Elodie and her mistress.

Once again, you're met with the sight of Elodie, Madeleine's timid, golden-haired lady-in-waiting.

"G-greetings, Your Majesty." the blonde remarks sheepishly. "Good morning."

You nod in response to her greeting. Perhaps unsurprisingly, after what had transpired between the two of you, the young hermaphrodite seems unable to meet your eye.

“Look.” you begin awkwardly. “I'm... sorry about what I did the other night. I got carried away, your mistress was spurring me on, and-”

“Say nothing more of it, Your Majesty.” Elodie continues, willing herself into making eye contact with you. “I... come with an invitation. Princess Madeleine would like to show you around the royal menagerie. Our kingdom boasts one of the most impressive collections of rare and magical beasts on the continent.”

“When did the princess have in mind for this... tour?” you ask.

Unable to keep herself hidden any longer, Princess Madeleine steps into the doorway alongside her servant.

“Why, right now, of course!” The red-headed princess insists. She smiles, her make-up as overdone as always. She wears a long gown, set with pearls, and fashioned from the finest velvet, in a red tone rather fitting of Sinnabarrow. A necklace of gold and sapphires rests over her neck.

“Princess Madeleine!” you say with a start. “What a surprise.”

“I knew you'd say yes, so I thought, why not save time and come along with Ellie? We can go right to the menagerie from here, it's so much easier!” Madeleine says, taking a step closer to you.

“That would be... delightful.” you say haltingly.

“You'll absolutely love it!” Madeleine says, taking you by the hand and leading you down the corridor, Elodie taking up the rear behind you. “We've got all kinds of magical creatures, from across the continent and beyond. Minotaurs, griffins, salamanders, the fire-breathing kind, not the common amphibians.”

“Oh, and more mundane animals. Deer, bears, that sort of thing. Of course, they might be just as interesting to you, hmm? Being... the way you are, I imagine you rarely, if ever, get out hunting.”

Some dark part of you, irritated by the waffling princess' insensitive words, wishes to speak up, to tell her there was an entire party of White Torch demon-hunters that could attest to your “hunting” prowess. Instead, you bite your tongue, and clench your fist.

“Hmm.” Madeleine remarks, stopping in her tracks. Quickly, her attention turns to your hand. “That ring...”

“...is nothing special.” you respond quickly, surreptitiously trying to hide your hand from Madeleine's prying eyes.

“A-A-A mere bauble one of my vassals gave as part of a gift to me. Told me he won it in a card game of all things.”

“Something about it just... catches my eye.” Madeleine continues. “You know me, Edward. I do have something of a soft spot for jewels.”

As the crown princess playfully flexes her ring-covered fingers, it strikes you there are probably magpies out there less obsessed with glittery trinkets than her.

“Would it be possible to take a closer look at it?” Madeleine asks. A blade of panic pierces you, but you do your best to avoid letting it play across your features. As if Kara seeing your mask hadn't been bad enough...

“By all means, Madeleine.” you say after a few hesitant seconds. Surely refusing her would look more suspicious.

Not even looking back at her, Madeleine snaps her fingers at Elodie. The blonde steps forwards, producing a magnification loupe seemingly from one of the folds of her gown. Putting it to her eye with one hand, Madeleine squints, then takes your hand in the other, inspecting the ring closely.

“Oh, this is fascinating!” Madeleine coos, poring over the ring. “Edward, this ring... It's clearly no mere bauble. This is onyx! Do you have any idea how rare onyx is on this continent? And the lion engraving... A quasi-heraldic design, but older. The only remotely similar designs I can think of date back to kingdoms and houses that fell centuries ago...”

“Perhaps the unlucky card player knew not what he was trading away?” you say, going with the quickest, most logical evasion you can think of.

“Perhaps...” Madeleine says, releasing her grip on your hand, and passing her lens back to Elodie. “Perhaps.”

“A-A curious matter, but a trivial one.” you deflect. “Shall we continue on our way?”

Madeleine nods, taking your arm and leading you towards the palace's menagerie.

“Of course, what's truly curious is that you weren't wearing the ring the night before last, when we met.” the princess notes in an innocuous tone.

“W-What?” you ask.

“When we dined together. You were wearing your signet ring, of course, but that's gold, not silver.” Madeleine observes.

“Her Excellency is blessed with a keen faculty for recall.” Elodie observes.

“Ellie, please, if you could just remain silent until you're spoken too.” Madeleine hisses. “But... she's right. I suppose you could say I have a certain... eye for detail. Another one of my gifts!” she guffaws.

“And sure enough, your index finger was bare, back then.” Madeleine recalls.

There's something about Madeleine's questioning, her almost practised nonchalance, that makes you somewhat nervous.