Acacia tried not to flinch when she heard a burst of laughter from the other side of the room. No matter how hard she tried to hide it, Ivy seemed to see right through her facade.

"Are you okay, Acacia?" Ivy asked.

Acacia exhaled before glancing at Ivy. "Me? I'm fine," she said. Ivy just stared at Acacia expectantly for another few moments. Acacia finally sighed. "This party is just too happy."

Ivy shrugged in agreement. "I think so too. I kind of just want this party to end."

Marguerite suddenly came over with glasses of water. "Everything alright, girls?" When she saw Ivy and Acacia's eyes, Marguerite frowned as she set down the goblets on a nearby table. "What's wrong?"

Ivy spoke up. "Why couldn't Rose's birthday party be like... not today?"

Acacia also nodded. Marguerite sighed softly before saying, "I'm sorry, girls. Rose initially wanted to extend the date, but the party ended up being today."

Acacia asked, "If Rose wanted the party another day, why didn't we move it?"

Marguerite replied, "Amaryllis insisted on having the party today."

"Why? It's obvious none of us are having a good time," Ivy argued.

"Sweetie, Amaryllis believed that this was the best way to move on," Marguerite finally said, patting Ivy's shoulder. She glanced at Rose, who was talking with Lily. "Your sister is a strong woman. I have no doubt both of you will grow up to be as strong as her." When Marguerite looked back at Ivy and Acacia, she could see that they were still uncomfortable being in a room full of celebration. "It's getting late, and since the both of you don't want to be here, do you want me to walk you both to your rooms?"

Ivy and Acacia instantly nodded, seeing their opportunity to get away from the happy celebration.

Marguerite smiled, "Let's go, then."

Ivy and Acacia grabbed both of Marguerite's hands as Marguerite walked down out of the ballroom. Chase watched them warily as they disappeared.

There's Marguerite... but Amaryllis still isn't here, Chase thought. Hmm, well I might as well keep an eye on Rose while I'm waiting for Amaryllis.

Chase pushed past other citizens, his eyes fixed on Rose. Lily was at her side, keeping her company. They were both standing at a high table. They seemed to be waiting for someone. Chase stood by a nearby high table so that he could see Rose and Lily and hear them as well without being obvious.

"Have you seen Violet, Lily?" Rose asked worriedly. "It's been two hours and she still hasn't shown up."

Lily shook her head. "I haven't seen her all day."

Rose continued to look around. She then put a hand to her heart and sighed in relief. "There she is."

Chase looked at the other side of the room where Rose and Lily were looking. Violet came in the entrance dressed in a purple gown with her hair in slightly messy waves. A stable boy escorted her towards Rose and Lily.

"There you are," Rose said when Violet reached the table. "We were worried about you." Rose then furrowed her eyebrows. "Why do you smell like horses?"

Violet rolled her eyes and replied, "I went horseback riding."

"So that's what you've been doing all day." Lily smiled.

Lily and Violet exchanged a few laughs. Rose kept a neutral expression. She then saw the stable boy. "Who is this, Violet?"

The stable boy looked slightly surprised when Rose addressed him. Violet gestured. "This is Julian, the new stable boy."

Julian instantly bowed. "Happy Birthday, your Highness."

Rose politely thanked him, but frowned slightly. "Aren't you supposed to be at the stables, Julian?"

Julian looked confused. "W-What?"

Rose prompted. "The horses need to be tended to daily and nightly, right?"

Julian didn't know what to say. Violet had invited him and he had assumed that he was allowed to come. He didn't know that he still needed to be at the stables.

"My apologies, your Highness. I'll get to tending the horses right away," Julian let out, mortified.

He was about to leave but Violet stopped him. "Hold on a minute, Rose. You can't just tell Julian to leave." Violet's voice seemed guarded, confused as to why Rose was telling Julian to leave.

Rose replied, "He is not the only one to have nightly duties. Thierry and the knights have to stand guard and most of our maids are tending the castle." She exhaled another breath. "Besides, the horses need tending, Violet. They always do, you should know that."

"The horses can wait for a couple of hours, right? I invited Julian. He is allowed to come," Violet argued.

Julian seemed to notice the tension in the air. He let out, "I think it is best that I leave, your Highnesses."

Rose was about to agree but Violet held up her hand and raised her voice sharply, "No, Julian, stay."

There was an instant silence between the three sisters. Everyone else that was at the party didn't seem to notice Violet's outburst, but Chase heard it clear and loud from his enhanced hearing.

Violet, what are you doing? Lily thought as her eyes darted worriedly between Rose and Violet. Rose looked a little surprised that Violet raised her voice.

Rose sensed the warning in Violet's voice. Rose broke the silence and gestured her head towards a private area with many curtains.

"Let's take this somewhere else, shall we?" Rose asked calmly.

Rose didn't wait for an answer. She curtly turned and disappeared behind the clearing of suspending drapes. Violet huffed, frustrated, as she followed Rose.

Lily smiled warmly at Julian. "Excuse us."

Julian opened his mouth to say something, but Lily had already went to follow Rose and Violet. Chase noticed a similar entrance of curtains. Wanting to keep an eye on Rose, he went after Lily, entering through another entrance.

