"That's how we got everything sorted," Yi Tong moved a chess piece. "Er Long and Ming Xuan had brought the Bckwing to heel. My source said the conspirator inside the capitol had been adequately defanged."

  Ciel nodded, deciding against capturing his opponent's offense and maneuvering another piece into a better position. "As pnned, I believe."

  The First Prince gazed at the unconventional moves. Ciel had purposefully downed his material advantage to put himself in a winning position; something he must admire. But a sudden whirl of machinery halted his train of thought before it could arrive with a solution.

  The Grand Marshall's mansion was buzzing with activity, none of which originated from a human. Marvelous machines lined against the wall like picket fences, drilled and nailed a device no soul in the Southern Continent had ever seen into the inventor's home. A mountain of trash, thankfully removed of several dangerous implements, remained seated in his porch as an insult to all regutory bodies.

  Yi Tong, knowing he couldn't continue the game of chess under this condition, gnced up at the concentrating Ciel. "Can we continue this ter, and talk about your pn instead?" he asked about the wall instaltion. “What are those anyway?”

  “Precaution against invaders,” came the answer, “so do you like my pn?"

  "I believe it is insane. Half the officials will throw a fit."

  Ciel smiled, "But we have all the leverage, didn't we?"

  His conversation partner wasn't amused. "They will still fight to the death," he reasoned.

  "Basic strategy, my boy: if you corner the animal, they will fight to the death for survival, but leave them a way out, and you will see a scramble," the Grand Marshall took up a map. "How about we kill three birds with a single stone throw."

  "Is this the reason you asked us to secure the surrounding areas?"

  "Those are just ying down the foundation," Ciel said with confidence. "I assure you the meeting tomorrow will be very interesting."

  ---

  The city of Da Ming was built in a circur shape, separated by yers of rings and income gaps. Some would call it a cssist system, but more nuance hid beneath such a facade; namely the limited supply of goods and services.

  Da Ming’s innermost region mostly contained paces, libraries and sensitive facilities belonging to the God-Emperor. The officials in charge indeed lived in a town made out of ivory, but it was a town deserted of much entertainment and a convenient supply of goods. Which meant they often went down to the middle-ring for amphitheaters, shopping and meeting. And to satisfy this growing demand, mercantile families in the mid-ring expanded outward to the outer-ring to gain space and manpower.

  People would call this system exploitative, but this interdependent retionship ensured people had a modicum of awareness for the css below them; no one wanted to find their competitor got ahead due to unpopurity with the lower css.

  Such reality rang true even for the wives of the Grand Marshall, who chose to spend their day off among aroma mooncakes of a mid-ring teashop. Walls around their private room were colored in pster teal, reflecting the midday light upon the table holding up ptes of food and steaming tea. The blinder windows isoted the noise of crowded busy streets filled with transactions from the familial discussion they had.

  "Tough day," Nuan poured Xia a hot tea.

  "You could say that," replied the First Wife. She was garbed in the crisp schorly robe and hair-pin, a welcome change from the battle-worn armor she had to wear. "So he takes you to the orphanages."

  "Yes," came a tired reply. "The kids aren't so bad, but they are exhausting."

  "I used to visit orphanages when my father was still alive."

  "I often led armies. It is fun."

  Both of them met each other's eyes and sighed.

  "Why is retirement so boring?" compined the Second Bride. "I get everything I ever want but am still unsatisfied."

  "You are lucky to actually get something you want," said the First Bride. "I have to suffer just to get my foot to the door."

  "To avenge your father?"

  Xia squinted at her sworn sister's confusion. "Yes, have I said my goal changed?"

  "I don't know how to break this to you." Nuan spoke, sipping her tea. "But rumors have been floating around in the court. The common consensus is that you have completely sold out Curtis to the Grand Marshall over love."

  "I--," she stuttered. "I. What?"

  The Marshall's Dragon, gulping down sheer nerves with every harrowing word, gave the Princess of White the dose of reality.

