world.
It sounded pretty sad to her. Also
likely as to what would be happening in the next few minutes. Except that the
others just acted like the conversation were real, then changed it after the
first hint had been dropped. That or her vow of revenge against the Duke.
Which hadn’t been meant in a bad
way, but still might have people worried, she realized. After all, she’d gone
after only a few people there, in the Western Kingdom. Well, in that whole
world. All of them were dead now. They might not get that she was
capable of things like just being funny, or sabotaging his next date with fake
wedding announcements. Not the she really would.
No, she was far too kind for that.
Worse, she actually wanted the best for her friend. Which could have been his point as well. Still, there was no glaring, or even clever looking away to make
certain she got the point. That was a thing that people did there, from time to
time.
Ethyl changed the topic then. It
was a bit less than perfectly well done, which all the men in the room,
including Robert, seemed to understand.
“I hear that there’s a book with
you in it out, Gwen? One for children? Gwen Farris, Girl Detective, or
something along those lines? I must say, it sounds interesting! I haven’t read
such a thing for oh… Nearly twenty years now.” She was probably being coy,
since it had certainly been closer to thirty for the woman. She didn’t look all
that old or anything, but wasn’t forty any longer either. Not unless she’d had
Katherine at thirteen.
Robert turned a bit red then, which
was in upset, not embarrassment. Duke Morten actually seemed to be a bit deadly
suddenly and Tomas looked away. Just like she’d figured someone would have been
doing at her a few moments before.
Gwen just snorted.
“Ah. Gwen Farris Investigations…”
She smirked a bit and then shook her head. Honestly, she managed to sound like
she was fighting a laugh. “In which she mainly investigates her friend
Beth West. I don’t know if I should be happy that Beth’s reputation was spared
or upset that they didn’t point out she was a Westmorland? It’s… Is smut a word here?” She’d never heard that one that she recalled.
Oddly, making a face, Ethyl nodded.
“Rather! That’s… Well, I suppose I
shouldn’t have brought that up then. Do we know who put that out? Also, should
we have them killed for it?”
There were several different
responses then. Tomas looked troubled, as if the suggestion was a real one. Robert
looked annoyed, which was probably about the books existing, rather than his
wife finding out about it, she guessed. Groundling nodded, a bit forcefully, as
if that were just an honest idea and a thing to take seriously. Then, the man
would straight up kill a person if he had to. He’d taken off a Baron’s head for
her once. In retaliation for the man having tried to sacrifice her to end the
world. They’d only known about the knife to the heart at the time, however.
Still, he’d killed the guy without blinking. Just because she’d said it needed
to be done.
For her part she shook her head.
“Eh… Probably not? I’ll just find
whoever is doing them and see where that goes? It… Honestly, they’re just
pictures. Not even photographs of me actually doing those things. The likeness
isn’t even that good.”
That got a low growl from Robert.
“That isn’t the point. You don’t
need any more abuse from us. This entire world owes you too much for that kind
of thing. Even if you were doing those things, it would be improper to
bring it up. Being innocent of them…” He stopped then, but didn’t seem to be
questioning that part of things. Which was nice of him.
She flipped a single palm, turning
it over in her lap. If she had that right, one palm being flipped was a sign
that you really didn’t care. Not even bothering to lift it up showed
even less concern than that. In this case it was pretty much her telling
the whole room that she honestly