Eli, who had been nonchalantly enjoying her blueberry cheesecake, immediately froze and looked at Alicia with a shocked expression.
She was shocked for two reasons.
The first one was the fact that Alicia bore hostility towards her. Following that fact, she concluded that she was the reason why Alicia cried heavily a few days ago. Knowing this, she had no idea how to react.
Will she feel angry or guilty?
The second reason was the fact that Alicia, the extremely proud noble lady from the Cross Family was now making amends to her.
Even if she only knew of Alicia for a good few months, it was enough for Eli to understand her prideful and haughty personality.
Yet here she is, saying sorry to her with sincere eyes.
Eli let out a heavy sigh and replied, "I see.. Then I accept your apology. But of course I will very much like that there will no longer be blatant nor hidden hostility between us."
Deep inside, Eli was really helpless in the situation.
This was the first time she had known these things were directed towards her. By the time she came to learn this matter, she no longer had time to digest everything, much less get angry towards Alicia.
"But to trust is a different matter." Eli continued with a low and serious expression.
Looking at the other side of things, both her and Alicia couldn't really be considered as friends. Eli could even dismiss their encounters as a random act of kindness toward a stranger.
Trust is as fragile as a glass.
It's easier to build it than to restore it.
Once broken, it could be painstakingly fixed, yes.
But it will no longer be the same as it was before.
With this, she felt relieved that the two of them were not yet at the point where Eli had already built a certain level of trust towards Alicia.
"Fair enough." Alicia replied with an expression of understanding.
She too was deeply relieved that Eli was only someone with whom she didn't have any significant relationship at the moment.
However, there was a piercing pain in her heart, a little sense of loss as if saying that she regretted losing a chance to gain a good friend.
After this brief and succinct exchange, the two were left in an awkward silence, not knowing how to continue the conversation. They just silently ate and drank their orders as they looked at the winter scenery through the floor to ceiling window.
"I'm really sorry.." Alicia mumbled, clearly regretful about the situation.
"Let the past be past. Move forward and look at the path ahead." Eli replied in a consoling manner. "Besides, there's still days ahead. You are still free to abduct me for a trip to this cafe." She added in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere around the two of them.
"Can I keep your word for that?" Alicia asked. Her eyes showed an uncertain expression, like a child unwilling to believe her parent's coaxing words.
"Uhuh.. Of course, whoever initiates should pay the bills!" Eli reminded with a stern face, yet her tone was as light as a friend throwing a joke or a teasing.
"Hmm, I'm good with that! I can't have anyone challenge my pockets!" Alicia the daughter of a renowned count family raised her chin with pride.
"Alright, I'll depend on you for my cake allowance in the future!" Eli, the secret millionaire and tycoon of a sack of supreme quality mana stones nodded wearing a money grubber expression. Who doesn't want free things?
The two exchanged light chuckles as they realized that the awkwardness between them was slowly fading away.
Before the two ended their visit to the cafe, a thought came to Alicia's mind.
"I also almost forgot, I believe that you already know my connection to the Empress of the Empire." Alicia said in a tone that was soft enough that only the two of them could hear.
"Yes I do.." Eli nodded, curious as to why Alicia brought up the Empress so suddenly.
Leaning closer to Eli, her other hand placed on the side of her mouth in an expression of a lady gossiping, Alicia said,
"It's like this, not only the Vanderfords were looking for your whereabouts and trying to get you on their side. In truth, the Empress also asked me to get close to you for the same reason and reward!"
"But of course, since you know my involvement with the Vanderfords, you can rest assured that I do not plan to grant the Empress's request. I only want to remind you to be aware of these things. You're in a more complicated situation than what you really think!"
Hearing this, Eli's brows furrowed, thinking deeply.
Although they had already anticipated that the Empress would make her move anytime, she still couldn't help but feel nervous knowing that the enemy had already set her eyes on her.
However, she looked at Alicia with an earnest expression, "I see, do not worry. In terms of this matter, I will consult the headmaster. With that I will know how to handle these things properly."
"Good! Good!" Seeing that Eli listened to her warning sincerely, Alicia's mood rose up. She was happy that Eli believed her even though she had wronged her initially.
Besides, she was also relieved upon hearing that Eli will consult this to the Headmaster, for she also knew that this was the best action to take whenever a matter involved a member of the Imperial Family.
Although Alicia didn't know, soon Eli, and the two families were about to publicly announce her identity to the entire capital.
Sooner or later, Eli, Leon and the rest must be prepared enough to contain the consequences of announcing her official entry on the Forgeworn and Farauld families.
"Oh, do you want to accompany me to the Forgeworn Boutique & Salon? I've been planning whether to color my hair to join the black hair trend!" The oblivious Alicia asked Eli, like how someone's bestie would persuade the other to go and cut their hair at the salon.
"Umm, well I can accompany you for a while." Eli didn't reject it upon hearing that Alicia would want to join the black hair trend. This would be extremely beneficial for her and Little Han's future safety.
'I'll treat this as Alicia's way of compensating for the wrong doings she just did then… Let her be one of the trendsetters!' Eli thought in her mind.
"Then let's go!" Alicia immediately settled the bill and dragged Eli to the Forgeworn Boutique and Salon.
The black hair trend was steadily spreading throughout the Empire. Upon the black hair fashion official entry in the capital, Eli and her Forgeworn Business Division brainstormed about how they would market the trend.
Their goal was not to make it a temporary trend but a permanent option for all women in the Empire.
Eli's first strategy was to market it as someone who would make the older noble women look years younger than they really were.
In the first few months of applying this strategy, they visibly saw the increase in preference of the older women about these things.
However, they have no plans to stop at that point. What Eli needed was to make it a preferred fashion choice at her own market segment - the young women.
As such, Eli adopted a modern advertising and marketing tactic - utilizing influencers!
Eli and the Forgeworn Business Division were on the lookout for noble women who were famous enough to spread the trend on younger women of the Capital.
They have already engaged several daughters of the noble families in the capital and instantly saw the effectiveness of this strategy.
Soon, it became a hot topic during tea parties and conversations of the young noble ladies. Whenever one would attend with a black hair, every noble lady would gather around and ask the person about her overall experience and satisfaction.
This created the trend within Eli's age group. However, Eli wouldn't reject Alicia who would help to establish the trend more!
Entering the boutique they were greeted by the shop stylist and were politely asked what service they would want to avail.
"I'd like to have my hair be colored black." Alicia enthusiastically replied.
"Right away Milady!" The stylist led them to a cozy salon room.
It was a simple carpet walled room with one side ridden with large mirrors. Eli designed the room to particularly look appealing to those who would want to avail of the hair coloring service.
She got this inspiration from the modern day salons back in her previous life.
The process of the coloring hair with henna would normally be two to four hours.
However, the Forgeworns improved the formulation along the way until they were able to create a concoction that would allow the process to be shortened by an hour or two depending on the hair color.
"Stay with me and tell me if I look good on black hair.." Alicia pleaded with Eli.
"Alright." Eli nodded with a calm expression.
Soon the process of coloring started. While waiting for Alicia, Eli sat beside her, reading the newspaper for today's issue.
Alicia was feeling extremely nervous because of the drastic change she would be doing on her hair. To ease her nervousness, the stylist took initiative to converse with her of the latest news in the Capital.
"Milady, your hair makeover, would definitely be in time for the upcoming winter banquet!"
"Winter banquet?" Alicia asked the stylist with interest.
"Yes! The winter banquet would be held by the Forgeworn and Farauld Clans! Everyone is going crazy!"
