Chapter 36: An Unexpected Companion

“Come with me?” Aurora set down her fruit wine glass and looked Keen up and down. “Are you sure?”

“What’s there to be unsure about?”

Keen stuffed the soaked bread into her mouth and chewed slowly.

“The guild has its own way of staying in touch. A lot cheaper than those fancy scrolls of yours that cost twenty livres each, and I can write more. If I’m with you, I can pass messages to the city and pass them right back to you. Saves trouble and money.”

“Using sending spells to relay intel, you can send twenty-five words, I can send twenty-five back. Fifty words total. What can you get across with that?”

Aurora opened her mouth.

That was a practical problem.

Sending only carried one sentence. If the guild really found something urgent and needed to get word to her fast, ten scrolls for two hundred and fifty words might not be enough.

“I’ll just go with you. Since you said these scrolls are yours to use as you please, I’ll keep them and use them in an emergency.”

With that, Keen stood up and pocketed the scrolls.

Well, well. So that was the real aim.

Keen wanted to freeload ten sending scrolls from Aurora in exchange for tagging along.

“Seriously?” Aurora couldn’t help complaining. “You have to nickel-and-dime me?”

Keen put down her bread, looked up at Aurora, and said seriously, “Nickel-and-dime? Miss Aurora, do you have any idea how many parishes can’t even scrape together two hundred livres in a whole year’s tithes? This pile of scrolls on your table could fund three rural parishes for a year. A few coins? It must be nice to be rich.”

Aurora felt a sting.

She’d just been called out for being out of touch.

Fine. Whatever.

Still, Aurora didn’t think Keen’s proposal was reliable.

“Madam Keen, if I may be blunt.”

“Go ahead.”

“The royal hunt and tournament, everyone there is a noble or a member of the royal family. If something happens to you in a place like that…”

She trailed off.

Keen put down her spoon, expression unchanged, but the corner of her mouth twitched.

“You’re afraid I’ll cause trouble?”

Aurora nodded.

Keen leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms, and looked at her like she was saying, ‘You think way too highly of me.’

“Miss Aurora, the underworld has its rules, the upper world has its ways. They don’t interfere with each other. That’s how Frania works. Why would I be stupid enough to mess with those big shots?”

She paused. “It’s normal for you to doubt my intentions, so I’ll be straight with you. I happen to have business outside the city. It’s on the way. Going with your group saves me a lot of hassle.”

Aurora was silent for a few seconds.

Honestly, Keen had a point.

From an operational standpoint, the guild wasn’t a street gang. It was more like the Italian mafia.

Organized, disciplined, business-minded. They acted with rules and profit in mind. They wouldn’t cause trouble just for show.

A mafia boss attending a high-society event?

That could work, right?

Besides, with the king traveling, the escort was massive. Even if Keen grew a lion’s heart and wanted to cause trouble, she couldn’t beat the Franian Guard.

From their past interactions, Aurora didn’t think Keen was a gambler. She was a businesswoman.

Aurora weighed the pros and cons in her head and finally sighed.

“Fine.”

“But how are you going to get in?” Aurora asked, resting her chin on her hand. The royal hunt wasn’t a market. They checked names and searched people. A random middle-aged woman standing around the camp would be arrested as an assassin.

Keen looked down at her outfit, a peacock-feather beret, a puff-sleeved shirt, a lute slung across her back, and spread her hands.

“What do you think I look like dressed like this?”

“A bard.”

“There you go.”

Keen plucked a string on the lute. It rang out with a ‘twang.’ Then her fingers flew across the strings, playing a tune.

It was lively, like a fawn hopping. Aurora and Vapgis couldn’t help clapping. Keen played well.

“In fact, I’m a pretty good singer. I doubt anyone would hate a bard who sings their praises.”

“Do you need me to arrange something?”

“It’d be best if we move together.” Keen said bluntly. “I could sneak in alone, but blending into your group saves a lot of trouble.”

Aurora thought for a moment and came up with an idea.

“Come by tomorrow. I’ll have Vapgis come out to get you.”

“And then?”

“Then you pretend to be Vapgis’s parent.”

“?”

