It's the horse-drawn carriage of Mr. St. Vendigeld

The nobles in Merridan preferred to ride in horse-drawn carriages. Because the town had few capable of affording such wealth and because the average knight in this town utilized no mount, the streets were kept relatively clear. That meant that, especially in the case of a fancy carriage like this one, identifying the owner of any such vehicle was not particularly difficult. As such, Lenore's eyes widened to dinner-plate size as she recognized the carriage of Mr. St. Vendigeld, the husband of Guyld III and the one who'd allowed her into his home for years for the sake of improving Guyld's mood. Perhaps she'd improved it a little too much this time... At any rate, she'd be surprised if Merridan didn't bring back the public executions of the inquisition days once the man saw what she was up to.

"Hello, Hubby~" Guyld III waved with a finger-wiggling wave, following Lenore's eyes to the source.

The carriage slowed to a stop near the town square. The man at the front holding the reins wore a top hat and long rider's cloak. His expression was unreasonable, save for the whites of his eyes, as he stepped down and moved to the door to let the carriage's occupant out.

Preemptively, Lenore jumped up, raised her hands in a guilty gesture to begin with, then decided instead to do things the old eastern way: she prostrated herself and placed both hands beneath her, allowing her forehead to touch the cobblestones of the town square. She paid little attention to the displaced back cloth of her robe which, in combination with the bent over pose she'd taken, allowed each of the town's morning shoppers in a 180 degree view to see the shameless dripping of her sex. "Mr. St. Vendigeld, I cannot begin to apologize for the present state of affairs, not to mention the monetary loss that I have directly brought to your family today, but if you will allow me just a moment, I can explain everything that has occurred...!"

The man who emerged from the carriage was the type you could marry for money, but you didn't necessarily have to. His outfit consisted of a dapper brown suit, over which a long, white-and-gold coat, matching Guyld III's (now Lenore's) dress was worn with the arms uninhabited, a bit more like a cape. He'd taken to wearing glasses in recent years, gold-framed with rounded lenses, but his face still held a masculine, chiseled quality otherwise, with somewhat thick, black eyebrows and slicked, dark hair. The widow's peak at his forehead had receded a bit, but over all, he still looked to be a fine catch, only a little older than his wife was. He adjusted his white gloves, perhaps self-conscious from the state of the women's clothing, as his dark, black boots announced his approach. "Mrs. Lenore... I thought something like this might happen one of these days."

The woman clenched her teeth harder and felt her eyes squeezing shut in repentance. She'd rarely conversed with the man, but with thr husband's reputation for traveling, his lack of reliance on warriors when he traveled, and his wealth, which could only be the result of ruthlessness, she was left counting the minutes until her public execution.

"Would you look at that radiant smile on my wife's face?"

With a dumb, gaping frown, Lenore turned her head to do as commanded, as though fearing she'd be murdered if she resisted the instruction. Sure enough, Guyld wore the peaceful smile of misguided charity, the one she'd shown for the first time today.

"I thought something like this might happen... you've completely destroyed that facade of hers. Well done, Miss Seste. Well done! Bold and unusual treatment, but the results speak for themselves."

Of course, the smile wasn't the only newly revealed part of Guyld showing... her legs were spread indignantly and her body completely devoid of the barest scrap of thread, allowing peepers in the assembled crowd to get their full view of whichever angle they liked. Lenore, noticing this, couldn't help but persecute herself. "You're... not mad?"

"Why, no! Of course not. You're the best thing that's happened to Guyld III, Lenore. It's always been clear how happy she is before and after your visits, really. In fact, I've always wanted to ask you to increase your rate of visitation, but you kept shirking the idea like you were frightened! I dare say, I suspected you were frightened of me, so I gave you a respectful distance." The man's smile spread beneath his dark mustachio as he rubbed his chin with a sly expression. "But come now... I'm 'hip with it,' Miss Seste! The whole town is embracing the swinger's life style these days. I'm firmly no harm no foul on this one."

Lenore still couldn't be happy... the whole scenario was too bizarre. Her sentences continued to come out in dumb, babbling piles. "But... I'd been hiding... I was attracted to her and I thought... I mean... I'd been thinking about cheating..."

"Ha ha ha... Well, on that note..." The man walked closer, still stroking his chin with an increasingly bold grin. "Not everything can remain the same after this revelation of yours." Hearing Lenore gulp just caused him to chuckle. "Settle down, settle down. The request I have for you is very simple- genial, even." He walked past her to collect his wife, offering her his shoulder as she regarded him with a dull, dopey smile.

"Ah, I apologize, Mr. St. Vendigeld. I told her to forget men for a while. I'll snap her out of it."

"Please, call me Jules, Lenore. And I simply must call you Lenore! That really ties into my request, you see..."

The crowd looked between one another, caught up in the intrigue of this weirdly perverse gathering of the St. Vendigeld family. Witnessing this scenario was a bit like they were watching a soap opera mixed with a pornography film...