightly to one side.

Risky. Risky. Risky. It can’t be like this.

Only for such a minor favor, one would say. But Lobelia had never tasted the slightest favor in her entire life, whatever form it took.

“No one is watching here, so it’s okay if you don’t have to be nice,” Lobelia said, struggling to level the scales again.

For a moment, Jade’s eyes hardened. He looked like he had realized something belatedly. “Right,” he replied, “I don’t have to act out here.”

The two remained silent until the end of the opera. As the curtains closed on the stage, applause echoed through the opera house. Still, no one touched the cake.

* * *

As promised, Elyan obtained an invitation to Countess Dora’s salon party. The invitation was delivered in an ivory envelope to Lobelia at the duke’s manor. Lobelia, who had checked the recipient on the outside, was about to open the envelope with her hand when Hilda slipped over a paper knife.

“Use this,” she said.

“What is it?” Lobelia asked.

“You use it when you open a letter. Like this.” Hilda made a fake incision along the envelope’s edge to demonstrate. Unbeknownst to her, Lobelia was already thinking of the things she could use the paper knife with.

It will come in handy later, she thought as she opened the envelope with the paper knife. She flipped the cut envelope over and shook it slightly, and two colorful gilded cards popped out. On one of the cards, Lobelia double-checked the salon party’s theme and date before signing it. The list of invitations would be verified upon receipt of signed cards.

Just in time, the tailored dress also arrived, and Lobelia spent busy days preparing for the salon party a week later.