Keen’s hand stopped strumming.

Vapgis was stunned by her companion’s suggestion. She choked on her food, coughing violently enough to make Aurora look over.

Vapgis didn’t call Aurora out on it.

Keen pointed at her own face. “Me? Pretend to be this half-elf lady’s parent? You serious?”

“Do you think I look even a little bit like her? I’d be better off claiming to be Juliet’s teacher. At least we’re both poets.”

“That’s different. Vapgis is my best friend. My best friend’s parents are honored guests.”

Aurora put an arm around Vapgis’s shoulder. Vapgis was still coughing, so Aurora had to pat her back.

Keen saw Vapgis roll her eyes, looking completely exasperated.

“And Juliet’s status in the house is ‘wandering bard.’ A poet’s teacher is still a poet. The treatment is much worse.”

“But you still haven’t told me how to explain the difference in appearance.”

“A great noble has a hundred attendants. Who’s going to check on you? It doesn’t matter. Worst case, just say your daughter had a genetic mutation.”

“Genetic mutation?”

“Uh, nothing. Anyway, come by tomorrow.”

After seeing Keen out, Aurora closed the front door and returned to the living room.

Vapgis stood in the middle of the hallway, arms crossed, her blue eyes full of accusation.

“How could you saddle me with a cheap mom?”

“What are you complaining about? She’s the underworld queen of Frania. What do you lose by taking her as a godmother?”

“A lot! She’s a gang boss!”

“Come on, don’t sweat the small stuff. Anyway, your mom and my mom are about the same, purely biological… Let’s go make some scrolls!”

Early the next morning, Keen arrived at the back door of the Marquis’s mansion right on time.

Vapgis went out to receive her. She shouted, “Auntie, I missed you so much!”

Her acting was over-the-top.

Keen hugged Vapgis affectionately, then patted her head, radiating maternal warmth.

Aurora briefed Balian, telling him that Keen would be staying with the traveling group as Vapgis’s aunt. She ordered him to keep his mouth shut and not breathe a word to Ed.

Balian’s expression was complicated. He looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end he just nodded, meaning ‘I hear you, do what you want.’

Aurora then arranged for the servants, telling them Keen’s identity and instructing them to treat her as an honored guest.

Just as she finished, Balian announced from the front hall, the tailor had arrived.

Aurora straightened her collar and walked toward the reception room.

The moment she pushed the door open, her steps faltered.

Standing in the middle of the room was a tall woman, broad-shouldered and thick-backed. Her arms were as thick as Aurora’s thighs. She wore a sharp, deep red fitted dress with a delicate gold brooch on the collar.

But her head was a dragon’s head.

Dark green scales extended from her forehead to her jaw. A pair of short horns curved back from her temples. Her pupils were vertical slits of gold, and her nose bridge was high and prominent.

Holy crap. A dragonborn.

The dragonborn lady bowed slightly to Aurora, her movements surprisingly light.

“Miss Aurora, I am Madeline, a fashion designer. The Marquis ordered me to come take your measurements for new clothes.”

Aurora snapped back to reality and returned a polite nod.

“Hello, Madam Madeline.”

“The process is simple.” Madeline raised three thick fingers, her nails were neatly trimmed and painted pale pink. “First, I take your measurements. Second, I’ll sketch a few design drafts. Third, you pick the one you like, and I’ll go back and start working.”

“Take my measurements?”

Aurora’s mind raced through a series of images. When women got clothes made, they had to measure the bust, waist, and hips, right?

Er…

Honestly, even after living nineteen years in this body, she sometimes had trouble accepting that she had become curvy.

Couldn’t they just make a loose set of men’s clothes?

Fine. Measure away.

Considering her age, she probably wasn’t going to grow anymore. And since she was the type who could eat anything without gaining weight, once she got these measurements done, she wouldn’t have to worry about clothes for years.

“Vapgis…”

Aurora wanted Vapgis to help measure her.

They slept in the same room and had seen each other half-naked before. They were past the point of being embarrassed.

But at that moment, Balian suddenly stepped forward.

“Madam Madeline, let me help you take the young lady’s measurements.”

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