“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head at herself. “That probably came out far ruder than I intended the question to be. I apologize for my bluntness. I was just surprised more than anything.”

Melissa laughed. Maude looked up, her eyes widening again, and saw that Melissa appeared to be genuinely laughing.

“Oh Lady Maude,” she replied, drying her eyes. “You definitely still have a long way to go with your etiquette.” Maude felt her face burn. “But that’s alright. When you’re with us, we can handle it.” She smiled warmly at Maude. Cristyne did as well.

“Thank you,” Maude replied, taking a sip of her tea and hiding her face in her hair a bit.

“Honestly, the Wright family became a merchant family fairly recently. As a result, our land and house don’t really match the scale of the wealth we have accumulated. Not every wealthy family has an extravagant estate, and the Wrights are just one of those families.” She smiled brightly back towards Maude.

“Oh,” Maude replied. “I guess I didn’t realize that to be the case.”

Melissa laughed again. “That’s perfectly fair. Honestly, it seems to be more of a trait of a merchant family. Rather than investing all of the money that we’ve earned into our home, we often try to invest it into new businesses, or into artisans who we think would do well.” She looked a bit sheepish. “Honestly, it’s embarrassing to admit, but my father seems to be under the impression that gadgets are the future, so he’s also been investing some of the funds into inventors, in hopes that me may get his hands on some new technology that he can sell and will be a hit before any of the other merchant families do.” Melissa’s face was now violently red.

“That’s fascinating,” Cristyne replied, her eyes sparkling at Melissa. “Is anyone allowed to be sponsored?” she asked.

Melissa smiled. “Yes, for the most part,” she replied.

“That’s incredible that your father is willing to invest all that money into something that may not earn him all that much,” Maude said. She thought of her own father, who seemed to obsessively desire more money for himself.

Melissa shrugged. “He probably invests less than a tenth of the money we earn, but it is most certainly his passion project.”

“Still, Melissa,” Cristyne protested. “That is a really unique opportunity to people who are looking for that line of work.”

Melissa looked a little concerned. “Don’t go telling people all about it at this point in time, though,” she said, putting her hands up as if she was surrendering. “We aren’t taking any applications at the moment.”

“Why not?” Maude asked.

Melissa was still smiling, but she also wore a bit of a worried expression on her face. “Well,” she said. “As you might guess given the current political situation, the inventors have been busy trying to come up with inventions that could help us during the war. However, they recently began a new project because of the war.” Melissa paused and seemed to be squirming in her seat. Meanwhile, Cristyne and Maude both waited for Melissa to share more; Maude had baited breath.

Melissa looked down at the table and sighed. Then she looked up and looked between Maude’s and Cristyne’s eyes. “Don’t spread what I’m about to say around, alright?” she asked.

Cristyne and Maude both nodded. “You can trust us,” Cristyne replied fairly nonchalantly.

Melissa blew out of her mouth upward, causing her bangs to float momentarily. “The empire recently started using some kind of war machine. We have been struggling to win the battles when the machine is used, but we’ve managed to win a couple and secure a few of the tools. In the lab, they are currently working on reverse engineering the device to see how quickly they can come up with some of our own devices.”

Maude felt a cold sensation skitter down her back. The empire has started using machines in the war? That must be why suddenly Aulbert has been pushed back and is not doing so well.

“Wow,” Cristyne replied, her face looking completely serious for once. “That seems like dangerous work.”

Melissa pursed her lips and nodded. “It is,” she agreed. “Even being in any kind of field of innovating right now is very difficult, because being at war means that all the money is going straight down the drain, especially if Aulbert were to end up losing the war.”

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Cristyne looked grave. “Are things really that dire? I knew I had heard that things had taken a turn in favor of the empire, but I had not realized the gravity of the situation.”

Melissa looked off into the distance and sighed heavily. “Honestly,” she said. “If we can’t figure out how to make the device on our own, or some sort of miracle doesn’t happen at this point, I don’t see Aulbert winning the war.”

Silence fell in the room, and none of the three young women even dared to sip their tea for a moment.

What Jaspar and the king said must be correct, Maude thought. Here I am, hearing the same thing for a third time. Aulbert truly must be in dire straits right now because of the war.

“Does the king have a plan?” Cristyne asked Melissa.

Melissa shook her head, her pursed lips expression back on her face. “He does not,” she said. “The only thing that has kept him from surrendering at this point is the idea that the citizens of Aulbert at least deserve their countrymen to try to win the war. All of us know that it would be far worse to live in the empire as slaves.”

