The entire inn went silent.
Not gradually — all at once, like someone had reached into the room and pulled the sound out of it. Every head turned. Every conversation died. The fire kept crackling in the corner, indifferent to the situation, which Renji found personally offensive.
Kaede's hand found his arm before he could move. Her grip was immediate and iron.
"Don't cause a scene," she said quietly, close to his ear. "That man's probably a noble."
Renji's jaw was tight. "And how exactly do you know that?"
She gestured — barely, just a small tilt of her chin — toward the man's coat, the cut of it, the way it draped. Toward the rings on his fingers, each one catching the lantern light with the quiet confidence of something extremely expensive.
"Because nothing he's wearing looks cheap."
The man had been watching them murmur between themselves with visible amusement. He smiled now, wide and self-satisfied.
"Smart woman," he said. "You should listen to her more often."
