“You look great,” Rucille smiled as Nina stepped into the foyer of the manor. Following Jade and Aline’s advice, she had gone for a combination of her usual gear and something closer to what the nobility would wear, keeping her maroon pants and white shirt on while adding a matching maroon cravat around her neck. She was essentially copying what Rucille had worn yesterday with the colours mixed up, but the style had won approval from Jade, Aline, and now Rucille as well.

“Thanks, you look nice too,” Nina smiled as she returned the compliment. Rucille had opted for a more feminine approach by wearing a silky green dress that left her shoulders exposed, the hem hanging just above the floor. Her hair was tied up as usual while she wore the simple silver necklace from earlier. “Who are we meeting?”

“You’re still interested are you?” Rucille smirked as she turned on her matching green heels and headed for the front door. “They’re in the carriage already, let’s go.”

Nina followed her outside to see that there was indeed an Inin Estate carriage waiting for them. What was odd, however, was that the black curtains were closed which prevented her from seeing inside despite the perfect weather. Seeming to think nothing of it, Rucille simply opened the door before stepping up through the curtain, waving behind her for Nina to do the same.

She paused as her hand brushed across the pocket where Jade’s small pistol sat, confirming that it was there. As she was unable to fit her usual pistol anywhere without her jacket, Jade had insisted on lending her a slim pocket-sized pulse pistol. After quickly running her through a crash course on how to use it, Jade had jammed it in her pocket before pushing her out the door. ‘Tell me who you meet,’ she had said with a smile as Nina had set off in the direction of the manor.

With her hand floating over her pocket, Nina stepped up into the carriage as she pushed the curtain aside to be met with two faces. One of course was Rucille, but sitting opposite her was in fact a young man. Pulling the door closed behind them, Rucille knocked on the roof of the carriage and sat back down next to Nina as the driver smoothly pulled them away from the curb.

“Selius, meet Nina,” Rucille smiled as she waved her hand in Nina’s direction. “Nina, meet Selius Zaffre, the second prince.”

That explains a lot, Nina thought as she relaxed the hand by her pocket before examining Selius with renewed interest. Unlike most of the young nobility who went for longer styles, Selius sported a clean cut of dark brown hair and cold blue eyes. The small amount of stubble that covered his pronounced chin and strong jawline gave him a somewhat rugged appearance, a look that was only reinforced by a powerful frame that couldn’t be hidden underneath his neat brown suit. Sitting noticeably higher in the carriage than them, Nina guessed that he must have been a decent hand width taller than the both of them.

“Good afternoon, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Selius nodded as he extended a hand across the carriage, leaving Nina slightly surprised at his well-mannered introduction. Reaching out gingerly, her hand was engulfed as the pair shook while she replied with a natural smile.

“The pleasure is mine,” she replied, happy with how smoothly she had handled the introduction. Unknown to the other two, her brain was now working overtime as she recalled what she had learned about the royal family.

‘A secretive bunch,’ was what Aline had called them. Apparently they didn’t feel the need to meet outsiders and were rarely spotted away from the castle, only venturing out to attend social events as part of the inner circle. It made sense considering that they could simply summon anyone that they wanted to talk to, so why leave?

Her thoughts turned to Selius in particular. She could at least see why the curtains were closed now, because if anyone realised who was actually travelling in the carriage, it would undoubtedly lead to gossip. Traveling outside the castle was one thing, but traveling to lunch with an outsider and an unmarried daughter of the Inin family? That was juicy.

To be honest, Nina was asking herself the same questions. She was relatively sure that nobody from The Cloud Orchestra had met with a member of the Zaffre family before, so how did she manage to end up here? Jade and Aline would be jealous, while Trim and Svanda would probably find a joke or two to throw at her. Reina would probably just smile, but what Reina was thinking when she wore a casual smile was anybody’s guess.

It seemed that Rucille had more influence than she had initially credited her with.

The pair had eased into a casual conversation while Nina had been engrossed in her thoughts, although after listening in she could tell that they were not discussing anything interesting. It was clear that they were simply skirting around each other by covering a few relatively mundane topics, and she was sure that they didn’t really care about when certain events were being held or who would be in attendance. Selius asked about how the Inin family was faring, and in response Rucille answered in a relatively vague fashion. The tables were then turned as the questions flowed the other way and while Selius was equally as vague, he was forthright in saying that there were things that he couldn’t discuss.

