[center][h1][b][color=DAF6C7]Ríoghnach "Riona"[/color][/b][/h1][color=DAF6C7]Location:[/color] Outside the Castle
[color=DAF6C7]Time:[/color] 09:30
[color=DAF6C7]Interaction:[/color] Leo[@Helo][/center]
[color=9AF781]“Almost amusing if not for the poor timing. This is far less amusing, and I’m certain his royal highness would have little tolerance for threatening his guests with an ‘early grave.’ I prefer to handle my own matters, so, who put you up to this?”[/color]

Riona blinked once, twice. She didn’t understand what in the world he was babbling on about. [color=DAF6C7][i]Who put me up to this? I guess I’m not the first to complain, then.[/i] “The labor union?”[/color] she asked, half-jokingly. She heard rumors of its implementation somewhere in Varian. 

She stared until the realization hit her, causing her to burst out laughing. Of course, why would someone who thought lowborns were an entirely different species think that they could get the upper hand on him without the assistance of another noble? Prank or not. Commoners were fundamentally incompetent; incapable of doing anything without the guidance of a highborn and thus wholly dependent on their overlords.

[color=DAF6C7]“W-wait,”[/color] she gasped between laughter, [color=DAF6C7]“wait, wait, wait.”[/color] Riona tried to calm herself, looked at Lord Smithwood’s face, and sniggered. [color=DAF6C7]“Let me guess...”[/color] The maid placed two fingers on her temple and extended her other hand toward the lord’s direction. She closed her eyes shut, pretending to focus all her mental abilities on deciphering the complex workings of a highborn’s mind. [color=DAF6C7]“You’re thinking… you’re thinking that commoners are… s…t…u…p…i…d? Cupid? Oh! Right, stupid… and cowardly. There’s no way this woman has the smarts or the guts to [i]insult ME[/i] of her own volition! There must be someone of noble blood behind this. Yes, that’s it! It has to be!”[/color]

Riona opened one eye, [color=DAF6C7]“Am I right?”[/color]

She barked another laugh. [color=DAF6C7]“You lot are so predictable! Is that all tutors teach you in class these days? Gods! No wonder the quality of ‘noble’ in the nobility went down the drain. You need to get a refund, Smithwood, because you’ve got scammed out of a proper education.”[/color]

[color=DAF6C7]“But seriously, are you [i]that[/i] dense that you need a [i]nobody[/i] to point out the obvious? Ah… then again, you can’t function without nobodies assisting your day-to-day life, so it makes sense.”[/color] She sighed, [color=DAF6C7]“I’ll try my best to break it down for you so that you don’t have to think that hard, okay?”[/color] She answered for Lord Smithwood [color=DAF6C7]“Okay.”[/color]

Her voice changed into a tone reserved for little children. [color=DAF6C7]“You see, Smithwood, when you’re as charming as you are, you don’t need to be highborn to think you’re a horrible person. And when you’re a horrible person, people start to not like you as an individual. When people don’t like you, they’re more likely to take action to express how much they don’t like you. Depending on how much they hate you, the worse their actions against you become.”[/color] Without actually touching his lordship, Riona pretended she was patting the man’s head. [color=DAF6C7]“Does that make sense to you, boy? Or do you need pictures too?”[/color] She shushed him, [color=DAF6C7]“I know, I know, it’s a very complex and multifaceted idea, so it might take some time for you to understand. But since you’re highborn and don’t need to do anything to be great at everything, I’m sure you’ll get it by the time you grow up.”[/color]

[color=DAF6C7]“This,”[/color] she pointed to herself and Lord Smithwood, [color=DAF6C7]“here. Is an intervention. Not a threat, but a warning, a premonition.”[/color] Her finger settled on Lord Smithwood before moving it up and down, [color=DAF6C7]“You keep this up and you'll have people, regardless of their birth, wishing you dead. I’ll bet my money that a majority of them will be the people you’re supposed to be taking care of too. The people you think are insignificant, even if you can’t run a duchy without them. But you’ll overlook every sign. So what if they did hate you? What can the likes of them do anyways, right?”[/color]

[color=4E0E04][i]What can the likes of [b]you[/b] do?[/i][/color] 

[color=DAF6C7][i]Shut up.[/i][/color] 

[color=DAF6C7]“You’re far from invincible or untouchable, Smithwood. Even ants can kill humans.”[/color] Riona sighed, her anger spent. All that remained was a kind of pity for the man. The Varian was a typical Caesonian noble in the making, disconnected from the world, their own people, outside the aristocratic bubble. 

For the first time, she wondered if Lord Smithwood was anything like his missing father. Which led to another thought. [color=DAF6C7]“...Are you deliberately making the servants around you feel as miserable as you are because of who your mother married?”[/color] Ladies-in-waiting were considered a prestigious position, but was even that too lowly?