Holy fuck, Maude thought. If the emperor was a better person, and the empire a better place to live, would the king have surrendered by now? I didn’t realize the outlook was that pessimistic.

Maude started thinking about all of the people she’d come to care about in Aulbert. There were the two friends she had gained, sitting in front of her, Jaspar, Helena, Jakob…and even Fronica, if she was being honest. Prince Erich and his family were in her list too. There were so many sparkling new people in her life, who all made her feel warm, loved, and welcome, and they were all potentially now in perilous danger.

Oh my god, Maude thought. What will we do if Aulbert loses? Will all the people I care about be killed or enslaved? What about my own life? She wondered. It had never even crossed her mind that it was possible for Aulbert to lose the war.

“That’s incredibly disheartening to hear,” Cristyne said.

The mood was now somber. Now is my opportunity, Maude thought. And at least what I have to talk about is somewhat related to the war as well.

“I had also heard Aulbert wasn’t doing so well lately,” Maude stated. “But I hadn’t heard anything about the machines.”

“Who did you hear about it from?” Melissa asked, eyeballing Maude with suspicion. “From what I know, there are very few people who know what is going on right now to help reduce widespread panic.”

Maude nodded. “I had heard that as well,” she stated. “Honestly, I heard about it from the king.”

“The king?” Cristyne asked, raising her eyebrows. Melissa looked equally as surprised.

“Yes,” Maude confirmed. “His grace and I have been working on figuring out a way for me to become a citizen of Aulbert. In large part, because we have started a relationship together,” she said.

“I knew it!” Melissa exclaimed. “The look in your eyes whenever you talked about his grace made your feelings abundantly clear.”

“Agreed,” Cristyne said with a nod.

“So will you be fighting in the war then?” Melissa asked, her eyes twinkling at Maude.

“Well,” Maude replied, scratching her head. “I actually was excited to come today and get both of your advice on other activities that I might be able to do to gain citizenship in Aulbert. I’m looking for a way I wouldn’t have to fight in the war.”

Melissa crossed her arms and seemed to look crestfallen. Maude felt a lump starting to build in her throat, and her stomach did flip flops in her gut.

“Melissa,” she said, meeting her friend’s violet eyes. “Please be honest with me. Is the situation so dire that I truly wouldn’t be able to do anything else to gain citizenship in Aulbert?”

Melissa grimaced. “Honestly, the situation Aulbert is in with the war right now is incredibly bad. It’s not so awful that the king has issued an evacuation order yet, but it’s probably only a matter of time. I know for a fact that his grace and my father are working with the king and Prince Erich to come up with a plan to evacuate the cities in Aulbert if they need to. They expect to have to deploy the plan before this fall.”

Maude felt her whole body move back. And Melissa claims this is not dire yet? She wondered.

“Are you serious?” Cristyne asked. “We’ll have to leave Aulbert?”

Melissa nodded solemnly.

“How did this happen?” Maude asked. “Aulbert was at a distinct advantage at the beginning of the war. How have things progressed so quickly like this?”

Melissa shrugged. “The machines really have done a number on Aulbert’s forces,” she said. “So really, Maude, under any other circumstances, there are probably many other things you could do to become a citizen of Aulbert. But really, as things stand right now, you could do any of them, and it’s possible that Aulbert won’t even be a country in two and a half months.” The serious look on Melissa’s face was not a look that Maude thought she might be able to forget easily into the future.

“I see,” she replied. “Thank you for your honesty, Melissa.”

“It’s my pleasure,” she answered.

In that case… Maude thought. Rather than trying to come up with a way to become a citizen of Aulbert, I should start focusing my efforts on deciding on a plan for myself for when that evacuation order will inevitably come.

She thought about Jaspar, and his sense of duty and loyalty to Aulbert. No matter how much I might beg him, I know that I could never convince him to forsake his country, she thought. It’s not even worth attempting to do, as it will probably lead to another fight between the two of us.

She felt her heart ache in her chest. Tears threatened to start conglomerating in her eyes, so she began to blink rapidly. It also means, she thought, that as soon as that evacuation order comes in, that it will for sure spell the end of Jaspar’s and my relationship as well.

“Ah,” Maude said aloud. “I should be heading out. Sorry to bring up such a dreadful topic.”

“That’s alright,” Lady Cristyne murmured.

Melissa nodded. “I was the one who brought it up first,” she said. “Regardless, we will see you again soon, Maude.” Melissa nodded at Maude as she got up, her eyes still blinking rapidly.

Maude managed to make it to her carriage before she let the tears take over her body.