“I really want to ask you about Caecus,” Rucille said as she leaned over to Nina, their shoulders touching as she smiled. “I’ll wait until lunch though, which you’ll love.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere fit for a prince,” Rucille winked. “You’ll see.”

The rest of the journey consisted of Rucille and Selius asking Nina a few questions about Neo Luesa, SuTSU, and the Luesa Badlands along with a few questions about what she thought of Zaffre’s Moat. In a similar fashion to how Reina had responded earlier, Nina truthfully replied that she had very much enjoyed her time on the plate and thought that it was a peaceful place. When Rucille and Selius both rued the fact that they would never be allowed to leave Zaffre’s Moat to see the world, Nina consoled them by telling them that frankly they had it very good compared to most of the people that she had seen on the seven plates so far.

“Ah, we’re here,” Rucille cheered as the carriage finally stopped. “It’s about time, I’m hungry.”

Selius chuckled as Rucille pushed the door open and stepped through the curtain, motioning with a hand for Nina to follow her. Nodding in thanks, she pushed through the curtain and stepped off the carriage to finally take a look around at where they were. What she saw, however, was worrisome, as she realised very quickly that this was certainly not where she thought that they would end up.

“This is the Merchant District, isn’t it?” she asked as she grabbed Rucille’s wrist. With thin streets, taller stone buildings, and even the wall looming above them some twenty meters away, Nina had summed up their location in an instant. “You know that I shouldn’t be here,” she hissed quietly.

“Relax,” Rucille replied with a smile. “We’re with a prince. Do you see how many royal guards are here?”

Nina looked around to see that she was right. Royal Guards were everywhere, and they were the real ones in blue too. In fact no pedestrians would even make it anywhere near them without moving past a carefully placed filter of blue. Casually shifting her hand away from her pocket, she tried to relax while cautiously scanning her surroundings as Selius stepped beside her.

“Don’t worry, your SuTSU friends can’t get close,” he told her. “I come here occasionally and have never had a problem with the security.”

Although she was apprehensive, Nina didn’t have many options but to nod and follow the pair through the front door to the restaurant. Selius wasted no time in asking the staff to clear out the entire top floor of the restaurant so that they could dine, and his request was quickly carried out as a group of customers were soon brought downstairs and reissued new seats. Some of them had been grumpy at first, but their hateful glares disappeared as their attitudes changed when they saw Selius standing at the entrance. Surprisingly, Nina found that one of the unfortunate customers kicked from the top floor was actually Saela, although when the pair locked eyes she simply ignored her as though they were strangers.

“Let’s go,” Rucille smiled as Nina watched Saela sit down in the far corner of the floor while nursing a drink. She wasn’t supposed to be out here, but then again neither was Nina. At least Saela had the benefit of Ormain having no idea what she looked like - she could probably walk past him in the street and he would be none the wiser. Besides, she’d probably need all the help she could get if Nina had correctly guessed that she was already drinking.

Heading up the stone stairs, Nina turned back to see a column of Royal Guards file through the door. She soon learned why, as the restaurant was actually three storeys tall, and while they would be dining on the third floor, the guards would be occupying the second.

“Must be good to get this all the time,” Rucille said to Selius as they reached the third floor to find an army of staff clearing the floor as quickly as they could. Tables were removed, chairs were stacked, and any remnants from the previous customers were whisked away in a heartbeat until only a single table was left.

“It’s not bad,” he mused as Nina looked around the room, quickly understanding why he liked the place. The interior was a spacious mix of stone walls and columns, dark timber flooring, and wide glass windows. Decorative metallic piping which was seen as a rarity on the plate ran along the walls and up the columns, the sparkling brass tubes twisted in patterns around an array of green potted plants. Both the sounds from the city below and a gentle breeze drifted up through louvered windows behind them, but they were nothing compared to the centerpiece of the floor which was a large rectangular window that framed a view over the entire district.

“Beautiful,” Nina murmured as Selius sat at the seat in the centre of the table with a nonchalant expression. Joining him at the table which was covered in a neat red and white tablecloth, she marveled at how their position at the centre of the window provided them with a perfect backdrop for their meal.

Before they had even started a conversation, Nina found that there was an endless stream of food pouring out from the kitchen without even needing to talk to the staff. Shrugging while equipping herself with a knife and fork, she listened to Selius’ brief description of the restaurant’s history as she began to gingerly sample the dishes before her. It seemed that this restaurant was a soft spot for some of the nobility in the city. Not only was the scenery and atmosphere both fantastic, Nina found the food to be equally as delightful.

