The Contessa gazes down at Adriano, and the sorrow in her eyes looks genuine. "This is the first I'm hearing of it. Talk to me afterward, young man, and I'll do my best to handle it."
The crowd looks almost ashamed now, as if they've been publicly reprimanded for misjudging the Contessa. But after a solemn pause, she turns to them and announces, "That's all I came here to say for now. Thank you so much for coming to listen to me, and if you have any questions, I will hear them individually. Please, enjoy the festival, and thank you to all the shopkeepers who donated to make it possible!" The crowd is completely won over now, and they applaud as they turn to leave at the reminder of free food.
True to her word, Contessa di Rossi walks straight over to Adriano, looking him in the eye the whole time. As she steps down from the stage, you see that she's much shorter than the stable boy, but she still seems bigger than him somehow.
"Now, young man, please tell me about your inn."
"Well, I work the stable over at The Thirsty Squire. I was sleeping in the loft night before last after we got some foreigners in when I heard the mob outside chanting their usual. You know, 'foreign witches' and all that. I go outside, and they're already setting fire to the place, saying we're harboring foreign magic-users. I try to chase them off, but they don't stop. The only thing that gets them to leave is Georges the innkeeper coming and telling them off."
You can't believe what you're hearing.