Ara felt everyone's judging eyes drawing in on her, she had no evidence to show them, her words weren't enough to prove that Claire tried to feed her spite wine.
"You've gone too far lady Ara...look What you did to her face. Don't you know a woman's face is the most important part of her body? If you don't want to make peace with her, you could've just rejected the drink instead of ruining her face...if you were jealo-" Luanda couldn't finish her words as Ara said,
"Would you believe me if I said, the drink Claire gave me was spite? Ara questioned calmly.
Claire's face quickly changed in an instant, so Ara had known her plans from the start? Was that why she threw the glass at her face? How did she know? Well, she shouldn't worry about how Ara knew, because nobody would believe her anyway, she won't be able to prove herself now that the wine was already gone, Claire quickly forced out more tears,
"What? I spite the drink? Why should I do such thing to you, lady Ara." Exclaimed Claire with more tears coming down her cheeks.
Ara would not be able to reveal the truth now that she had threw the wine on her, no matter how much she protested, nobody would believe her, people loved gossip, and Claire would give them this to gossip about, she would make sure rumors spread about the Boxton's eldest daughter, Ara won't be able to show her face in any social events again, such was the game of high society, and Claire had the confidence to play smarter than anyone else.
"Enough lady Ara, we could all see that you're jealous of lady Claire, because she's more beautiful and smart, and everything you did is now obvious to all of us." Exclaimed Elizabeth, who was trying to gain the Morrison's favor. The crowd in the hall, all agreed with her.
Ara just stood there calmly in one spot, with her hands folded in front of her chest, when she didn't say anything, the crowd started to murmur, she could hear them judging her.
"Enough everyone...you all think Claire was the victim here, and the innocent, innocent my foot...You all are blinded by her stupid fake acting." Came Anne's voice, with anger written all over her face.
Anne walked into the hall with Mary beside her, Anne wouldn't stand and watch this witch Claire bully her sister, she had been in the restroom with Mary, and while she patted Mary to stop crying, Mary had stopped and told her everything about Claire's plan to give her sister a spite wine, not on her watch, Anne had been looking for the opportunity to expose Claire, now was her chance.
"What are you saying Anne? Can't you see what Ara did to Claire's face?" Asked Luanda with a displeased look.
"Oh yes, I can see it clearly...Claire deserved it...She should consider herself lucky I wasn't the one to throw the glass, or else I'd make sure to ruin her face permanently." Exclaimed Anne with anger.
"Aunt Luanda...you see, the Boxton sisters hate me, when I didn't do anything to them but be nice." Said Claire, trying to gain more sympathy.
"Oh come on, Claire, enough of your stupid drama already. I know about all your plans, so could you please save me the trouble of shutting you up? So just stop with your fake tears right now." Remarked Anne with her hands on her waist.
The guests looked at Anne with their mouths left open, they had heard of the Boxton youngest daughter, on how she had no respect for anybody, not even her father, but they weren't expecting her to be this blunt.
Ara glanced at her sister with a small frown, wondering what she was up to, and how did she knew Claire's plans, but she knew Anne wouldn't do things without a reason.
The hall went silent again, all eyes were on Anne this time, as she held the dark lady's hand to bring her to the back side. Everybody knew the dark lady was Claire's friend. Claire noticed Anne holding Mary's hand, and her expression changed immediately.
"Mary here would tell you everything Claire had planned to do." Anne turned to face Mary and said, "Mary tell them what you told me in the restroom." Mary glanced nervously at Claire, when she met Claire's glaring eyes, warning her to shut her mouth. Anne noticed Claire's eye signal and said again, "Mary don't be afraid, am right here with you, nobody would dare hurt you when am here."
Claire's mind raced as she tried to think of a way out if Mary were to expose her plans, she knew how naive the dark skined lady was, she wouldn't let Mary ruin her plans with her ugly dark face, Claire clenched her fist tightly.
Ara crossed her hands on her chest to watch the drama unfold, she looked at the dark lady Anne called Mary, Ara could see how scared Mary looks, as if she wanted nothing to do with it, her hands were in front of her, as she opened her mouth to speak,
"I...Claire had planned...to give lady Ara a spite wine...She had asked me to keep lady Anne...in the restroom, so she could have enough time to embarrass Ara...She even-" Mary couldn't finish her words as Claire cut her off.
"Mary why are you lying? Did she force you to go against me?" Questioned Claire, still playing the victim.
"Claire, shut up and let The lady speak." Said John Morrison, who had been watching the drama, he knew Claire so well, he had been watching Claire's expression, and deduced she was guilty.
Mary continued to speak, she even brought the drug Claire had used to spite the wine, because she was the one Claire had assigned to do the dirty work, Mary was nervous at first, but later she told everything with confidence, all the guests looked at Claire while they murmured to each other, the noise of the crowd grew louder.
"So that is what happened. And to think I was defending that Claire, turns out she's the black hearted one."
"I agree, and she acted so righteous, she must be an expert at acting all pitiful, a frail young lady like her cooking up such a devious plan, how despicable."
"I can't believe it, she looks so innocent, turns out she's a demon in the guise of an angel."
"The young lady from the Boxton family was innocent, but we all blamed her unjustly, lady Claire should be ashamed of herself for having such evil thoughts."
Claire's face turned ugly as she saw the tide start to turn against her. Honor was as important as life to the nobility, if rumors flew thick about what happened today, Claire wouldn't be able to show her face in the high society, her attempts to ruin Ara had ended in her own defeat.
Luanda looked embarrassed about what her niece had done, she had never thought her innocent niece could do such thing. The women who had bad mouthed Ara a while ago, started to walk away from the scene with their heads down in embarrassment, Eleanora and Catherine also looked ashamed, they had been together in the plan, everyone would believe Mary because she was part of their group, they had nothing to defend themselves now that Mary had exposed them in public.
Just like that Claire had ruined the happy celebration.
Ara turned away from them as if they were no longer worthy for her to watch, her eyes turned to look at her sister, who stood at one side with a smirk on her face as she watched Luanda scold her niece.
All the hall was soon empty as everyone started to leave, Ara and Anne walked out of the hall, after they had thanked Mary for her help, both of them walked to their carriage parked at a corner, just then Anne stopped walking as if she just remembered something, "Sister Ara...I think I left my bracelet in the restroom, let me go get it, wait for me in the carriage." Anne said and ran off, before Ara could say anything.
Ara looked at her sister's disappearing figure while she shook her head in disbelief, she was about to turn back and walk to the carriage, when she felt someone covered her mouth and dragged her away.