The private area where the Azalea sisters went to was dim. Chase melted into the shadows of the curtains and leaned against a pole to listen in on their conversation.

Rose finally asked, "Why are you giving me a hard time, Violet?"

"Me? What about you?" Violet shot right back, not hesitating to show her frustration.

"He's a stable boy, Violet. Why are you being so friendly with him?" Rose pointed out, her voice also starting to show signs of impatience.

"Julian's a friend," Violet replied. "What's wrong with inviting him?"

"You can invite whoever you want when it's your birthday, but please, don't do this with me on mine," Rose said evenly. "You raised your voice back there when you obviously didn't have to. You were being unreasonable."

"What?" Violet scoffed dryly. "I'm being unreasonable?" Violet crossed her arms and scoffed again. "I didn't want to say this because it's your birthday, but at this point I don't care."

Lily, who had been quiet, spoke up. "Violet, let's just have a good time."

"No, I need to say this," Violet insisted. She took a deep breath before saying coldly, "How can you be so calm about all of this, Rose?"

"What?" Rose tilted her head slightly, obviously confused.

"Mother's death," Violet shot back. "You didn't even cry. How can you be so... heartless?"

Rose raised her eyebrows in surprise. "We're doing this now?"

"Yes. You didn't cry when Father died, but Mother too? How heartless can you be?" Violet clenched her fists.

Chase bit his lip. Watching the Azalea sisters right now made him want to walk away, but he was curious to how the scene was going to unfurl.

Rose narrowed her eyes accusingly. "Just because I didn't cry doesn't mean I'm not sad that they died."

"That's where you're being unreasonable," Violet snapped back. "If you didn't cry when Mother died it means that you didn't love her."

"What?" Rose was the one to raise her voice this time. Lily looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything to say without making the situation worse. "How can you say that? You're crazy if you think I didn't love Mother." I did cry, just not in front of you. Rose mentally added.

"Well, besides that, you're also being heartless for having your birthday party a day after you burned Mother's body. What kind of daughter does that?"

"Aunt Amaryllis wanted to have the party today," Rose protested. At this point Rose looked as if someone had slapped her in the face.

"You agreed, though, and you didn't even ask any of us about what we thought!" Violet nearly screamed.

Chase flinched. He was glad that the Azalea sisters hadn't noticed him. They were too busy arguing, but things wouldn't end well if they caught him. Chase instinctively stepped further into the shadows.

Rose sighed, accepting that she couldn't calm Violet down. "I thought about it, and Mother would have wanted us to move on. I agreed that it would be better to have the party sooner rather than later."

Violet wasn't screaming anymore, but Lily saw Violet sneer. "Of course you would know what Mother would have wanted. You were Mother's favorite. It's a shame you didn't appreciate it, burning Mother without so much as a tear."

Like a ticking bomb, Rose instantly said coldly, "Stop, you had no idea how I felt when I had to burn Mother's body."

Violet ignored Rose's statement, but she said. "Mother would have wanted us to care for each other. You were being selfish when you decided to have your birthday party today."

"Mother would have wanted us to move on," Rose snapped.

"She would have wanted you to at least consider our opinions," Violet repeated.

Chase widened his eyes as he saw roses and violets dangerously bloom. A fiery aura engulfed Rose while sparks of lightning prickled around Violet's body. Rose stood straight with her hands clasped in front of her, while Violet tilted her chin upwards with her arms crossed.

Are they going to fight? Chase thought in disbelief. Well, I can see why Violet would react this way. I guess keeping all of their feelings cooped in finally reached its limit.

"Stop!" Chase heard Lily say. He snapped out of his thoughts to see two icicles hovering in the air, each in front of Rose and Violet. Chase then looked to the ground to see white lilies around Lily's feet.

Ice... Chase found himself thinking, his eyes now fixed on Lily.

"Mother is dead. We can't be sure what she would have wanted. Please stop, both of you. This is getting out of hand," Lily pleaded.

There was another tight silence. Rose and Violet heard Lily's request loud and clear, but they never took their eyes off of each other.

Rose finally sighed and extinguished her fiery aura, the roses disappearing as well. Violet reluctantly dissipated her lightning. After all signs of fire and lightning were gone, Lily's icicles also disappeared as well.

Violet's head was towards the ground, frustrated with both Rose and herself.

"Violet, I'm - " Rose started.

Violet didn't give Rose a chance to apologize, she just shook her head and turned away, heading back towards the party.

Rose stopped herself when she saw that Violet didn't want to deal with her. Rose clasped her hands tightly as she looked at Lily. "I was out of hand."

"You both were," Lily pointed out. Rose didn't say anything, still troubled. "Violet will come around." Lily started back towards the party, but then asked Rose, who still hadn't move, "You coming?"

Rose shook her head. "I need some air. I'll join you later."

"Okay," Lily said softly, unsure of what else to say.

Lily disappeared, giving Rose some privacy. Chase watched as Rose breathed deeply before looking out a nearby window.

Chase pressed his lips in a thin line. That was tense. If Lily hadn't been there who knows what would have happened. I kind of feel bad for Rose, she didn't deserve that. Chase then sighed. Rose isn't doing anything suspicious now. Maybe I should check to see if Amaryllis arrived.

Reluctantly, Chase silently left to return to the party, leaving Rose alone.