"Baroness Terra, may I present Lord Christopher."

Lady Demise said to a group of women. You'd been led to the palace foyer where more than a dozen women and their male counterparts were gathering in clusters. This group had four women and two men.

You recognise the name. She is your dad's, and yours by extension, superior. You've only met the woman once when you were a kid and she didn't make that much of an impression on you. All you remember is a tall woman who'd arrived, talked with your dad, then left in a bad mood, never appearing again. Honestly you kinda forgot your dad even had a boss, that is how little of an impact she's had on your life thus far.

"Lord Christopher." Lady Demise says softly as the women all turned around to face you. For the life of you you had no idea who Terra was.

"Sorry Baroness Terra." You bowed to all three of them, earning a sound of satisfaction from more than one which didn't help with identify who she was. "If I'd known you had arrived with Princess Anastasia I would have come to see you." You remained bowed trying to think of who might whom. "Why did you want to speak with me?" You ask as you rose, careful to not look at one of them for too long.

"I received a letter from Lady Vatarie." The woman who spoke was not as tall as you remember. Probably becasue you were a kid. She was about your height with long blonde hair and looked to be in her mid forties, about the same age as your dad. She walked away from the group of women with you and Lady Demise following behind her.

"Oh?" Why would Vatarie send a letter to her? "What was the letter about?" You were led to a slightly emptier part of the foyer and you saw an illusion enfold around you, crafted by Lady Demise.

"She asked to confirm if your father was still unmarried. And if so would I be able to discuss your dowry for your engagement." Terra offered you the letter and you looked at it accusingly.

"Dowry?" You asked taking the letter and quickly scanning through it. This is way too soon for a marriage, just becasue Edin is getting married doesn't mean you want to. And that is even if he is getting married. They were engaged last night and there is no way Ana knows about it already.

"I was confused when I arrived as well, I was under the impression you and Princess Mary were betrothed." Terra's tone sounded like Aurora when she was trying to lead on. "However you made it clear that was not the case." Who'd have thought correcting people about you not being engaged would lead to an issue.

Wait. "Lady Vatarie asked you about a dowry?" You look at the letter in your hands once more. It was very short asking pretty much exactly what Terra had asked. Is your dad married? Can you negotiate for him if not? "Did she send my dad a letter?" Your question seems silly after you ask it. Not much point in sending a letter to both of them.

"I do not know, however unless your father has remarried without telling me." There was a tone in her voice and aura. A level of anger you couldn't quite place a reason for.

"No, he's still unmarried." You didn't mention that he wasn't single, or that me might not be unmarried for long. He and Summer certainly hadn't wasted any time in getting together after your mother had given her approval, post-humerus approval.

"Good." Terra cleared her throat and the tone left her aura and voice. "Now about your dowry. Since she is-"

"Um, actually." You interrupt and accelerate yourself, figuring that stumbling over your words right now will be a bad thing. After about a contextual minute for you, with your thoughts thoroughly worked out, you slow back down, your pause lasting less than a breath. "Vatarie and I are in a relationship however, we have not discussed any marriage or engagement. I think she is asking for future reference not for a current request." You also wanted to say that it should be your dad discussing this not her but don't for the sake of not rocking any boats, from her anger at the mention of your dad that argument they had must have been more than a passing one, maybe why she hadn't shown up ever since.

Terra closed her mouth slowly, clearly not thrilled about being interrupted. "I will be sure to confirm with her before I depart."

"I'm sure we can arrange that on your behalf Baroness Terra." Lady Demise said, she'd been hovering but quiet, maybe this was a test of your tact. "And I am sure any discussion of Lord Christopher dowry wouldn't exclude any other potential offers." Oh no she was just making sure you didn't accidentally rule out everyone but Vatarie.

"Of course Lady Demise." Terra bowed to her then looked back at you. "It's been a long time since I spoke with your father. Maybe it would be appropriate to visit him before any dowry discussions took place. I am sure he would like the company of a fellow noble after so long without." Her voice got all bright and hopeful at the end of her sentence.

"Probably." You said smiling at her, her brightness and easy acceptance relieving some of the tension that this conversation had caused. "Why haven't you visited him after that time when I was a child?"

You regret the question as soon as it is out of your mouth as her mood soured and you could feel the disapproving head shake from Lady Demise. "That is something between us." She looked at you very closely for a moment and you saw her soften slightly. "You do look a lot like your father."

