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Friedrich stared into his cousin’s eyes, unable to smother the defiance bubbling in his chest.
“You know she started it, damn it! You were there!” he grumbled.
But Arnold remained unreasonable despite the spark of sympathy Friedrich saw in his eyes, which only served to infuriate the younger man further. “Come on, Arne! It’s her damned fault!”
“It doesn’t matter,” Arnold sighed. “From today on, you will avoid her as well as the colosseum at all costs.”
“But that’s just unfair! Why am I being punished–”
“Because you messed up as well. It does not matter who started it. If either of you had died, we would be at war by now!”
“And perhaps that would be for the better!” Friedrich growled aggressively. “Eisengrund is weaker than ever. We can just take the mines. Fuck, we could take everything from Erzfeld to the river Wendel, if Lisa just–”
“Silence.”
Friedrich flinched as Arnold’s voice reverberated from the stone walls of the lounge, carried by a pulse of magic. When he forced himself to meet the Prince’s eyes, all traces of compassion and friendliness were gone. Instead, he found himself staring into the icy abyss he had seen only once before – in the arena, right before Arnold gutted Leonhardt.
It felt almost like back when the Margrave had ordered the Razing of Batuul. But even that hard expression had been less… uncomfortable. When Uncle gave out cold-blooded orders or scolded them, there was still a flicker of fondness in his eyes, like a cozy hearth in a frosty night.
Arnold’s gaze was different. His cousin’s usual warmth had suddenly been snuffed out in its entirety.
The Prince’s oppressive aura washed over him, and for an instant, the tall warrior felt very, very small.
“It is not your place to make such decisions,” Arnold stated. His voice was eerily even and controlled, and Friedrich could not muster a response. “You will stay out of the arena. You will keep your distance from Princess Klara. Is that clear?”
Friedrich swallowed thickly. “...Yes, Your Highness.”
“Good.” The terrible aura receded, and for a moment, the warmth returned to Arnold’s expression, together with something like remorse. Then, the Prince turned on his heel and strode out of the suite.
= = = = =
“Good afternoon, Your Highness!”
It had been quite a while since Klara had heard such a jovial greeting from anyone outside of her close family, but she did her best not to let the discomfort show on her face.
“Good afternoon, Lady Katharina. Thank you for the kind invitation.”
Klara sat down gingerly on the ornate bench of the garden pavilion, careful not to damage the needlessly expensive dress the maidservants had squeezed her into. It felt uncomfortably tight around her shoulders and upper arms, and she had to consciously relax her muscles so the flimsy fabric wouldn’t rip. She panicked briefly when the sheathed sword on her hip got caught in a heap of frilly pillows, but somehow managed to avoid embarrassing herself.
The two young women exchanged a few pleasantries, and just when Klara’s tolerance for meaningless chatter threatened to run out, a nervous servant girl pushed a serving cart laden with tea, cake, and confections into the pavilion and curtsied deeply before quietly placing everything on the table. She filled the tea cups with practiced grace, and quickly retreated out of listening range.
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To Klara’s surprise, the tea was actually very good. It wasn’t bland like produce from the Logrian ‘landed corporations’. Instead, the rich and smokey flavor reminded her of the leaves Eisengrund had seized during the last war with Polania.
“An import from Rossiya,” Katharina offered after noticing her surprised expression. “Not particularly easy to come by, but more than worth the price.”
Klara hummed an agreement, and then let her gaze wander over the mountain of sweets on the table. A jam-filled scone caught her attention. It was already halfway to her mouth when a memory of her aunt’s scornful face reminded her of proper table manners. She regretfully placed the scone on her plate and broke off a bite-sized piece instead. It turned out to be delightful, but she missed the visceral joy of taking a huge bite out of a fresh pastry.
Katharina soon took it upon herself to lead the conversation in a more fruitful direction, thankfully with little to none of the usual silkling babble.
“If I recall our brief conversation correctly, you were curious regarding Prince Arnold’s motivations, Your Highness?”
“I was and still am,” Klara readily admitted, forcibly relaxing her expression. “Though, should it involve you delivering a message of any kind, I shall hear none of it. I refuse to handle matters of honor through intermediaries.”
“Nothing of the sort,” Katharina assured her with a friendly smile. “It is a much more simple matter.” She sampled a tiny piece of her fancily decorated cake, and continued. “As you have undoubtedly noticed, Your Highness, a severe rift has formed between Prince Arnold and the Western faction, and he would prefer not to fight on multiple battlefields at once.”
When Klara’s brows furrowed in irritation, Katharina hastily added, “Ah, this is not a message from him, merely my paraphrasing of his current situation. I am here entirely of my own volition.”
The Princess heaved a drawn-out sigh. If the Silberthal girl was speaking the truth, Arnold had no intention of claiming compensation, deserved or not. She suppressed a spark of anger that had ignited at the thought of him considering saving her life an unworthy feat. The silkling was right – Arnold was smart enough to realize that posing any sort of demand would cause him headaches at a time when he could not afford distractions. He would probably be happy to let the matter drop entirely if it bought him more capacities to deal with Sonnenfeld.
For all intents and purposes, Klara was in a similar situation. With financial ruin looming over Eisengrund, the last thing her family needed was more conflict. And conflict was a natural outcome of any interaction between House Eisenberg and House Hohenfels. ‘Particularly if I am involved,’ she winced mentally.
“That sounds reasonable. As long as he keeps his dog on a leash, I too see little point in further escalation,” she mused, careful not to put it as a message to convey. “That leaves me with another question, though.”
“I’d be happy to elaborate, Your Highness.”
“What do you gain from all this, Lady Katharina?”
Most people would have missed the slight twitch of her hand, but it did not escape Klara’s notice.
The young lady took a measured breath and met Klara’s eyes. “Prince Ludwig has effectively turned me into a persona non grata in his inner circle,” she explained with a refreshing amount of honesty. “I need to find friends elsewhere.”
‘Interesting.’ Klara hardly remembered what the pompous asshole had said back at the soirée, but it must have been bad.
“Reasonable again,” she nodded. “But you’re missing something important.”
“I am?” Katharina asked with a minuscule hitch in her voice. ‘She is actually talking from the heart.’
“You have lost numerous potential friends by simply talking to me publicly,” the Princess said neutrally. “I refuse to believe that you are unaware of my reputation.”
The young lady nodded slowly, carefully choosing her next words. “I am very aware of it, Your Highness. But I am also aware of numerous other parties who would like to enter into dialogue with you, but are afraid of approaching you directly.”
“And for good reason,” Klara snorted. “I have no interest in dealing with sycophants and lickspittles.”
“Fortunately, dealing with this sort of person happens to fall squarely within my area of expertise, Your Highness,” Katharina smiled. “If I had to summarize my intentions, it would be to become a bridge between you and them.”
Klara let her head drop on the table gracelessly, causing the tableware to clatter about. She felt multiple seams of her dress strain and rip, but she couldn’t care less.
“I hate this.”
“...Pardon?”
“Ugh,” she groaned. “You want to drag me into silkling bullshit.”
“I… Uhm.” The articulate lady seemed at a loss for words. Good.
“Let’s say I agree to your proposal. From now on, instead of hearing nothing from the parasites, I would hear your carefully curated reports.”
“Well…”
“And so, I would have to balance your questionable usefulness with your ability to damage me in the long run.”
“That is–” Katharina coughed politely. “Your Highness, I’m afraid that’s how the game is played.”
Klara finally raised her head from the table and fixed the other woman with a hostile glare.
“I know. And that is why I refuse to play at all.”