'Hah… it really could have gone badly, couldn't it?'
Lucavion let the thought settle as he walked, his steps light yet measured against the vast marble corridors of the Thaddeus mansion. The place was too big—elegant, refined, built for grandeur rather than comfort. Ornate chandeliers cast their glow over towering stone archways, their cold brilliance making the space feel more like a monument than a home.
'Then again, I suppose that is befitting of the strongest duchy. This place is even bigger than that one.'
His fingers twitched at the memory, but he brushed it aside, focusing on the now.
He had expected resistance—expected scrutiny, doubt, even outright rejection. The Duke had hesitated, his gaze a steely weight pressing down, searching for the cracks in Lucavion's intentions. He had seen through the surface, through the words meant to imply rather than state, and yet—he had still agreed.
