~Good that the girl is inside now. If someone's visibly sitting around outside, it'll only make things more complicated.~

"Send the carriage over alone. We'll both stay with the wagon."

"Um." Yuri nodded and set off directly to send the horses off.

~No questions asked. I don't know if they did themselves any favors by giving her to me.~

Violet had a problem with this bridge. Lyr was in the air and would notice if anyone approached the carriage even in such weather, but they would have a hard time defending the convoy on the bridge and would be easy targets. Of course, they could still have simply run over and each stayed by one of the wagons, as they had done so far. But someone who was really after the queen would surely know who would protect her. Out of caution not to be ambushed with both wagons on the bridge by someone who could afford it, Violet had decided on a simple strategy: she pretended the carriage was bait and stayed with Yuri at the covered wagon. As soon as the carriage was on safe ground over there, they would accompany the covered wagon to the other side.

Violet had wondered what this approach would look like to others. An unprotected carriage and a covered wagon protected by two people. Where would they think the target was? Robbers probably wouldn't even think it was bait. They would attack the supposedly defenceless carriage anyway and then plan to use hostages to extort the goods from the covered wagon. However, Violet didn't need to be afraid of robbers. With Lyr in the air, they wouldn't even make it onto the bridge. Someone really dangerous would certainly take into account that it could just be a bait. Accordingly, this person would also have to assume that if he attacked the carriage, there was a chance that he would have fallen for it and would now be attacked in his unfavorable position. If the carriage was empty, it would be a death trap with Yuri not on the bridge. So would the enemy now think the carriage was a bait or realize it wasn't a real bait? Would they trust Violet to send the carriage with the queen across the bridge unprotected? In the end, it was a bet and it wouldn't be good if the Queen found out she was sent across the bridge alone.

~If this was just a normal river, then we could just keep going...~

The rain was getting heavier. Violet stayed with Yuri by the covered wagon as the carriage rolled slowly towards the bridge.

Yuri was also giving Violet a headache. Again she stood there in a neutral posture and didn't say a word. Again, she just stared out of her mask. Violet had already explained to her what she would have to do if they were attacked, but she was still quite young or rather inexperienced. Did she really understand the seriousness of the situation?

"In the event of an attack, we only protect the carriage."

"Um."

Violet sighed. She had hoped for a little more.

"How's your normal work going, anyway? Is the princess okay?"

"Um."

Violet noticed a faint tonal change to positive. ~Was it just an act again? ~ Probably not.

"And the pipsqueak? You know who I mean? The little runt with the green cloak."

"Um, I don't know."

~Sounds more like 'I don't care.'~

"Actually, I wanted to take him with me, but I wasn't allowed. I was given a very limited choice, unfortunately. I had to take you. You're the best."

"Um."

~No reaction. How disappointing.~

"Well, we still have some time while the carriage is on its way. There's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while now."

Violet turned to face her and looked deep into her eyes.

"There is a traitor among you."

Rather slowly, Yuri adjusted herself so that she was facing her as well. Was she trying to pretend to be surprised? Then why so leisurely?

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"You think?" asked Yuri when she finally faced Violet.

The question was without emotion. Just before the end of the turn, Violet had quickly and unobtrusively glanced down to see if she was revealing anything about herself, but her feet were again at exactly the same angle as before. Her hands were slightly open as always. When Violet had mentioned the traitor, she hadn't even flinched. She hadn't even blinked. She didn't seem to give a damn. She didn't care.

"I'm not the only one who thinks that. At least Minister Fellner and the King think so too. Why else am I here? They brought in someone from outside because they no longer trust each other. It's understandable. Simple pirates would never have managed to attack the city on their own and escape alive. The attackers had help from the inside. There is no other explanation. There's a traitor among you."

"Um."

"The fact that I'm here also means that you're not entirely trusted either. You may not be protecting the princess in the future."

"Um."

