Grandel's head tilted as he peeked toward the customers inside the restaurant. The bartender by the counter carried a dirty look toward them, though near him were five ladies who endlessly tattled whilst their dirty eyes laid rest on Selestia.
"I've been feeling the filth of their gazes on my skin since earlier when I arrived. I suppose these people hated the nobility of Thuhelda, and what do you surmise would be the cause?" Selestia whispered.
Grandel pressed the bottom of his lip with his finger. 'Could that mean that I overlooked this? How could I not notice that they were not all loyal to the throne?'
"If you think that the cause must be because some resented the nobles and the throne, then be proud of yourself."
Selestia's eyes wandered back to them whilst she added her notions.
"I especially picked this place to meet you, simply to show you we have hope in this wretched nation you call "stringent". Not all believed and loved the throne, not everyone hailed the Emperor as a god, some hailed him the cause of many deaths. Knowing from what you have reported amidst your stay here, they must be the families of the men who were killed for stepping inside the caves. They might even be the vengeful family of those men the Emperor imprisoned within Thuhelda's caves."
Selestia then sighed. "Have you ever wondered why this restaurant stood on the borderline of Cesarius and in a dark alley? And why was this dark alley filled with commoners dressed in the worst of rags? Or why were a bunch of them fitting themselves in this narrow alley as they live?"
Grandel's eyes looked around as it discerned the current state of the environment that surrounds the restaurant.
"It was because they are today's rebels who hid themselves from the eyes that opposed them. Certainly, from the moment I arrived, I sensed that Thuhelda was not the perfect land everyone thought it was. It reeks badly of its stench, one similar to which your father brought in Celeste."
Grandel awkwardly averted his eyes from hers. Then came a sudden urge to lift the gaucheness away as he vied to slip a new subject in between their act of conversing.
"I beg your pardon, Your Excellency, but did you mean to say that you've seen them?"
Selestia nodded. Her mind flashed a memory of her arrival, back when her apertures were so curious to look through every nook and cranny of Thuhelda. She vied to learn every inch, and that was when her eyes firstly laid on the state of the hidden imperfection of Thuhelda.
Cesarius was a land recognized for its abundance in wealth, though when Selestia first laid on the city, her eyes laid rested on the alleyways that reeked of the toxic stench of the wastes that were poured there.
Inside those narrow alleys were vengeful eyes that gawked at their carriage as it passed by. Their apertures were filled with grim and resentment, as if they were sensitively allergic to nobles.
Selestia subtly peered at Grandel, "You see, Grandel. People around this area would not want to be friends with nobles. They wanted to be friends with the devil."
Selestia looked sideward, she looked at them, whose eyes were furrowing with resentment. Their stench was the scent of hatred, and as Selestia witnessed their actions that were arcane to no one else but them, she gave a smirk and stood.
"Greetings, dear commoners," Selestia provoked.
Their foreheads creased more, and their eyes glowed with excitement, like a fire that wanted to ravage anything it touches until it broke down and turn to ashes.
Grandel looked at her with fear, his mind wanted to call him, but his voice was hiding inside his throat with the lingering fear. He gulped, Selestia was indeed right as he thought. They didn't want to be friends with the nobles, they wanted to kill them.
"Greetings…" a man rudely responded.
"I have never tasted wine such horrible as this, are they made from the wastes of this Alley? And my, this food that seemed so extravagant does not seem to be appetizing at all. Perhaps you have something to please a Noble such as I?" Selestia snickered.
It seemed that her brilliant idea was taking effect on them.
"If you wanted something that was preferable for you to taste, why come here? People scarcely knew that this place existed, moreover, they knew not that we existed in this alley." a woman grimaced at her whilst the others did.
Selestia scoffed, "My, silly me. I'm such a disgrace to nobility, how could I be a fool to not know such a thing?"
Slowly, she trudged upon the wooden flooring of the shabby eatery, her hands hugged one another and a sinister demeanour remained apparently present on her face.
"Though if no one knew you existed, how come I did? Does that make me smart, or does that make you foolish?" Her face closed the distance between hers and the woman's face.
Her eyes burned with the eyes of the devil itself.
"Woman…" called another woman from behind her.
She had leather boots and a face that was overcome by the fill of grimaces. Her hair were of the shade of brunette and her eyes were lightly green. She had a daunting look on her face, as if it announced that she will be willing to risk most of what she had.
"Speak, what do you want from us to bother us like this? Why would you, a Noble, present yourself in an environment that you do not desire?"
Selestia turned toward her, she elegantly moved to face her whilst the snicker she embedded did not leave her countenance.
"Are you the leader of this crew?" Selestia asked.
"I may be or may not be." she responded.
"Hmmm..." Selestia scoffed.
The woman's eyes peeked toward Grandel who sat himself on the chair, though his pupils shook in fear just like a cat who was astray under the cold weather, he seemed to be trying to be composed.
"What business does the nobles have with us?"
Selestia then took an envelope from her hand and handed it to her. Inside was a face of a woman, a former Noble of Thuhelda.
Marchioness Elsbeth of the city of Danfoss.
Her hands shook, her eyes widened in nervousness whilst her fingers shivered. Selestia snickered at her with satisfaction before she spoke.
"Wouldn't you at least bow to Your Excellency, the Empress?"