Veileena was placed immediately on guard by the line of questions thrown her way. Her eyes narrowed.

"I am no [i]thief[/i]," she snapped, her hands shifting to her hips, "Can't a citizen show concern for affairs going on within the Kingdom's borders?"

She let out a huff.

"That's far more then [i]some[/i] of the other noble families do, I assure you."

That answered absolutely none of the questions they had, however. While Fanilly wanted to take a charitable interpretation of the young Cal's sudden appearance near the shrine, she couldn't deny how suspicious it seemed.

That response didn't fill her with confidence.

"Lady Cal, do you understand the situation?" she said, mounting frustration at her inability to resolve any of what had occurred, at her inability to save even a single soldier from the fort, growing, "An entire fort of Thaln's soldiers is dead."

The girl's golden eyes widened. So she didn't know what happened at the fort? Or at least she didn't know in detail. Whatever she was doing, Fanilly guessed that meant she had come straight here. But for what reason, she still had no idea. Could it be that Veileena really was going to follow in her father's footsteps, no matter her professed hatred of him? The Knight-Captain didn't feel certain that was the case, but this whole situation seemed difficult to understand.

"They're... all dead?" she asked, "I knew that it was dangerous but it was-"

She paused for a moment, realizing she had let slip more then she intended.

"... Tch. Fine. I guess if there's anyone I can tell short of the crown, it'd be the Iron Rose Knights."

She glanced briefly at Sir Gillian before averting her eyes once more.

"... The Mage's College," she said, finally. "The Mage's College were trying to destroy a shard of Angroron. I haven't the faintest idea how they got it, but they had it. They thought nobody knew, of course."

She rolled her eyes.

"Not even their own students."

Fanilly wasn't sure how to respond. The College had obtained a shard of Angroron? That's where it originated from? But how? Why hadn't they mentioned it to the Church? Was it really true? It seemed impossible, but at the same time there was no denying the shard had to have come from somewhere.

But if that were the case, why had it ended up in the fort?

"I'm sure that old goat of a headmaster thought he was doing what was right, but he was a complete idiot," continued Veileena with a sigh.

"How do you know all this, Lady Cal?" asked Fanilly. While Veileena did attend the college, she'd already mentioned that the higher-ups thought that no-one else knew.

"Hmph, don't you know anything?" asked the gray-haired girl, "Any noble worth their salt is going to have spies. Is the Captain of the Iron Rose Knights naive or something?"

She let out another sigh.

"The fact they were able to find out about the shard made me certain someone else would too," continued Veileena, "And I was right, because it was stolen."

Stolen? From the Mage's College? Who could pull something like that off?

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"What do you think did all this?" Veileena responded, eyebrow raised, "Besides, I'm certain. Don't you think it's odd how that conspiracy to assassinate the Princess collapsed so fast? Well, the same night they tried to murder the Princess, the shard was stolen."

What did that even mean? Fanilly didn't understand initially, even if it was odd how it seemed like the conspiracy vanished after that night. Surely it should have been a bigger group, right?

"... Are... you saying someone was just using them as a distraction...?"

"Of course."

Any keen-eyed knights in the position to focus on their surroundings could, perhaps, notice that there seemed to be a disturbance in the nearby foliage across the clearing, the low brush rustling slightly as if something was just beyond it.

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