To this woman who they supposedly "needed" Marquis Vulpes held little to no interest. As a man deeply intertwined in the politics of the nation, he had seen all sorts of people and hence was apt at reading them.
In his opinion, this Madame was a smart businesswoman through and through. Being such she would never be caught doing something as taboo and reckless as associating with witches. At least not with the stringent laws put in place by the holy church to deal with them and their associates.
And yes. He unlike his friend and superior, the young duke, believed in their existence.
The Marquis held the utmost respect for the young duke. Otherwise, he would never have found himself in his employ in the first place. The young duke was an intelligent man, insightful in business, decisive in his dealings, and loyal to all who choose to be loyal to him, a person perfectly suited to leave the leading to. The only downside was how fixed in his opinion about certain things he found himself being.
One of such things was his belief in the supernatural.
For goodness sake, the young duke was a man who had found himself and his younger brother saddled with a curse.
An actual curse set up by a vengeful witch and enacted by her soul remnants and dark magic left behind on her death. And yet by some ridiculous twist of faith, he still refuses to acknowledge the existence of witches and dark magic. This in the Marquis's opinion was stubbornness at its finest.
In fact, the Marquis was willing to bet a pretty penny that if this "cursing" incident was not something to be kept a secret he would have either gone to the temple to ask for a holy cleansing or called on all the reputed poison makers in the kingdom to find out what kind was inflicted on him and his brother. He was that much of a strong-headed man.
The Marquis on the other hand was a flexible man by all standards. He was an expert in politics after all. He was apt at following his instincts, trusting in the signs, and adjusting according to the situation.
And in this situation, by all indications, witches were beings that truly existed. The holy temple of the goddess wasn't known for making pointless moves after all.
It was of point to note that within the laws imposed by the temple, intensive reparations were stated for being found to be a witch or an associate to one. In fact, within the archives dug up by their far-read friend were even extensive and detailed notes on witch subjugation and tracking.
In the Marquis' opinion, why would they go through all the trouble if witches were a mere fairytale? He deemed that simply absurd.
So his options on the topic of the existence of witches found themselves changing.
All things considered, real or not all they would be finding here were intelligent, talented, or "weak" women headed by a woman that was in all aspects so intimidatingly perfect, the weak-minded men that sought her help found it amusing to give her a nickname a cruel as "The Capital city's Flame Witch." No actual witches.
To him, it was sad to think that for the sake of licking the bruises sustained to their fragile male egos either by the unwelcoming attitude their unruly behavior had brought them or the fact that a problem that they found their manly selves unable to solve was so easily resolved by a woman, these men had idiotically birthed this cruel misunderstanding. And they were by being here buying into it. No wonder the woman seemed to strongly dislike them. His dukes' attitude to the Madame wasn't helping either, to be honest.
Even more unfortunate than the cruel rumors surrounding the Madame was the fact that they had no other choice at the moment than to come to her buying into them. The Marquis had read the whispers delivered through the Grape Vine. Their information network was second to none in the kingdom after all. Otherwise, there was no way they would have survived the heat all this time. Written in the reports handed to them were whispers of a woman capable of solving all sorts of difficult problems with absolute digression.
They said she was so good at it there was no way she got her way through natural means. She was just a woman after all. She had to be using unnatural means. Means such as dark magic.
Whispers, although reflecting the insecurities buried within the hearts of the fools from which they originated hinted at a genius they could use. The nature in which said whisperes came however to the Marquis who read them pointed at the most sincerely pathetic phenomenon amoungst the nobility he had ever had the displeasure of witnessing. Made even more so by the fact that the triggers of said phenomenon were of the same gender as esteemed and wonderful people such as himself, his friends, and his men.
And yet the Madame, the person constantly getting the short end of the stick. Was right before them exuding an absolute level of disregard only present in the self-assured. Inciting him to pay more attention to her. To not want this tit-for-tat to end just as it was.
Her self-confidence in the Marquis's opinion was one only possessed by a person with something to back it up. So witches and dark magic aside, he wanted to know. To understand what exactly propped up the Madame of the Hearth entertainment club. On what capital was this beast of an organization built?
Hence Marquis Vul Vulpes despite his former clear stand against going through with this meeting found himself good-naturedly raising his teacup to the beautiful Madame and adding his two cents. "Your customer service truly is as impeccable as rumored." Albeit with well hidden sarcasm, but for the sake of breaking the stiff confrontational undercurrent brewing between his stubborn friend and the- as indicated by the current situation- equally stubborn Madame.
