Chapter 26   – The Ever Understanding Butler (2)

It was a few days before he came looking for her again. He greeted her with a bow of the head.

“Madam.”

Amethyst was still rankled by how easily he’d been convinced that she was worried about her appearance, so she didn’t honor him with a reply, merely lifting her head. Pon went on as if he hadn’t noticed the quiet snub.

“Would you be so kind as to write down the names and households of those you would like to personally invite to the wedding? I will send invitations to them.”

“Sorry?”

“Or you could write it in short form, Madam, if that is more convenient.”

Here was a dilemma. The only people she knew in this world were those in the Lohikin household, the Skad family, and Empress Belice. ‘ The Lohikins would definitely be there already, as would Alexcent, since it was his own wedding. Her only other so-called friend was Empress Belice, who was already attending to represent the Skad household.

The only person she could possibly invite was Yellie, but she was a commoner. The invite might not be extended to her. ‘She had been Amethyst’s friend, before all this. But how could she invite someone whose face she didn’t know? How was she supposed to act like Lady Maria’s friend if she’d never met before? No, it sounded like it was trouble waiting to happen.

Her worry clearly reflected on her face. “Pon.”

“Yes, Madam.”

“I’d like to give this some more thought. Would it be alright if I tell you later?”

He bowed. “Of course.”

“Good, thank you.”

She let out a long sigh as the butler left. She looked at the pen Pon had given her, then scrawled a name on a piece of paper.

Then crossed it out and wrote:

That was the name of her mentor before she had come to the duke’s mansion. Just that name, then her pen stopped. Eventually, she crossed out Froy’s name as well. He was her mentor, but not close enough to invite to her wedding. An invitation to a royal wedding was a lot of pressure, so she had to be careful about who she invited.

It was the same back then. She had always taken a long time to consider who and where to draw the line. Her secondary school friends that she contacted maybe once a year? Her college friends that she caught up with on holidays? Or her childhood friend she’d recently got back in touch with? The colleague from work who felt like a best friend but had recently resigned?

On the other hand, she remembered feeling taken aback when she’d received a wedding invitation from colleagues whose face she couldn’t even recall.

After contemplating it for what felt like hours, Amethyst stood. The piece of paper was blank. There was no way she could think of anyone to invite, so she decided to simply be honest. She went in search of Pon.“Madam,” he said. “You were looking for me?”

“Yes, I wanted to give my invitation list.”

“Oh!” The butler looked pleased. “Please give it to me. Thank you.”

Pon took the blank sheet of paper. To his credit, he didn’t react, merely giving her a slight bow and leaving calmly.

*

“Did you get the list from her?”

“Yes, sir.” Pon passed the blank list to Duke Alexcent. “The lady doesn’t seem to have any particular household that she interacts with.

Unable to forget the pained expression on Amethyst’s face, he couldn’t bring himself to state aloud that she didn’t seem to have many friends.

“Is that what she said?”

“No, sir…but she seemed rather uncomfortable while discussing the guest list. Although that is only my observation.”

“Is that so…”

Alexcent picked up his own list of guests. The list was long, as one would expect from a large royal family. After a moment’s pause, he picked up his pen and drew a large cross through the list. He did the same on the next few pages, too. When he handed the list back to Pon, most of the guests had been crossed out.

“This should do. Inform the temple that we will be having a simple wedding.”

“Yes, sir.”

*

After passing Pon that blank sheet, Amethyst couldn’t help but fret about it. She went in search of the butler. The duke would have an extensive list of guests; she couldn’t just not invite anyone. She was sure Count Lohikin could extend the invite to their distant family members, but even then, it would look paltry compared to Alexcent’s list.

She entered the butler’s office, but there was no sign of the man himself. Her gaze fell upon a sheet of paper placed neatly in the middle of Pon’s desk. Curious, she looked closer and realized it was the duke’s guest list, but with hundreds of the names crossed out. She checked the sheets underneath it, and they were crossed out too.