To my displeasure, rumors about Chrom asking me to be his fiancé spread like wildfire. It was to the point that I seriously wondered if he was the one ordering it to be spread around or not.

I was attending a tea party in the huge garden on Marquis Vanaderm's estate. The attendees were various girls and women of the nobility, making connections for the future and exchanging gossip. People like to dismiss women's gossip as something frivolous, but never underestimate the intelligence corps made up of noble ladies with a lot of time on their hands. Lives and reputations of even the most powerful members of society were made or broken here.

And in that moment, the eyes of the nation's finest spies were all aimed at me. I kept shivering and avoided making eye contact. Some of them were just entertained at the latest juicy news coming out. Some of them were eager to get close to me and make connections. And the looks coming from the girls who wanted to take the prince for themselves, or the mothers of said girls, were downright vicious.

I had always been a target for ambitious nobles since I was close to Princess Luminaria, so if I think about it from an outsider's view, my influence ballooned even further. The king owed me a huge favor for saving his daughter's life, and on top of that the second prince had an eye on me? I'll be eaten alive by the ladies at this rate, and not in a good way!.

I quickly finished my tea after making small talk and went on a stroll to look at the garden's flowers. Bright colors awed me from all sides. I calmed down and made a big sigh as I hid myself from the piercing gazes.

"Stupid prince," I muttered. I heard some talking and flinched, afraid that someone overheard me, but it seemed to be unrelated to me. I peaked around the bushes to look for the commotion.

A girl that seemed to be a little younger than me was crouched on the ground and covering her head as a group of girls surrounded her.

"Don't get cocky just because the Prince smiled at you that one time!" one of the girls said as she kicked dirt onto the cowering one.

"You're just the bastard daughter of a lowly Baron."

"How did someone that stinks like a commoner get invited to this tea party anyways?"

I flared up inside at their remarks. Previously, I might have just ignored them as someone else's business, but with the memories of a past life of a commoner, I found their conduct unforgivable.

"What seems to be the problem here?" I asked firmly as I stepped out from behind the bush.

"W-who are you?"

I held a hand to my waist and struck up my chin. "Tiana Bracklin, daughter of Duke Bracklin."

The girls blanched. I internally pumped my fist.

Yesss, it feels good to have power over people. Yeah, it's borrowed power from the house that I didn't earn myself, and it's based on a system of inequality, but I was powerless in my past life so let me flaunt it for a bit. I'll try not to get corrupted by my own power. Besides, justice without the power to enforce it would mean nothing.

I showered the girls with a cold vicious glare. "So? Why are you ladies ganging up on one girl?" I stepped forward as I talked. "Such unsightly conduct is unfitting of noble beauties. Take care to conduct yourselves in a way that compliments your graceful appearances."

The bullying girls blushed and walked slowly backwards for a few steps before breaking out into a run. There was only me and the bullied girl left.

The bullied girl was still cowering on the ground. Her cream colored wavy hair flowed gently down to her shoulders, and her red eyes shone like mine. She looked skinny and possibly malnourished, but she was cute and adorable.

I knelt down on one knee in front of her. "It's okay now. They're gone."

The girl immediately pressed her forehead to the ground. "My apologies Lady Tiana! I have no intention of stealing your fiancé!"

I cocked my head to the side. "What are you talking about? And I don't have a fiancé."

The girl lifted her head up. "Aren't you engaged to the Second Prince?"

"We only talked about it, that's all." I sighed.

"Still, I'm sorry for-"

"I don't think you've done anything to wrong me." I pat her head. "Oh, there's dirt in your hair from that kick. Let me take care of that for you." I summoned a small ball of water in my hands and gently washed her hair. The girl's eyes were wide as she watched me in awe. When I was done cleaning, I used wind magic to dry her hair.

"T-thank you." The girl whispered. "Ah!" She shot up to her feet and made a deep bow. "I'm sorry for making a daughter of a duke like you touch dirt!"

"Don't worry about it, it's fine. Oh, looks like there's a cut on your knee too." I held my palm over the wound and used my magic. Light glowed from my hand, and the cut slowly healed itself.

The girl stared at me with wide eyes again. "You can use healing magic too, Tiana-sama?"

"More or less." I stood up and smiled. "May I have your name?"

"Ah! Sorry!" she squealed. She pat the creases out of her dress and curtsied. "Apologies for the late introduction. My name is Marina Lauset, daughter of Baron Lauset."

I returned her curtsy. "Tiana Bracklin. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I hope we can get along well with each other from now on."

Marina blushed. "I-I'm just an unwanted daughter of a Baron, for Tiana-sama to associate with me-"

"Just calling me Tia is fine."

"But-"

I held her hand with one of mine and gently brushed her cheek with my other. "Please don't worry about the difference in status between us."

Marina gulped and blushed even harder. "O-okay."

"Shall we go back?"

I escorted her back to the tea party, and as whispers started going around I tried to show that I had some goodwill towards Marina. Hopefully my influence would shield her from harm, at least temporarily. I also wished that her family would take better care of her.

"You read it too, Tiana-sama?" Marina asked as we had tea together in a corner of the party. She was mostly neglected at home, and spent most of her time reading.

I propped my elbows up on the table in excitement. "The twist at the end really hurt, didn't it? And I said to just call me Tia."

"T-tia…" Marina held a hand to her flushed cheek.

"We have so many books at our house, you should come visit sometime! I can even lend you some to borrow."

"I-I can't possibly-"

"I insist!" I grabbed her hands and begged with my eyes.

"O-okay." Marina nodded.

I beamed. I made a new friend (I think)! I'm so excited! I hope she really comes over. We talked about books for the rest of the day, and I was sad to part with her when the party ended.