True White Lotus (1)

After the interaction with Titania, Celeste separated from Richard as multiple people began approaching him. Although they had a contract with each other, she didn't plan on using his connections to get ahead. It was enough for people to see that they arrived together and would leave together.

She wandered around and noticed that implicitly the event had slowly separated into two different rooms. Men and older women stayed and chatted in the main ballroom while the younger women gathered in the secondary ballroom. She snagged a glass of champagne from a waiter passing by and continued to stroll around while observing people. Although many people looked at her covertly, whenever she tried to approach them, they turned away from her in an attempt to ice her out.

Looking around, she could see the different cliques of people and only she was the outsider. Shrugging, she continued to wander around while memorizing the faces around her. She even saw some familiar faces fawning around Titania like Bella and Callista. From what little she could hear of the conversations; it seemed like they were praising Titania to the high heavens while wondering about why she arrived with Richard Carrington. Still likely due to Titania's influence, nobody came to talk to her which she found boring. '

As she considered going back to Richard's side, her arm was suddenly grabbed, and she was dragged into an adjacent room. Looking at the person who pulled her, she saw that it was Bella and Callista. The two were dressed in identical yellow satin dresses that hugged their figure with their jet-black hair falling straight to their waist.

"What are you doing here? You know you're not allowed to come to these events." Callista hissed at her.

"Well, I'm here now. I came to enjoy the party." Celeste shrugged before pulling her arm away.

"You dare to show yourself in public after the mess you created at the house? Do you even know how Edward is doing? And how do you know THE RICHARD Carrington? How did YOU of all people come with him!" Bella asked her in an angry whisper.

"Oh. I hope our dear brother is doing well." Celeste replied insincerely, "As for Richard Carrington. You'll find out soon enough. Goodbye."

"Wait." Callista grabbed her shoulder again while digging her fingers in deep enough to leave marks and yanked her back causing Celeste to almost spill her champagne, "Where did you get that jewelry?!? That was something meant for Titania Girardi! Did you steal it like the poor commoner you are? Our family can't handle a scourge like you. You better return it and get out of here!"

"It's none of your business. Why don't you go back to your friends and stop bothering a scourge like me." Celeste hissed back before prying her fingers off. The damn girl hadn't held back, and her shoulders were throbbing.

"Hey, you little bastard I'm talking to you!" Bella yelled and attempted to snatch the necklace from her neck.

Celeste quickly intercepted her hands and squeezed it hard causing Bella to wince. "The next time you touch me I will break your hand, so be warned and fuck off."

Without waiting for a response, she turned away and left them. If she stayed any longer she would not be able to hold back and would beat the two of them up. After arranging her hair over her bruised shoulder, she took a deep breath to calm herself down. They were irrelevant and her job for today was to show her face to the people in attendance. Even if they refused to speak with her, they would remember her.

Calm once more, she decided to make her way back to Richard. Maybe his side would be more interesting, and somebody would actually talk to her.

As she walked, somebody slammed into her, and when she turned to see the person,

Crash!

Dodging swiftly, she saw that someone had thrown a glass full of red wine at her causing the broken glass to land by her feet. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to dodge it all and some splashed on the bottom hem of her dress while a piece of glass lightly cut her foot, drawing a faint line across the top.

"Oops. My hand slipped. Maybe you should take the opportunity to leave. Forever." A raven-haired beauty dressed in red whispered in a low voice while smirking at her. She glanced around and saw women began gathering around them and pointing fingers.

Recognizing the girl as one of the ones who had been chatting with Titania earlier, she knew it was a setup probably ordered by the host. Remembering Richard's words to not let anyone take advantage of her, the temper she had been restraining finally snapped and she decided to cause a complete shit show.

Sighing, Celeste swirled the champagne in her glass before walking close to the woman and dumping the contents straight on her dress.

"Oh no, my hand slipped, and your dress fell under my champagne. Maybe you should take the opportunity to leave. Forever." She responded blandly.

"You dare-!"

"I dare. What are you going to do about it?" Celeste rudely interrupted. Her usual smiling expression was gone, and her beautiful face looked unbearably cold as if it was carved from a glacier.

"What is happening here?" a smooth voice interrupted.

Celeste turned and saw Titania arriving with a crowd of people around her.

Sob. Sob. Sob.

"Rebecca, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Titania asked in a concerned voice.

"Tania, I was just trying to be kind to Celeste and make friends with her since I saw she was isolated. But not only did she shove me causing me to accidentally drop my glass, she then dumped her drink right on me. Everyone can vouch that she just dumped it on me unprovoked."

The woman in red, Rebecca, softly sobbed as she saw Titania coming.

"That's right Celeste just dumped it on her out of nowhere."

"And she even mocked her, I heard it clearly."

As multiple people continued supporting the woman in red, Titania's face got serious.

"Miss Celeste, you came into my house as a guest and dared to hurt my best friend despite her being kind to you. I'm afraid I'll have to kick you out today and ban you from any events I hold in the future."

Celeste coldly watched the farce happening in front of her while laughing internally. Without even hearing her side, she immediately wanted to kick her out and ban her? Since Titania wanted to act out a play of the white lotus, she would show her what a true white lotus with proper backing was like.

She immediately rounded her eyes and started sobbing gently.

"Miss Girardi, I didn't know you were so biased against me. I know I showed up uninvited along with my babe and that you don't want me here, but this is really too much! Without even hearing both sides of the story, you immediately want to kick me out and ban me even though I'm the injured party here."

"Injured?" Rebecca asked in confusion, "When were you injured."

"Don't you remember Miss Rebecca?" Celeste turned to her innocently before moving her hair away and exposing her shoulders and her bleeding foot. "You said that I didn't deserve to be with Richard Carrington. That the only person who deserved him was yourself and that's why you made sure nobody talked to me. And when I disagreed with you, you grabbed my shoulders and dug your nails into it. Then you threw your glass at me in anger."

Pointing to her shoulders that were lightly bruised from Bella earlier, Celeste continued while sobbing, "My shoulders are bruised horribly, and look the bottom of my dress is wet and my foot is cut and has some glass in it. Why would you lie like that Miss Rebecca? Now Miss Girardi is biased against me. It was my first event and I- I didn't realize that this is how guests were treated here in the capital."

Celeste broke down gently sobbing while her shoulders shook. Of course, she made sure she maintained a beautiful yet pitiful appearance as tears slowly trickled down her face. Seeing that everyone was staring at the one-man play going on and even Titania was doubtfully looking at Rebecca, Celeste decided to hammer in the final nail.

"Since everyone is biased against me including you the host, I am going to go get some justice for myself." Celeste cried.

"Hey wait!"

"What the hell are you saying?"

"Miss Celeste, what do you mean?"

Ignoring all the words flying at her, Celeste determinedly limped out of the ballroom to go find Richard.

As she walked, she saw a few people pointing at her, but most ignored her. She quickly found Richard quietly standing at the side chatting with the man she had previously seen him with at the bar. Even though his back was to her, she felt as if she could recognize him anywhere.

"Babe." She whimpered and forced a couple more tears to fall out of her eyes.

He somehow heard her and turned around. When he saw her teary face and her limp as she walked, his expression became cold, and he quickly approached her with his arms open as she bonelessly collapsed into his arms.