“You know, I think I know why you were fine letting me do a lot of the talking when we first met.” Nela smiled once they got back into the carriage for the trip back to his mansion.

“And that would be?” Braydon asked, looking considerably more worn out than Nela was. He was honestly quite glad that they had finished for the day since he had spoken to at least a dozen or two lords. He could not wait to go and sleep.

“When I was doing all of the talking, you were enjoying yourself having tea and watching the entertainment. Now I can confirm how much less stressful it is.” Nela was more than happy being smug about how tired Braydon looked. He was finally doing his job properly.

“Oh really now?” Braydon could barely muster the enthusiasm to roll his eyes. Of course that was what she had found solace in.

“But of course!” Nela responded with a giggle. She knew that she would not find it entertaining for long so she may as well enjoy it whilst she could.

“You know that I have to do this again tomorrow, right?” Braydon was just glad that he only planned to visit half the number of people that he already had.

“It’s great, right? I wonder who will have the best tea.”

“Remind me to only meet more than two people at once unless at a banquet.” Braydon asked Rhydian as they entered his carriage to return to the palace once more. After two days of visiting nobles, the only reason why he was still in the capital was to see who would lose their title and who would lose their head. Primarily, he hoped that both of his brothers would be included in both categories.

“So you did learn your lesson.” Rhydian smiled as he closed the door once Nela had boarded the carriage as well, followed by her new personal maid. Once their business at the palace was over, they were heading back to Mapjess. Hence why Rhydian was staying back at the mansion to oversee the carriage with their belongings and Gerald would be the one protecting them this time.

“Don’t laugh, I know you just didn’t tell me I was making a mistake for fun.” Braydon looked at Nela who was laughing at his expense.

“But it is funny. That’s why I said nothing.” She had no shame in admitting it. It was obvious that Braydon was not the kind of person that would do well going from meeting to meeting. He often admitted hating the idea of meeting so many other lords that she had been amazed that he would think of spending two days doing it. There was no way that she was going to pass that up.

“Ok, I admit that it was but please tell me next time I do something so stupid.” He did not want to suffer just because he thought that he would be fine doing something that he hated.

“Before or after the fact?” Nela was not going to give it up that easily.

*sigh*

“For the love of Elanitia, before.” He dreaded that he could see her telling him after he had done something stupid again. He was just glad that she would at least warn him if the stupid thing was dangerous.

“But how will you learn from your mistakes then?” Nela asked with an innocent look and a smile.

“I won’t. I will learn from being told beforehand.” Braydon was not one of the people who wanted to learn the right answer by exhausting all of the wrong ones. He could save himself the pain and embarrassment.

“Looks like we have arrived, my lady.” Before Nela could continue ribbing him, Maria stepped in to save him from her. After the past few days, she had learnt that Nela was not nearly the scary mistress that she had originally thought but that did not mean that she was unaware that Nela tended to enjoy the suffering of others. That was the very first thing that she had learnt about her.

“Let us go see the fate of my brother. Hopefully it will end on a pike.” Braydon took the olive branch offered with appreciation. He just hoped that Maria would curb some of Nela’s sadistic tendencies for a long while.

“I think that executions are done slightly differently. Probably hanging or beheading.” Nela didn’t comment on their little exchange, just moving to follow Braydon down from the carriage. She was right, Fiveria didn’t have a habit of displaying the heads of traitors once they had been executed.

“Both fine alternatives.” Not that Braydon cared. He was not exactly picky about how George met his end so long as he did.

“Some might call your words callous.” Nela said as she walked beside him into the palace. She didn’t blame him but there was more than just the two of them walking around. This was the seat of the Fiverian government.

“And what is wrong about me talking callously about a traitor?” Braydon played along. He did not want rumours about him being cold and unfeeling going around. Even if that described half of the nobility, that was a different matter from having a reputation for it.

“Fair enough. But you know that his land and title will be given to his successor. I doubt that he has not already long since designated one just so you have no chance of getting them.” She decided not to say anything about the fact that he would have happily said that about his brother before or after the war.

“It would not surprise me.” At least that was what Braydon presumed kept his younger brother on the side of his older brother in the first place. Just because he was the quiet schemer type did not mean that Sam was toothless. Rather if he got nothing out of it, he would have already planned George’s downfall long before Ryder could kick off a civil war.