The main castle at the heart of the Camelia was a daunting beast. As the oldest building on the estate, it had fulfilled every purpose imaginable and more. It had been damaged and rebuilt countless times, and the initial layout was so different now that the original builder would have taken one turn and been lost.
Snake had dedicated the better part of her first two years in intelligence to figuring out the mismatched sections of the castle and now there was no one who knew the ten floors and three hundred rooms better than she did.
There wasn't a place in this castle that Snake could slip in and out of unnoticed and she was careful to keep it that way.
The guest rooms had originally been sick wards, during the castle's brief stint as a hospital and the isolated rooms had transitioned to guest rooms when the new hospital had been built a few hundred years ago when paranoia was rampant. A series of secret passageways ran through the main wall that all the guest rooms shared.
It was a tight fit, but Snake could ease her way along and stop at each keyhole and see and hear what was happening in each room whenever she pleased. She kept careful note of the dust in the passageway, to ensure no one else had discovered it yet, even though it stuck to her skin and smelled horrible.
Lord Soliel and his wife were in the largest guestroom on the corner, the last keyhole along this route and she paused briefly at the second to last and looked in at the bassinet set next to the bed and the nursemaid folding children's clothes and singing softly.
Lord Soliel and his wife were seated in the solar next door and since Snake had rushed over after hearing Marian's pass on their message, she knew Eirian would be arriving soon. Snake hadn't paid too much attention to the news that they'd arrived, not until the sea had reached out and asked for information. The amount they'd offered to pay her for the reason behind the Soliel's visit was more than she made in a year as a spy and since it was harmless to Yuze, Snake wasn't about to turn it down.
They were one of her most reliable customers after all.
Lady Soliel was fussing with her skirts as Lord Soliel read a letter, a small stack unopened at his elbow. "I cannot wait to return to Aontacht. I expected better quality dishes from an estate this large." Lord Soliel grunted but didn't look up from his paper. "The beef was nearly raw, and did you see dessert? A mere fruit pudding? A child could serve better. And Eirian is still eating like that. She's going to end up a whale if she doesn't stop, don't you think?"
When Lord Soliel didn't respond she stopped fussing with her skirts and turned to him. "Francis!"
He put down the letter with a sigh. "Yes, dear?"
"You're not listening to me. Don't you think Eirian needs to eat more carefully? She did the same thing in Aontacht, nearly ate us out of house and home."
"That is a woman's concern. Speak to her if it bothers you." He went back to his letter, ignoring her frustrated look.
Lady Soliel threw herself into her chair with a huff, but her husband didn't look up again.
Snake had no illusions about marriage. Any marriage, including this one, was a business transaction and nothing more. Lord Soliel hardly seemed interested in his wife at all, and Lady Soliel was desperate to establish herself as Lady Soliel. They both seemed like miserable people as far as Snake was concerned, which made sense since Eirian was the same.
The sudden fondness everyone seemed to have towards her after the warmth and sunlight had returned to the Camelia rubbed snake the wrong way. Even if the Princess had magic, it seemed ridiculous to believe that her magic was that strong. It was more likely it was a change in weather patterns. Something that would have happened regardless, but people didn't remember the last time, so it seemed special when it wasn't.
And Yuze believed it. Of all people, Snake had expected him to know better, but the poor boy had grown up into a gullible man and now Snake needed to protect him from his own beliefs.
Eirian swept in without bothering to knock and Snake watched all three of them tense at the sight of one another. Protocol dictated that Eirian bow to her father and his wife, but the Princess did no such thing.
"What do you want?"
Both Lord and Lady Soliel were clearly not pleased by her attitude, straightening in their chairs and refusing to stand as manners dictated.
Lord Soliel even put down his precious letter and Snake made a mental note to read it later and find out what was so interesting.
"Is that how you greet me?" Lord Soliel huffed. "I'm your father and your lord."
He must have been a stickler for having everyone, including his daughter bow, given the furious look that flashes across Eirian's face.
"Uncle is head of the family." Eirian's voice is cutting in its chill and from the look on her father's face it hits just as deep as she intended. "And I am a Ye now." That's the first time Snake has heard Eirian proclaim that, acknowledging her marriage in such a way. "So, tell me what you want, or I'll leave."
"He is still your father. You could at least be respectfully." Lady Soliel finally stood. "We came because we were concerned. We wanted to check on you."
"You did not." Eirian might as well be laughing in her face. "And you do not, or you wouldn't have sold me off in secret."
"It was past time for you to marry." Lady Soliel, doubling down. "The other women in society we're all having their second child, and you were still running around without a care."
"Playing with the awful Philip." Lord Soliel shakes his head.
Eirian rolled her eyes. "How quickly you change your mind, father. You liked him in the beginning."
"And then he married someone else." Lord Soliel snapped. "Did you think I would stand for that insult?"
"Your reputation in the capital was ruined, Eirian." Her name from Lady Soliel's lips made Eirian's own twist up in a snarl. "We were protecting you."
"You were clearing a path for your own gain, Brigitta. Don't delude yourself into thinking it was anything else."
Lady Soliel jerked like she'd been slapped, her face paling and Snake wondered which of them was right?
~ tbc