Although she tried to make her way through as much as she could while keeping up with the informal conversation, it eventually proved to be too difficult as she found that she couldn’t eat anymore. Selius, obviously used to such treatment, occasionally waved dishes away after a single glance, while Rucille used the time to pepper Nina with questions about her time on Caecus.

“Apartment living would be so useful here,” Rucille sighed as she looked out over the city. “The people would never approve of it though, even if we could build such tall buildings.”

“It’s good and bad,” Nina mused as she sat back in her chair and followed Rucille’s gaze out the window. “Besides, Luem has much taller buildings. It’s crazy actually, now that I think about it. What SuTSU has built is on a completely different level.”

Rucille frowned in response as she stabbed a slice of meat in manner that wasn’t particularly fitting for a noble. “Too bad I’ll never get to see it, unless…”

“Not going to happen,” Selius said as he neatly sliced a green vegetable that Nina couldn’t identify. “We both know the rules, it’s taboo.”

“That’s why you can help me!” Rucille smiled as she looked at Selius with anticipation. Unfortunately for her, however, he ignored her and continued to eat at a leisurely pace while examining the cityscape through the window.

“Nina…”

“There’s nothing I can do to help you,” Nina sighed. “I’m an outsider, remember?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Rucille frowned before leaning back in her chair. “Argh, this is so frustrating!”

Nina hid a smile as she watched Rucille pout before deciding that she could probably squeeze a little more food in. It seemed a waste to not at least try everything that was brought out, although it was that very mentality that had left her feeling as though she was about to explode in the first place. Despite all the nerves that she had brought into the restaurant about appearing in the Merchant District, talking with a prince, and answering Rucille’s questions, the lunch flew by rather smoothly. Maybe even too smoothly in fact, as before she knew it she was following Selius and Rucille back down the stairs and out onto the street.

“A different carriage?” she asked as she saw the deep blue vehicle that was waiting for them. She had thought that the Inin Estate carriage was fancy, but this carriage was equally as graceful. With a large golden ‘Z’ painted on the door and matching curtains, she immediately realised that this was most likely Selius’ carriage.

“My driver had some things to attend to,” Rucille apologized. “Royal treatment is even better though, right?”

“Thank you,” Nina smiled as Selius opened the door for the two women before stepping up into the carriage behind them. As soon as the door was closed, Nina felt the vehicle sway as it moved off from the curb of the restaurant before taking them down the street under the watchful eye of the Royal Guard. She wanted to look out the windows to the scenery around them, but again the curtains were closed.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Rucille said with a smile before she withdrew a pink handkerchief from a hidden pocket in her dress. “Nina, what do you think of this?”

While Nina’s attention was fixated on the handkerchief, she was completely unprepared as the cloth rocketed towards her like a bullet. Stars exploded across her vision as the handkerchief slammed into her face, pain also stabbing into the back of her head as it snapped back into the top of the seat. Crying out in a daze, her expression quickly turned to horror as she realised that Rucille’s hand was now wrapped around her face, the handkerchief she had been holding now wedged in front of her nose.

Trying to scramble for the pistol in her pocket, her blood ran cold as she realised that her hands were locked in place. Flicking her gaze over, she saw that Selius had moved to sit opposite her, each of his hands now tightly gripped around her wrists. She tried to kick and scream in a panic, but the heel of Rucille’s palm was now firmly pressed against her mouth while her other hand had gripped the top of her skull.

It didn’t take long before the substance on the handkerchief began to play havoc on Nina’s system, her struggle against Selius becoming noticeably weaker while Rucille didn’t even have to hold her head still. After waiting for another ten seconds to be sure, Rucille withdrew the handkerchief and watched with a smile as an unconscious Nina slid down the seat before her head dropped into her lap.

“Hook, line, and sinker,” Rucille said as she examined Nina’s blank expression. “She certainly wasn’t prepared.”

“Are you happy now?” Selius asked in response with a mildly frustrated expression as he looked at her. “I can’t believe I was asked to get involved in this mess.”

“If you didn’t want to get involved in Inin affairs, you shouldn’t have decided to marry my sister,” Rucille smirked. “Besides, your father asked you to do this, didn’t he?”

“Whatever,” he sighed as his gaze lingered on Nina. “Let’s just get this over and done with.”

Rucille nodded as she took a quick peek out from the curtains to the street. Seemingly satisfied, she knocked a few times on the ceiling of the carriage before her attention returned to the unconscious Nina who lay in her lap.

“I’ve finally found you,” she whispered with a loving gaze as she stroked Nina’s hair.