An attempt to which as expected was once again met with a cold response from the dignified and stubborn Madame. "As appreciated as the compliments are, I would still appreciate you all leaving my establishment." So maybe they weren't quite destined to carry out communication on this fine evening.
Marquis Vulpes was fine with this though. At least with his unexpected interjection, his bullheaded friend would be able to tell that he was finally on board with this plan and hence know to get serious when it is needed.
"Listen, Madame. We really don't want to be here either but a thorough investigation has us believing you are the only one we can reach out to for the purpose of solving our current problem." Taking note of the loss of lazy drawl from young duke Lupus' speech nodded in appreciation. His friend had taken his hint. Either that or he finally began to feel sorry for their poor friend baron Psittacine, who if the Marquis's observational skills were serving him right, (and they always did) was just about to break down into tears.
Young duke Lupus was finally showing an attitude that said he was not playing but down for business. He could do with losing the resting bastard's face in the marquis's opinion though. It didn't seem to be winning him any much-needed favorability points from the Madame.
Unfortunately for them, the Madame didn't want to entertain them any longer. "Your note said you needed a witch. We have no witches here." Even if he was serious but so was she everyone in the room could see it so it would take more than a few words to convince her.
How exhausting. Originally this was not his battle to fight so the Marquis could only urge his stubborn friend with his eyes and a few words. But from the way things were developing, it was going to take more than just words to move this woman. They had to step their game up.
Apparently, the young duke got the message. Opting to keep back and allow Marquis Vulpes, AKA their master negotiator, to take over advancing their case. "Look Madame, we wouldn't be here being a bother if we had any other choice. My flippant attitude at the beginning aside the reason we're here is concerning a serious matter." Slowly approaching the impatient woman, the marquis began all the while expertly ignoring the security detail approaching him and his companions. Instead, he opted to keep eye contact with the Madame.
"A life or death matter." He finished seriously trying to convey his sincerity through his eyes. Surprisingly it worked her eyes shook as she wavered slightly. Noticing this the Marquis quickly signaled his friend. "In fact, let us show you." As the marquis uttered these words, the Duke placing his hand on his coat made to pull it off.
"Girls!" The Madame called out loudly on noticing his movements. In response, all the women of the hearth present shut their eyes and turned away almost in tandem. The action appeared practiced and perfected enough to halt the young duke in his actions and steal the words right from the Marquis's lips.
"What are you trying to do in my establishment?" At this point, the Marquis was far too amused to be offended by her offensive tone and obvious misreading of their intentions. He and probably every member of his party were struck by the irony of the women working in an entertainment club shying away from viewing a man's body.
Unfortunately for Marquis Vulpes, he found no chance to indulge in his amusement as he quickly realized they were losing whatever ground they had gained with the Madame. "Madame you've misunderstood. We were just trying to show you just how terrible the situation is. The Duke has no plans of undressing completely. He will only be removing his coat and lifting a sleeve of his shirt I swear." The marquis explained in an uncharacteristically hurried tone. They had tried too hard thus far to be thrown out for a silly misunderstanding.
In response the Madame leveled him with a steady stare and only after fixing the other two noble men causing a ruckus in her establishment the exact same stare did she concede. "Girls step out. Matrons and Barbs remain."
Once again with military-like efficiency, her people followed her instructions leaving in mere moments with only two more mature-looking ladies and the security detail left behind, one of which was thoughtful enough to bring the Madame a chair so she could recline comfortably as she looked down on the "pests" interrupting her work.
In order to endure listening to any more of their nonsense, she was going to need a seat, a comfortable seat to be specific.
So what if her current unwanted guests were of "higher status" than she was? They were stressing her out. Hence she'd return the favor little by little, in ways they'd be unable to fault her for. She was a petty woman through and through and she was proud to show it. What could anyone possibly do about it?
Absolutely nothing that's what.
With that in mind after getting comfortably and elegantly seated, the Madame signaled them with a simple casual "Continue."
Although slightly disgruntled by the fact that the commoner they had been tolerating in hopes of getting help in their quest had completely abandoned all pretenses of propriety the young duke wordlessly took off his coat and after handing it to the guard closest to him, he removed his left glove as well while keeping eye contact with the offending commoner, an action that was in itself both unnecessary and unpermitted done solely for the sake of spite. Finally, he rolled the sleeve of his shirt all the way up to his shoulder to facilitate proper viewing of the thing that had come to be the source of a good amount of his worries and pains.
Exposing to the view of all present a sight shocking enough to draw a gasp from one of the matrons present. The gasp unfortunately had nothing to do with how fine of a specimen the exposed limb was. Rather it was a gasp of absolute horror. Horror at the terrible markings currently marring the otherwise perfect limb.