[color=lightgray][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/YGxzxVR.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/AVwIuBJ.png[/img][/center]
[color=D0B4EC]Time:[/color] Evening 
[color=D0B4EC]Location:[/color] Castle Dining Hall
[color=D0B4EC]Attire:[/color] [url=i.imgur.com/ErZIgzY.jpeg[/url]Dress[/url], [url=i.imgur.com/2SBcciZ.png]Amulet[/url]
[color=D0B4EC]Interaction:[/color] [@Tae] Thea [@Helo] Leo
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Charlotte blinked in surprise as Leo’s arm gently wrapped around her shoulders. Without hesitation, she leaned into the warmth and offered him a brief, full-on genuine embrace.[color=D0B4EC]“Thank you, Leo… Don't worry, I'm okay.”[/color] Her gaze followed the direction of his gesture as he pointed toward Lorenzo and Fritz, and she gave a small nod, the usual practiced smile blooming on her lips, as if that single moment of acknowledgment could chase away the storm still quietly churning inside her. 

[color=9AF781]“Oh, absolutely. Thea and I had a wonderful talk over breakfast. [i]She knows everything.[/i] And she’s willing to help as well.”[/color] Charlotte's gaze snapped to Thea, and it felt as if her heart had twisted. A sharp pang of worry gripped her chest. The thought of her being drawn into this darkness made Charlotte’s stomach churn. She understood why Leo had confided in his sister, especially after what he’d endured; of course he'd seek her support. 

Yet... It felt in that moment as if she had poisoned another person she cared about.

[color=9AF781]“Doesn’t matter who else is here tonight, you’re surrounded by allies. Everything will be alright.”[/color] 

Charlotte nodded, lips twitching into something that might’ve been a smile, but the light didn’t quite reach her eyes. She wanted to believe him. She truly did.

But a strange heaviness had settled over her, as if the room had suddenly grown colder. She could have sworn she had seen the lights flicker, or maybe her eyes had. 

Her gaze grew unfocused as her thoughts blurred, but then Victoria's voice drew Charlotte’s attention. Her words were laced with scorn as they cut through the ambient hum of the banquet. Charlotte’s fingers curled tightly around the fabric of her gown as she listened to the onslaught.

It was an all-too-familiar rhythm—cruelty veiled in jest, judgment hidden behind carefully chosen words. Charlotte knew this tone. It was the one so often used about her and Lorenzo in hushed corners and whispered halls. Hearing it now, even when it was directed at someone else, made her stomach twist with unease.

[color=F0E399]“She looked like she’d climb the nearest chandelier if it meant someone else’s husband would look up her skirt.”[/color]

Charlotte winced, her expression faltering as if the words had struck her directly. She was ever so certain that Victoria did not know even the slightest about Kalliope, even if Charlotte herself did not either. 

[color=D0B4EC][i]If we expect men to take women more seriously… Then we, as women, must stop degrading each other.[/i][/color]

Perhaps if Charlotte hadn't felt as weary, she would have been first to speak up, but Thea had acted with more haste anyhow.

[color=#035E7B]“Duchess Victoria, I must say, it’s refreshing to hear your thoughts aloud. Most people wait until they’re alone to sound so terribly insecure... You speak of dancers and desperation, yet I imagine it takes a truly gifted performer to balance so many masks at once. Jealousy disguised as concern, bitterness as etiquette, and of course, judgment wrapped in lace.”[/color] 

She had always thought many had underestimated Thea simply because of how she struggled the last year. But Charlotte had seen the strength beneath Thea’s softness. And as Thea spoke now, poised, articulate, unflinching, Charlotte felt a flicker of pride stir in her chest. The way she stood up to that bully of a woman… It may not have been the most "proper" way to handle things, but what was etiquette worth if it meant letting people like Victoria say as they pleased? A faint smile began to tug at her lips.

[color=#035E7B]“Though I do envy your confidence. It must take a certain kind of self-assurance to confuse a woman’s boldness with her worth, or a fall with a failure. [color=044e65]Besides why bother acting as if Kalliope is the whore of Caesonia when Charlotte's right here?”[/color] [/color]

Charlotte's brows furrowed and her spine stiffened, as if her body had registered the blow before her mind could catch up.

Surely… she had heard wrong.

[i]She had to have heard wrong.[/i]

Thea then turned to Leo, [color=#044e65]“Perhaps she should start with a mirror before auditioning for a spotlight. ”[/color] And with that, Thea reclined, and Charlotte could have sworn she saw it. The glint in Thea’s eyes. The ghost of a smirk. 
 
[color=9AF781]“The line between passion and scandal is thin. It takes wisdom and experience to know where that line lies....[color=569246]And when it comes to Lottie, she is firmly rooted in scandal.”[/color][/color] 

It hadn't made sense, but [i]oh, how it had hurt[/i]. Was she tired? Was her head playing tricks?

Or... Or did they actually dislike her?

Maybe it would have been easier to discern if she hadn't felt crushed by such an overwhelming sense of dread. 

Nonetheless, it wasn't like Charlotte had a plethora of friends after all. Even though Thea and Leo had been far away in Varian, they had been her only lifelong friends. As Leo went on to casually regale the tale of Kalliope at the Royal Curd, she found herself pinching at her wrist [i]hard[/i] to see if perhaps she was asleep, but alas, she was not. 

As the conversation faded into the background, a cold sensation traced around her ankle beneath the table. It felt like fingers, and she jolted.  Though her reaction had been quiet, her movement barely noticeable to anyone else... When she glanced up, it felt as though the entire world had stopped to look. 

Every passing giggle twisted in her ears, warped into something cruel and deliberate.

Her gaze locked onto Duchess Victoria, whose eyes were sweeping her from head to toe with a look so disdainful, so palpably amused, that it made Charlotte feel as if her very existence was offensive.

Like she was a stain on the fabric of the room.

Her fingers drifted to her neck, rubbing anxiously at the skin that now felt too warm, too exposed. Her throat tightened, and her heart began to race so violently she feared she might collapse. 

[color=569246]“...Insanity. Clearly, you're not right in the head. Deranged even. ”[/color] Charlotte's gaze had shifted to meet Leo's eyes as he addressed her. Then, as if nothing had happened, his attention returned to Duchess Victoria,  but the rest of his words became a wash of garbled sound, like voices underwater.

Charlotte staggered a half-step back from the table as her balance tilted.

[color=D0B4EC] "I'm... I'm so sorry."[/color] 

The words were small. [i]Too small.[/i] They slipped from her lips like petals torn from a dying flower, whispered more to herself than to anyone else. They probably hadn't heard her as she hurried away back to her seat at the other table.

She reached immediately for her wine glass, her trembling fingers curling around its stem like it might anchor her to something real.

But she didn’t drink it. Instead, she stared down at the ruby liquid as it shimmered in the candlelight. 

Her reflection stared back in distorted ripples, eyes wide and unblinking.

And then the thought came.

[color=D0B4EC][i]What if it’s poisoned?[/i][/color]
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