  "Okay, first people think you are selling your body for protection against political prosecution. Everyone in court knows the 'crusade' Spade forced you on is a formality to eliminate you for going against him. When Ciel rose as Grand Marshall--and you were revealed as his fiance--the initial expectation is you sold yourself to him to gain Mandrake's protection; basically they think of you as a wimp. But after the rumors of your campaign yesterday with Er Long, and him singing your praise to heaven, those rumors began to change. The common consensus is that Ciel somehow saw your talent and seduced you into being his wife."

  Xia's mouth opened. She gulped, reaching for the warm tea and chugged it down to bury her embarrassment.

  "That isn't true!" she shouted, but the aftertaste of her drink, the enriching deepness of the herbs, distracted her train of thought. "This tea is pretty dang good."

  "It is good. I heard the owner bought it from the mountain in the north."

  The First Wife breathed in and out. Her head sank into her palm and she groaned.

  "Does Curtis know about this rumor yet?"

  "I don't know," Nuan answered. "But at this rate it is only a matter of time."

  Suddenly, the Dragon Scion ears perked in the air.

  “Do you hear the sound?”

  “What sound?” Xia asked.

  “A sound from the room beside us.”

  “You think someone was eavesdropping?”

  As one, the two rose from their chairs, and rushed out of the room. They exited into an empty corridor with a homely feel and low noise density. Nuan checked on the right, seeing an empty room without any booking. To her left, Xia found a closed room unlocked, and opened it.

  A simir setting to their room id inside, but the windows were wide open; its blinder gently knocking against the frame. The chair was withdrawn from the table, opened for all to see and the sound to come in. The tea cup sitting on top of the table steamed, providing evidence their eavesdropper hadn’t run away for long.

  "Someone is spying," Xia confirmed. "Whoever they are must have left through the window."

  "Too obvious." Nuan investigated the door. "If that is the case, the door should be locked, but it wasn't. Our spy probably rigged the window to open, while she escaped through the door when she realized the jig was up."

  "Is she, or he, that fast?"

  "Good point. You search the ground and I will look for anyone suspicious through the roof-top."

  And the two went to work, leaving the room respectively through the doors and the window. Winds blew. Rhythmic ccking of the bindings marked the passage of time. One second. Two seconds. And finally, after she was perfectly sure her ploy succeeded, the woman with grayish white hair and brilliant eyes shook off her artifact. She let the cloak which camoufged her against the room's teal wall fall to the ground with her shaking knees.

  "That was too close," she cried. "That was too close. What is Amy thinking, asking me to infiltrate this pce?" She ranted at her adopted mother and handler, while biting her nails in frustration. "What exactly is going on here?"

  The mysterious maiden began assembling the fragments of information she had gathered.

  "I have already sent the footage of Xia in combat to Amy, and she said the energy she used isn't White Mana." The spy's fingers tightened around her cloak. "The rumors I heard suggested she had sold Curtis to either Mandrake or this Grand Marshall, but what is she pnning?"

  Her eyes narrowed in concentration. "Did she aim to dethrone Spade? That would be suicidal. Why would the Yulong's God-Emperor ever agree to go to war for the sake of a foreign princess?"

  Eyes spinning like a windmill, the poor spy continued piecing together her disparate information. "The only thing I know for sure from their conversation is this alliance of mutual benefit, but what leverage does the Curtis' Crown Princess have on the Grand Marshall, 'Ciel'?"

  "And why did she position herself as his wife?" Her lips quivered as another thought struck her. "Those are huge risks to her reputation if this story eventually finds its way to Curtis." Then, in a moment of frustrated candor: "And why can't I retire like Nuan Yulong!"

  The spy, realizing she had slipped her innermost desire as a shout, closed her mouth, watching both the door and window in fear of those two Celestial Brides returning. She gulped and continued her thoughts mentally.

  There was one person who was tied at the center of it all: Ciel the Grand Marshall. But to find out more about him, she needed to sneak into his manor and make off with some kind of document that gave her a hint about him. It would be risky, but the Mercenary Port needed this intel to gain the edge over both Montgomery and Curtis.

  "You owe me one, Amy," said the spy who was ignorantly walking into a suicide mission.