"I'll tell you right now, don't you go trying anything reckless!" Talulah snapped, her eyes wide as she stared at Jeanne's mischievous expression. "I didn't travel all the way here to settle old grudges or pick a fight with Victoria's nobility!"
Seeing that particular look on Jeanne's face sent a chill down her spine. Every single time her friend looked like that, it meant trouble was brewing, and someone was about to get dragged into a mess.
What made it worse was Jeanne's sheer speed of execution. Before Talulah could even process what was happening, Jeanne would have already carried out whatever wild plan she had cooked up. Talulah had witnessed that exact scenario far too many times to count!
Case in point: summoning those Steam Knights without a word of warning. If Talulah hadn't caught on to the situation quickly, she would still be standing there in absolute disbelief—and Jeanne would undoubtedly be watching her reaction with smug satisfaction.
"Relax, relax! I know what I'm doing," Jeanne said smoothly, patting Talulah on the head.
Overwhelmed by the sudden influx of chaotic events, Talulah was so dazed she forgot to swat the hand away. She stood there like a bewildered child being placated, only snapping back to her senses several seconds later.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Talulah scrambled backward, her face flushed with irritation. Was this woman treating her like a toddler now? Though she forced her expression back into a calm mask, her dragon tail flicked back and forth in clear annoyance.
"We should head back and check on things," Talulah said, her brow furrowing with concern. "To be frank, I don't entirely trust those Steam Knights. They might have a high sense of honor on paper, but after seeing how corrupt Victorian nobility is, I can't help but view them with a healthy dose of suspicion."
She genuinely worried that Jeanne hadn't summoned a reliable reinforcement, but rather a group of ambitious wildcards harboring their own hidden motives.
If that proved true, even County Hillock would turn into a pawn for their political games. Should things deteriorate to that point, the local Taran residents would suffer immensely in the aftermath.
"I'm glad to see you thinking along those lines!" Jeanne patted her shoulder approvingly. She had been debating whether to drop a subtle hint or just lay everything out directly.
"Just remember to keep your cool when we get back," Jeanne advised gently. "Those knights aren't as insufferable as the high nobility, but they aren't exactly pleasant to deal with either. Even though I already turned them down on your behalf, they'll almost certainly try to press the matter with you directly."
She wanted to give Talulah a quick heads-up so she wouldn't lose her temper and provoke a full-blown brawl with the knights.
It wasn't that she worried about Talulah getting hurt; it would simply look terrible if they ended up thrashing the very allies Jeanne had summoned.
When the two returned to the main square, they found the battlefield largely cleared. A few core lieutenants from Dublinn had managed to escape during the confusion, but the majority of their fighters were now disarmed and bound under heavy guard. A few of the Steam Knights had already dismounted from their massive pressurized rigs and were huddled in quiet discussion.
"Greetings, Saintess," a middle-aged Feline knight approached Jeanne, offering a refined, perfectly executed noble bow. His polished manners made his aristocratic origins obvious at a glance.
"We are immensely grateful that you reached out to us. Had it not been for your timely message, we would have remained entirely unaware of the chaos unfolding here. This whole affair..."
The noble-born knight launched into a lengthy, formal speech, showing no signs of wrapping up anytime soon. Meanwhile, Jeanne noticed another knight quietly pulling Talulah off to the side to discuss the situation out of earshot.
Jeanne saw right through their little tactic. The knights clearly assumed her presence would influence Talulah's stance—or that the Saintess herself would shut down their proposals with unyielding authority. Having a formal rejection delivered in front of everyone would be thoroughly embarrassing for them.
After all, given Jeanne's formidable standing and terrifying combat prowess, the knights knew better than to push her around without their steam armor powered up. Thus, they resorted to this slight, sneaky maneuver, hoping to find a breakthrough with the Draco heir herself.
Realizing their intentions, Jeanne wasn't bothered in the slightest. She played along smoothly, taking the initiative to steer the middle-aged knight into a casual conversation about topics that had zero relation to the crisis at hand.
The knight was more than happy to chat, and the two were soon engaged in a warm discussion. All the while, neither paid any mind to Talulah across the square, whose expression was growing darker by the second as a cluster of armored figures surrounded her. She looked one step away from drawing her blade to settle the matter by force.
"I'll say this one last time," Talulah snapped, her voice cold enough to freeze the air around them. "Stop trying to drag me into your political schemes. I am an Infected, nothing more. I have zero interest in getting involved in Victoria's internal affairs."
She had repeated that exact sentiment at least fifty times over the past few weeks. Yet those who craved power in Victoria were hardly the type to give up after a single refusal. Listening to the same tedious arguments day after day had tested her patience to its absolute limits.
"Will you not reconsider?" the knight pressed, refusing to back down. "You are the last living heir of the Artorius bloodline. This is your chance to restore your family's glory! An opportunity like this..."
"I believe Jeanne already gave you my answer," Talulah interrupted sharply, her posture rigid and unyielding. "I am the leader of the Infected, and I have no intention of resurrecting a dead house. Since your grand dukes banded together to drive the Artorius name out of this country years ago, I have no desire to be brought back like some prize."
The absolute finality in her voice left the knights completely speechless. They didn't walk away, but simply stood there in silence, staring at the young Draco with conflicted eyes.
"I hope you came here solely to protect Victorian lives," Talulah added, casting a glance over her shoulder at the gathering crowd.
The surviving townsfolk were gazing at the towering war machines with a mixture of anxiety and deep gratitude, treating the Steam Knights as their sole saviors.
"I doubt you would want them finding out that the legendary Steam Knights didn't come here to save them, but rather to chase after political leverage and status."
The knights were all too familiar with those desperate, hopeful gazes. They had seen that exact look in the eyes of Victorian citizens countlessly over the decades, and the novelty had long since worn off.
"We no longer possess the strength to carry those hopes," one of the knights murmured softly, her voice dull and devoid of spark. "When all is said and done, we are nothing more than abandoned remnants. Even Londinium refuses to open its gates to us now. We are nowhere near as grand as you or those people believe... We are merely knights bound by an oath to a royal line that no longer exists."
Her dim gaze looked as though she had lost all purpose.
Yet Talulah remained entirely unmoved. She glanced over at Jeanne, inwardly exasperated that her friend hadn't used the distraction to bail her out of this agonizing conversation.
"Those are your own burdens to work through," Talulah said flatly. "The death of the Lion King is a reality that happened years ago. If you refuse to accept it, no amount of scheming will change the past. If you're truly desperate, go track down the remaining Aslan heirs and see if any of them have an appetite for the crown. The reign of the Draco kings in Victoria is long dead and buried—and I came here precisely to sever the final thread connecting me to it. Good day."
Without waiting to see if they understood, Talulah reached out, grabbed Jeanne by the arm, and strode away from the square, completely washing her hands of the lingering crowd. If she stayed any longer, the back-and-forth would go on forever!
The key difference between these Steam Knights and the previous envoys was that the knights viewed her as their absolute last hope. No matter how clearly she rejected them, they simply couldn't bring themselves to accept it.
The Steam Knights watched silently as the two women walked away into the dim streets. None of them raised a voice to stop them; instead, after a long silence, a collective, heavy sigh echoed beneath their steel visors.
Turning back to the task at hand, they began organizing the remaining Dublinn captives, locking them away in temporary holding areas. As for what punishments would await the prisoners, that would depend entirely on how the high nobility in the capital chose to react.
It seemed another round of tedious political squabbling with the dukes was inevitable.