Solae was at a loss of how to properly console Rene on this recent revelation. All of nobility's offspring had been raised to suppress their emotions, to deal with the world pragmatically, and to react with shrewd cunning rather than feeling. It was no small wonder that nearly every aristocrat was secretly the patient of therapist and psychiatrist that helped them deal with the unhealthy amount of baggage that came from such a mindset. The marquise did not know how to soothe her fiance's invisible wounds. Both her education and upbringing would have her tell him that this was nothing to be upset by as his father marrying was only the execution of a business contract.

But her heart knew that this was so much more than the cold calculations the courts might make it out to be. Rene loved his father and undoubtedly sought his approval despite the passage of time and his ascension into adulthood. Even if he had managed to break free of that desire for affirmation, every child regardless of status wanted to be special to their parents. They wanted to be cherished, adored, a source of pride. Intellectually Rene knew his father would need to sever their connections due to the serious accusations levied against him and the subsequent enlistment into the marines. That did not make it any less painful to face the reality he had been discarded. Solae doubted Alric du Quentain had forgotten his son, but the speed with which he had moved on with his life was almost cruel in its efficiency.

"The Chastaians married into the Falias a few generations back," she explained slowly. "I believe my great, great grandmother was a Chastain? She had to abandon her family name to become a Falia, but it did create an alliance between the families that has persisted through to my father. He was of the opinion we have achieved so much because of both our connections and our contributions from the bloodlines that wed into ours." Solae had never formed an opinion one way or another. Both her mother and grandfather were Falias by marriage (since her paternal grandmother inherited the title and holdings as an only child) but neither had spoken of their past. Because she had always known them as members of the esteemed Falia she never dwelt on the notion they were not always devoted members of its lineage.

"I don't know the details, but my father has been... or rather he was 'bailing them out' so to speak. They made several poor investments and after the empress took the throne people have been very reluctant to honor the same agreements they had before." Noble families were almost universally wealthy but the exact assets each possessed was a private affair. There was pomp and circumstance to be certain, but the liquid currency they had at their disposal, the holdings they owned, the precious collections tucked away in their vaults was not public knowledge. There were allusions to it, there was boasting and grandstanding, but a duke could go bankrupt while maintaining a decadent appearance. Similarly, 'lowly' viscounts could hide their recent returns made them twice as rich as their social superiors.

"I can only assume they arranged for this union with Gisella in part to help their finances," Solae murmured more to herself than to Rene. "Father was talking about cutting them off when I was a teenager and was getting increasingly annoyed with them. Mother was paranoid they had discovered our yearly profits had increased significantly, and so they didn't need as much as they were asking, and instead were trying to take advantage." She shrugged with indifference. It hadn't been her decision to make and neither of the late Falias would have sought her opinion and advice on the matter. More than once she had been told explicitly she would get the 'whole story' of their net worth once she inherited. That her father was unwilling to put a figure on it with his own daughter made her suspicious Duke Tan was not actually the most affluent man on New Concordia.

"Mia, are you still processing data?" she called out.

"Yes, Lady Solae. I am capable of running additional analysis concurrently. Do you wish for me to analyze the Chastain family's history since Sir Rene's exile?" she asked breathlessly from a speaker overhead.

"Pull in records for a year preceding the murder just to be certain, Mia. I'll look over the information on hand as well but it is possible either of us or both of us will miss something significant," she decided as she changed the screen from an image of Lucrecia to clippings about one of the Chastain's mining companies on an otherwise barren planet at the edge of the sector. Rene had enough to digest without a visual reminder that a tiny baby had been borne from a woman young enough to be his sister or wife; instead she was now his stepmother. Solae resolved herself to breach etiquette if Rene became her legal husband and anyone tried to compel her to address Gisella with matronly honorifics. The marquise had not just survived a harrowing assault on the embassy, a brush with death escaping New Concordia, and landing a ship for the first time through the hurricane to call someone a few years older than her anything other than her first name.

"Do you want to go lay down, Rene?" she asked as she glanced over her shoulder. "I can't promise Mia will behave herself, but I solemnly swear I won't get into any trouble until we get closer to Zatis. And I won't try to land without waking you if only so I can make you suffer through my lack of experience with me," she declared with a good-natured smile and a wink.