— She never gave me such a luxurious gift, — Josephine said through her teeth, with a forced smile on her face.

Boundless female envy. A woman always has something to envy of another woman, whether it be her own sister or her closest friend. For this reason, in nature there is no such thing as a strong female friendship.

At that moment, Josephine herself was the embodiment of female envy. She literally burned through the eyes of the fragile Monica. In this look there was a terrible mix of boundless envy, hatred and a momentary desire to destroy the newly-minted competitor, and it turned out that they intended to protect Monica from Kshesinskaya, but in fact she came under fire from Josephine.

Robert, realizing the delicate position of his companion, gently hugged her and kissed her diamond neck.

— But that's not all, — Kshesinskaya did not let up and added, — there are also earrings in the kit.

So saying, she put diamond earrings on the birthday girl's ears. However, it turned out that Monica's earlobes had not yet been pierced.

— Yes, she’s still a virgin, — Josephine said with irony, or with a mockery, — her ears are not full of holes yet.

The resulting embarrassment decided to straighten out Kshesinskaya.

— But nothing. This is quite fixable. Don't worry girl. Tomorrow you will go to this address and everything will be arranged for you in the best. For now, hide the earrings. Put it on when there are holes in your ears.

— To the health of the birthday girl! — Robert declared enthusiastically.

The call was unanimously accepted.

— Well, now she definitely won’t get sick, — Josephine hissed caustically.

— To the health of our virtue, Madame Kshesinskaya, — continued Robert.

A routine interview, through the efforts of the former prima, turned into a real birthday celebration. Matilda felt this and sincerely rejoiced.

Now she had a new fun — Monica. Having dined on excellent Irish stew, they began to have dessert and wine glasses of cognac appeared on the table. Everyone drank, without exception.

Josephine, despite Marek's displeasure, freely allowed the servants to pour Kshesinskaya. But Matilda did not take her eyes off Monica. She endlessly whispered something in the guest's ear. Josephine watched them jealously. Finally, she was rather tired of it and she decided to defuse the situation with a spicy anecdote.

— And let me tell you how one day Matilda was able to break Petipa's ban in a very original way and, to the delight of the heir, flutter onto the stage.

— Well, why do you want to spoil the holiday of this innocent person with your depraved story? — Matilda protested.

— And you often tell it yourself, — Josephine insisted, who really wanted to annoy both Kshesinskaya and Monica.

— Listen. There was a premiere of a new interpretation of the ballet "Swan Lake" after the death of Tchaikovsky. The Mariinsky Theater was full of spectators. In the royal box sat the august family with the heir to Nika, who immediately felt sad when he realized that Kshesinskaya would not perform. It was clear that the premiere would not succeed without our Mali. However, Petipa was adamant and then Matilda went to the trick. Backstage, she lowered her leggings from her partner, who in a minute was supposed to jump onto the stage and throw the soloist up. Then an ersatz blowjob was filigreely produced, as a result of which, during the support, the partner, of course, buckled his legs and he dropped the soloist onto the stage with a roar. Petipa had no choice but to release on stage instead of the injured ballerina Kshesinskaya. Nicky's heir rejoiced with happiness, not even suspecting at what cost he got such a spectacle.

Everyone except Matilda was delighted with the story. The latter seemed to have missed the story.

At the peak of drunken fun, Josephine could not stand it and asked what she so stubbornly kept in the depths of her soul.

— Well, since today Malya decided to start giving away her jewelry, isn't it time for her to tell about the whereabouts of the others? After all, the hour is not even, and she will take this secret with her forever.

This was said bluntly, straight on the forehead, without any hint, and this time it was impossible for Kshesinskaya to escape the answer.

Matilda paused and said:

— Yes, I am really rich and this wealth allowed me to live with dignity until old age. Everything that remains after me I have documented with a notary and everyone will receive according to their merits. But first I want to read to you these lines from the Bible.

She opened the holy book in the place already prepared and began to read in the ominous voice of the vestal, which made those present immediately uncomfortable.

— Your gold and silver have corroded, and their rust will be a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire: you have stored up treasures for yourselves in the last days.

After reading these lines, Kshesinskaya slammed the Bible shut and silently drove off to her bedroom.

Robert had already gone to bed, but Monica still could not stop looking at Kshesinskaya's gift. It was embarrassing for her to do this at a party, and there was no suitable mirror, but now in the hotel room she was left to herself and looked at her diamond image for a long time.

Having seen enough of the pendant, she put the earrings to her ears and admired them for a long time.

“How primitive women are. How easy it is to replace their spiritual world with material goods.”

With such thoughts, Robert, tired of waiting for his partner, disappointedly turned on his side and fell asleep.

The first thing he saw when he woke up was the same Monica admiring herself in front of the mirror. The diamond pendant presented the day before hung around her neck, but