Marianne looked up with an inviting and cordial smile when Sir Garrett came and took his seat across from her. Following his gaze, she turned around in her own chair to notice that he was giving her maids a rather curious look. Turning back around, she waved her hand at him dismissively.
"Oh, before my Knighting as an Iron Rose, there were plenty more of them around my home. These wonderful ladies were merely the group that were closest to me, I even grew up with many of them." She laughed.
"Yes, my friends are a rather interesting bunch aren't they?" She covered her mouth in shock when he spoke of leashes and trouble-making, assuming the worst.
"Oh my, they didn't inconvenience you in any way, have they Sir Garrett?" She turned back around to glare at them, all of the maids remained silent and cast their eyes to the floor. It was better not to say anything.
"They better not have. Otherwise they have some explaining to do later tonight..." Marianne said in a slightly threatening tone.
Turning back to face Sir Garrett, she explained her reasoning for having invited him to have dinner with her.
"Well, it is simply to thank you for helping to wake me after I had fainted. I've been known in the past to not wake for many days and nights after exhausting my mana, which can be rather troublesome on the field of battle." She chuckled, cheeks rosy as she continued,
"It would be rather embarrassing for me to be carted back like a sack of potatoes, so you helped me to save face there. Not only that, but you were one of the few Iron Roses that consoled me after my little...foolish moment. I appreciate you for that and for aiding me in locating my horse. It would've been a slight hassle for me to replenish my supplies and equipment had you not helped me there too." Folding her hands on her lap, she continued speaking with a certain...
brightness in her eyes and her smile warmer and wider than normal.
"Plus, is it so wrong to invite a fellow comrade to have dinner with one another and get to know each other? It is a common practice and tradition for we Delacroix to regularly invite allied noble families to banquets and dances, breaking bread with our comrades-in-arms."Upon mention of her official 'royal' title, Marianne frowned and bristled. She turned back around to face her maids, who immediately cast their eyes away and to the side. Extremely interested in various random bricks and objects and not at all fearful of having been discovered 'blabbing'.
"Who had mentioned that I am the heir Duchess?" she asked Sir Garrett, looking at each of her maids. It was no secret of hers, but rather a bit of information that she would rather not many would know as common knowledge. She would rather be known more as a knight of the Iron Roses and referred to by the lesser title of 'Dame' as opposed to 'Lady'.
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