Their walk back towards the carriage was quiet. Amelia had many questions she wanted to ask Dario but sensed that it was not a matter to be discussed openly. Thus she remained silent.
It had gotten colder outside. In only something like an hour the dirty streets had been completely covered in a layer of fresh snow. Small piles had gathed along the buildings and glittered against the red brick like pristine white hills.
A cold wind made her shudder and she hid her burning fingers in the coat pockets in an attempt to shield them from the biting air.
Hence she was relieved when they finally reached the carriage. It was parked on the small square close to where they had left it. The coachman restlessly paced around it, rubbing his palms in an attempt to keep himself warm. Amelia couldn't help but to feel sorry for him when she noticed his red cheeks.
Dario opened the door and she accepted his hand without a thought. Instead of getting in himself he leaned against the carriage in a boyish manner.
"I was hoping to take you out today, but you must be hungry. The um... 'errand' took longer than I expected. How about we get something to eat?"
"That would be lovely."
"Anywhere you want to go" he asked and Amelia paused.
She didn't have a clue. The closest she'd ever gotten to a restaurant was when she'd peer through the windows of the local pubs when she was little.
Then she remebered a place that a couple of servants had raved avout the previous night: a restaurant in the corner of the outer shoppingdistrict that had served them some rather curious dishes.
"I've heard of a foreign place at the edge of the southern mainstreet that I am curious to try. I do not remember its name though."
Dario nodded.
"I'm sure we'll find it."
He returned shortly after speaking to the coachman and seated himself beside her. The moment the door closed beside him he turned to her.
"That errand must've appeared really strange. In hindsight I should have told you more of it beforehand" he explained, bashfully rubbing his neck.
Sometimes he could be surprisingly dim.
"It was quite strange" Amelia admitted. "I've heard rumors but never thought that there was actually a market for buying information."
"How did you..."
"I didn't know until I saw the map in that man's office" she explained. "It marked the location of a liquorstore near the clocktower. Growing up there were rumors circulating in the brothel that someone there paid decent money for good information. Once someone even came to us and inquiered about the women's patreons. No one that I know of ever went there though."
She leaned forward to see Dario's face.
"What kind of information does one actually pay for?"
"I can't speak for others. But I myself found the network particularly helpful while looking into the plans against the king."
He stopped himself as if he had just stepped on a landmine.
"It is alright. As I am sure you've already gathered that I do not grieve my family."
Dario cleared his throat and continued hesitantly.
"Well, for one the network could offer me insight into the nobles associations as well as their private correspondence, which proved to be invaluable when it came to gathering which houses were involved. Not that it was that simple, but it provided us a startingpoint."
Amelia nodded. As she'd previously suspected the Marquis must've covered his tracks well to not have been caught up in the investigation.
"When you say network, does that include all of the marked locations on the map" she asked.
"Yes, and even more. They have branches all across the north. Most of them operate like contact points for compiling information and taking requests. This location though is... more private."
She stared at him, realising that what he simply described as private was much more than just that. Of course it was, given how secretive they were. And Dario had come there with her who was directly related to the treason that they'd previously helped him investigate.
"I made that woman fetch me tea three times" she realised and hid her face in her hands.
Dario only laughed and she glared at him.
"Do you find my insolence amusing?"
"No, but it's quite charming" he chuckled.
Her cheeks burned even more than before, not from embarassment this time.
"You have strange tastes" she murmured, then moved on to the question she really wanted to know the answer to.
"So... Since you brought me, is it alright for me to know what today's errand was about? Do not misunderstand, I am simply curious."
"If you wanted to know you shouldn't have insisted on waiting."
'And ignore the fact that they stared at me like I was a leper' she thought to herself.
"It might be easier to read" Datio stated and pulled out the paper that she'd seen him place in his pocket before.
It was crumbled and had gotten slightly wet from the snow so she unfolded it carefully. As she stared at the text she thanked herself for practising her reading though it took her an embarrassing long time to fully comprehend what the note said.
"Is this why you are leaving" she uttered.
"Are the northerns really advancing on our borders?"
"That's correct."
She scrutinized the text once more. The situation seemed way more dire than Dario had previously let on.
"What is this about raids and disappearances? Did our soldiers really do this?"
"I'm hoping to find that out. The commanders are vehemently denying that they have ever recieved or given such an order, but as you can see I can't trust just their words."
Amelia nodded in agreement. The repport was clear: soldiers wearing their kingdom's crest had been found dead on the other side of the border along with dead northern civilians. Although only one among the many attacks were directly connected their kingdom the others were were far to similar to not be correlated. They all had one thing in common; young girls and boys who weren't among the dead in the affected villages had gone missing.
"Our relationship with Croivane has been strained for a long time and these incidents have undenialy stoked the flames. But we've secured our borders many times before without issue."
Despite his assureance Amelia couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding.
"If these incidents weren't due to an accident or misunderstanding but delibarate, what then?"
The image of the Marquis's face flashed across her mind.
"That is a notion that I'm considering. Nontheless the first order of buisness remains the same. Before anything else we have to secure the safety of our citizens by the frontier. Everything else comes second."
Although Amelia knew that now was the perfect time to share her suspicions something stopped her. As he said, his priorites wouldn't change regardless of the cause behind the incidents. Or perhaps she bit her tounge because of her own fear of being wrong.
She handed the report back to Dario.
"Thank you for telling me" she said with a thin smile.
"May I ask, for what reason would you trust me with this? It seems like a very sensitive matter."
"Do I need to have a reason?"
"I would prefer it if you did."
"Well, you don't seem like the type to run your mouth" he shrugged, only adding to it when he noticed her dissatisfied frown.
"You've had plenty of chances to pry before and you've taken none."
It was true what he said. On the nights she'd spent with him he hadn't made much of an effort to hide the piles of documents. But to trust her just because of that?
"How can you be sure that I didn't?"
"Much to my dissatisfaction Gordon had kept an eye on your comings and goings when you first arrived, only out of loyalty towards me of course.I put a stop to it as soon as I found out."
"It is fine, I can't imagine that there was much to take not of anyway".
Although Dario's explanation seemed genuine she still felt that there was something he wasn't telling her. Whenever she met his gaze his eyes shifted, not obviously but just enough for her to take notice.
She decided not to press him on the issue. At least not today.