"My Lord, I... I wanted to help them," Marilyn stammered, looking at her master. "But they insisted on changing by themselves, so I stepped out. When I returned to escort them, I was just as surprised as you are."
"It is not her fault," Liliana intervened, her voice calm and regal despite her attire. "We sent her away ourselves. We are perfectly capable of handling our own clothes."
Keiran let out a stifled cough, his eyes traveling over their outfits. Both women were wearing tunics and trousers—practical for travel and hunting, but scandalous for a formal dinner. "But... those are men's garments," he noted.
"They are made for women, and they are practical," Ria snapped, though she secretly thought, Especially for me. "We are comfortable this way. We are not used to the weight of dresses."
Elias sighed, a small, amused smile playing on his lips. "Very well. We cannot force our guests to wear what they are not accustomed to. Please, let us begin our dinner."
The meal proceeded in a heavy silence, broken only by the clinking of silverware. Liliana could feel Elias's gaze on her, sharp and analytical. It made her skin crawl with a sense of being hunted.
"Lady Lil," Elias said suddenly, putting down his wine glass. "Have we met before?"
Liliana and Ria both froze for a fraction of a second. "No, My Lord," Liliana replied smoothly. "I have never met you before."
"Aren't your parents merchants?" Elias pressed. "It is possible you visited our kingdom with your family in the past."
"No... my parents have visited several times, but always without us. We remained with our grandparents. This is my first time in Korellia."
"I see," Elias said, his eyes lingering on her a moment too long before he returned to his meal.
The Guest Room
"I thought he was going to burn a hole in my head with his stare," Liliana exhaled as soon as they were alone. "Why was he analyzing me like that? Do you think he knows?"
"I don't know," Ria said, her brow furrowed. "But his aide was staring at me the entire time too. It was infuriating. As for the Lord... many foreign dignitaries attended your wedding to King Andreas. He might have been among the guests. Perhaps your hair is the only reason you haven't been exposed yet."
"That is highly possible," Liliana agreed, looking at her dark reflection in the window. "Let's just sleep. We'll leave tomorrow at dawn, and we'll never have to see them again."
Elias's Private Office
"See? She said it's her first time here," Keiran said, leaning against the desk. "It's impossible for you to have met her, Your Highness."
"Don't call me that here," Elias warned, though his mind was clearly elsewhere.
"Right... sorry."
"Maybe it wasn't here," Elias mused, his eyes narrowing. "Maybe we met somewhere else entirely."
"Where?" Keiran asked, confused.
"Do you remember our last trip to the Esmerald Kingdom?" Elias asked. "The day I was almost mauled by that bear?"
Keiran burst out laughing. "How could I forget? A girl saved you. If the royal tutors ever heard that a girl had to rescue the great Prince Elias, they'd never let you hear the end of it!"
"That girl..." Elias's voice turned serious. "She had the same eyes. Exactly the same. But her hair... it was like spun gold. It shone even in the shadows of the forest. This Lady Lil has hair as dark as midnight."
"Maybe it was a sister?" Keiran suggested. "A third one?"
"Lady Ria looks nothing like her," Elias noted. "And if there were another sister with golden hair, wouldn't they have mentioned her?"
"I don't know," Keiran shrugged. "Maybe they're just a family of very pretty, very mysterious merchants."
Elias looked back at the rain. He knew what he had seen. The eyes were a match, but the hair was a lie. And he intended to find out why.