"Um, thanks?" You said, the sudden turn a little confusing.

"What sort of relationship did you say you had with Lady Vatarie?" Terra asked. You just recognised the look she'd been giving you. You were being checked out.

"Lord Christopher, I'm sure you have other things to attend to. Baroness Terra, allow me to escort you to your carriage." Lady Demise walked past you, putting a hand on Terra's lower back and trying to walk her away. "I'm sure you'll want to visit Lord Christopher's father as soon as you can." She pushed Terra away letting the illusion around you fall apart.

Watching the two leave you saw a lot of the other nobles had taken note of your presence and were talking about you with pointed fingers, more than a few were pointed at the Baroness.

It only just occurred to you that the whole cover of you being a Duke's son might not survive this moment. Wait, is that why Lady Demise brought you to Edin then threatened you? Distract you from thinking of a way to keep that cover. Is that what the illusion was about, was she helping you keep the duke cover? Was this a test to see if you'd jump at the engagement to Vatarie or hold off. Maybe you should go ask Ana, she was a lot better at this than you.

Also Vatarie had sent a letter to your baroness to discuss dowry and not your father. Not sure how you feel about that honestly. Seems kinda normal that a single father isn't spoken to about a dowry if there is a female superior but you'd have thought Vatarie wouldn't do this without first talking to you, or the others members of your Hanun for that matter.

Might be worth going to have a word with Ana before talking to Vatarie, or maybe instead. Ana might not be thrilled at Vatarie trying to engage you without talking to her first. For both Ana's fetish and personal feelings, Vatarie asking for your hand in marriage seems like the sort of thing she'd demand to be present for. And that isn't even considering how Asune would react to it.

Alternatively you could just ignore all this. You're claim that Vatarie was asking for future reference might actually be true. And with Lady Demise knowing about this you are sure it will come out at some point ... ok that is more a point towards telling than ignoring.

While you are thinking some nobles approach and start talking to you. You provide prefunctional responses, only realising just how prefunctional they are when one of them asks what you mean by 'ahuh' when they are asking about the food last night.

In your defense that is the sort of question that demands prefunctional but you engage none-the-less. After a very boring discussion on the finer points of being seen talking to you, you mean the quality of the party last night, you make an excuse to leave.

Walking back into the palace to avoid more nobles you go back to thinking about who to talk to, Ana, Vatarie or no one.

"Lord Christopher." The voice come from behind you and you don't recognise it.

Five minutes that is all you are asking for. "Yes." You turn and look at Oriana in a very billowy, golden dress. "Oriana?" You didn't know other students were here for this. Wait does that mean Auria is here, must be with Luica.

Oriana laughs and shakes her head. "No, Lord Christopher, I'm Ortus, Oriana's mother."

"Oh sorry." They look remarkably similar.

"It's quite alright." Ortus holds up her hand. "I've been wanting to meet you for some time however my daughters have been, hesitant to invite you to our estate. When Princess Anastasia suggested accompanying her to Capital I saw a chance to meet you."

You're a little surprised by Oriana not wanting you to meet her mother considering her fixed eyes. Less surprised Auria didn't want you to however, probably doesn't want to introduce a boy to her mother when she is in a relationship with a non-noble woman. "Well it's nice to meet you." You said with a bow.

She bowed back. "I also wanted to express my thanks for what did for my daughter. I will be attending the Church and was wondering if you could accompany me." She looked around the two of you to make sure you are alone. "Stud."

Oh this again. "Fixing Oriana's eyes had nothing to do with ..." You trailed off, you were about to tell the mother the exact same thing as you'd told her daughter and yet were expecting a different result, doesn't that have something to do with madness. "Religion didn't fix her eyes, it was just magic."

"She said you'd say something like that." Ortus smirked and you saw Auria in her for the first time. She then leaned forwards to whisper to you and you saw a lot more of Auria. Her dress was doing a stunning job of hiding those genetics. "She also said you could would be, helping some women who were having problems with conceiving."

You'd think by now you'd have developed some level of resistance to mental flashbangs "I, uh, what, sorry?" you'd be wrong.

"My husband and I have been trying but have not had -" Ortus's sentence is cut off by you holding up a hand.

"I get it, yes." If nothing else this would provide an excuse to not talk to Ana or Vatarie about marriage.