Yuri didn't sound upset or shocked, but neutral. It wasn't what Violet had expected. Apparently, Yuri knew something that Violet didn't. The only question was whether it was relevant. When people lied, they usually changed their behavior, and even a practiced liar with no face was quickly exposed. But not her. She couldn't expose herself, because she already had. Everything she did was just an act. Violet didn't find it difficult to recognize that. She never talked back. She never asked questions. She only ever said the bare minimum and everything she said sounded monotonous and cold. Her posture always remained neutral. She made no gestures as long as they were avoidable. Everything she did seemed as if she had rehearsed it. Even the turn she had just made seemed as if she had only done it to give Violet a reaction. It was all routine and she was very careful not to break out of character. After the departure, Violet had told her to accompany the covered wagon. For the first two days, she had walked the whole way. Only when Violet told her that she could sit down did she do so. She had walked for two days straight, limping. Her blind obedience was almost frightening. Precisely because everything she did was an act, she was difficult to read. Only now and then did individual emotions shimmer out of her, which she always noticeably tried to suppress. One might think that Yuri overestimated her acting skills, but Violet suspected that she simply didn't care if people knew that she was faking it. After all, she was wearing a mask too. Someone who really had something to hide would certainly not hide it so obvious. Yuri had a secret, but the fact that she had one wasn't one. Violet found it exhausting. If you wanted to know what she was thinking, you had to ask and glean her real answer from her curt reply, if you could find it. By turning into the same posture, she was probably trying to say that she already knew about the traitor. It would have been nice if she had just said it instead of deliberately making herself suspicious. The princess was a subject she had always jumped on so far. Yuri was her bodyguard and responsible for her protection most of the time. The fact that she hadn't reacted just now probably meant that she thought it unlikely that she would lose her position. But maybe it was intentional, to suggest to Violet that she was still trustworthy to the government? If so, her acting was better than expected. Yuri wore the mask of a demon, but the really spooky thing about her was everything else.

"Is there anyone you find suspicious?"

"Lonas." she said without any hesitation.

"Why him of all people? He's the only one I can rule out."

"Wasn't there."

~Isn't that an accusation?~ It sounded like an accusation, at least.

"Are you sure? Sometimes you overlook him. Maybe he was behind a chair?"

"..."

The joke didn't land, instead she turned away again.

"Do you have any real suspicions?"

"Lonas."

~She holds grudges?~

"I've heard that already. Like I said, I can rule him out."

"He got you the job. The assignment exists because he wasn't there."

~She holds grudges.~

Violet began to grin. In essence, she was accusing them of plotting against the crown. It wasn't serious, but not everyone would recognize that. She really didn't care.

"With all due respect to your abilities, I think you're being overestimated and that's why Kiras was attacked. It's the arrogance of half-wits."

Yuri glanced up at her as if to say, 'Who's being arrogant here?

"That's my humble judgment from experience. If I were arrogant, I would say it more clearly."

"..."

Again there was no answer. Violet put her left hand on her hip. ~Is she offended?~ Maybe she wasn't. In fact, every conversation with her was like this. It would be nice if it were different, but she was unlikely to change over the rest of the way. It was probably pointless.

Violet looked at her pocket watch and then forward again. Since Yuri didn't want to talk to her anymore and she had nothing better to do at the moment, she planned her way home. The two wagons didn't belong to her. She would rent or buy a horse in the city and spend the night at the nearest inn. In the last five days, she had slept a total of six hours. It was always alternating with Yuri. Lyr hadn't slept at all. She had been flying over the convoy since Kiras. She would probably sleep all the way home. Unfortunately, she had a strange habit of sleeping for as long as she was awake. It didn't matter how long it was - even if it was a week. This meant that the journey home would be even more boring than the escort, and Violet wouldn't get to see her for the next week. In that time, she would have to work through documents and get new orders. So the future looked bleak. With a bit of luck, at least the weather would improve on the way home and as soon as Lyr was awake again, they could pay a visit to their favorite pub. The last time they had been there had been almost three weeks ago. So it was almost a compulsory visit.

.../ End Part