Save for himself and Rhiane, nobody else knew about the true reason behind the said tardiness. Her words were taken at face value, though with much curiosity hiding behind a thin veil of silence. The ladies had more cynical minds than the lords evident in the subtle way their eyes shifted to find somebody else in the assembly seemingly sharing the same thought. The lords, on the other hand much to Luke’s displeasure, seemed to be smitten by the princess elect’s sultry charms. He understood the look in their eyes as the titled members of the nobility watched the commoner’s face smile up to him and pronounce the justification for coming in with just Tobias. They saw her as just a pretty object, a toy, whom they covet but couldn’t have. Perhaps when the prince was done with her, they could at least have a glimpse of the wonders she could bring to their aging bodies.

It was difficult to tell exactly how old the baron was, or anybody in the assembly for that matter. Thanks to medical enhancements, those who could afford were granted with a face and a body that appeared as young as they would prefer. Of course, the more years deducted from a person’s age, the more expensive the procedure was. The baron’s appearance was that of a middle-aged man, with a head full of gray hair brushed up and away from the smooth complexion of his face. His eyes were dark and piercing, watching Rhiane and her fiance who stood beside her unwilling to move until her food had been served. 

Luke just nodded in response to the unwarranted explanation coming from Rhiane. He would not bring up an argument in front of the vultures who were waiting to pray on the imminent corpse of the love story the young couple was selling. 

“We have heard about the unfortunate incident.” The baron resumed cutting the meat on his plate using a silver knife. His thin lips curved upwards appearing to smile. Luke eyed him warily as he made his way back to his seat. It would have been preferable if Rhiane sat next to the prince so he could easily signal her to shut her mouth if needed be. Nobody expected a farmer to be well-versed in the nuances of conversing with the upper class, not the least Luke. Therefore, he was afraid that she might embarrass herself and him too. “We have all been prepared to meet you since yesterday morning, Ms. Black. My wife and our friends from nearby territories had traveled a great distance, took time off our busy daily schedules, to behold the rumored beauty of our next queen. I am glad that you find this quaint little village lovely, after sightseeing on your own while,” he took a deep breath and sighed. “While your presence is missed by people who went to out of their ways in hopes to meet you in person.”

“Ah, but that’s all in the past,” declared his younger brother, who Luke knew as Anton. The younger Ferullo grinned at the princess elect. “Our family’s territory includes the towns of Arossa, Scavano, and Catarno.”

The baron next filled in the information being asked of him by the commoner, except that he was not inclined to give a straightforward answer to her simple question. He told her about the province of Salerno, its population and climate, the percentage of local produce it contributed to the economy each year, and how much of it was from the lands his family governed. He narrated how Arossa was an agricultural town, whose economy was heavily based on livestock and farming fruits and vegetables which were conducive to cold climates. “The per capita income is a little cheaper compared to the whole kingdom’s, but the cost of living in the mountains is a lot cheaper compared to our cites.” As if the lord was intent on placing the woman into her proper place not because she wronged him in any way, but because he would make a fool of himself if he attacked the crown prince. 
“Despite how expensive ‘organic’ Arossa berries are in the market?” Luke frowned, thinking back to the sweetness of the dried fruits and the filling of the pastries he had that morning. Certain technology had minimized the effects of seasonality to farming provided that the location could maintain a temperature within a defined range, it enabled the farmers to grow seasonal crops all year long. Arossa was one of the first beneficiaries of the research, supposedly boosting the productivity of the land so long as the farmers cleverly planned the rotation of crops. He did not mention it, or how a percentage of the produce was purchased by the local government to be sold to the market at a competitive price to maintain the inflation rate at an acceptable level.

“Yes, actually there are some difficulties,” the baron said slowly.  The conversation moved to a discussion about economics. A topic that might not be appreciated by the ladies, but something Rhiane was familiar with. Being a farmer herself, she had first-hand experience on how the invisible hand of the market worked. He wondered how her experiences would make her qualified to join the little debate.

The women looked borderline bored. Once in a while, he would steal a glance at Rhiane to check if she had the same sentiment as the ladies. No one dared to start a conversation with her, not the woman sitting to her left or the lord at her right. They addressed her out of necessity, only when they had to give a piece of their mind to an opinion she voiced out. But it did not escape Luke how some of the men stared at her face and then the tempting neckline of her dress. He did not like it. He did not like waiting for Rhiane to finish her meal before he could act, because by then the men might have already formed fantasies inside their heads with her as the subject. 

“I have other matters to discuss with you, Lord Ferullo, but not in a crowd as this. Will you clear a few hours of your time for me? Not today, but soon.”

The baron nodded, sipping from the glass of local wine. “This has been wonderful,” Luke addressed the assembly when he thought Rhiane was finished eating. “But we have a schedule to keep track of. Regrettably, we shall excuse ourselves.”