Sitting in the carriage Heidi pulled the strand of her hair behind her ear carefully, trying to tame the errant strands of her hair. When Lord Nicholas had given her specific amount of time to get ready, she had hurried herself to the room, was.h.i.+ng her face and changing into a suitable gown for the evening, finally leaving the room before time without realizing she hadn't combed her hair. Previously when she was on her way home, she hadn't bothered to close the carriage's window, letting the air blow on her face while she enjoyed it, resulting in the air pulling out strands of her hair out, haphazardly. It was only when she looked at her reflection on the window did she realize how bad her hair looked.

Nicholas who was sitting in front of Heidi with his legs crossed, had one hand supporting his jaw while the other rested on his side as he stared at her amused. Her brows were contoured slightly as she patted her hair, looking at her reflection in the window. When her eyes accidentally met his reflection, she cleared her throat, placing her hand back on her lap. Since Heidi had already traveled to the theater before she knew the journey was a long one.

"Are we going to the same theater which we had previously been to?"

"Unfortunately, yes. It's the only closest theater available to both Bonelake and Woville. There are two in Valeria and one in Mythweald but it will take more than two days to only travel. I have proposed for a theater in one of the Bonelake town than in the outskirts with the council which will take few weeks before the theater is going to be built. I am not fond of travelling," he whispered the last sentence.

"Why not build it right away?" she asked him curious. Didn't a Lord have the power to build buildings in his own empire? she wondered to herself.

"Even though this is my land, we lords have rules and procedures to follow,"

"You do?" her mouth twisted in a funny way and a smile cracked on his face.

"I do. Actually we lords receive beneficial items on our conduct with our Empire," Lord Nicholas explained and then continued, "You seem to doubt on my abilities," Heidi shook her head.

"I don't doubt them, milord. It is just hard to know that a lord would kill a bird for no reason without a thought."

They were still on it, he thought with a smile. Meeting someone like her was a first for him. Someone who spoke without holding back anything. With years Nicholas was used to men and women trying to please him with their words and att.i.tude which had turned out to be an utter bore. She hadn't changed since their first meeting, though initially she had gone into shock after knowing he was the Lord, her att.i.tude had bounced back in no time.

"What about the chicken you ate today? If the poor thing had a soul, it would pity itself that you considered its life less important," he stated, feigning a serious tone.

"They are two different matters," was the quick response he received.

"I definitely don't see the difference. I think you know what people like that are called, Heidi? Hypocrites," Heidi didn't know how to get back at that because when she opened her mouth, she heard him say, "Don't worry. We are all in the same boat."

There was no way she could argue with what he said. May be he was right, however the bird died, the bottom line was they had killed it for their own purpose. But that wasn't what she was getting at, shaking her head she decided to keep her mouth shut over the matter.

"Lord Nicholas?" she called out seeing he had his head facing towards the window. He turned back, "Did you...receive any letter from my family?"

Though she already knew the answer for it, she still hoped that somewhere her family would acknowledge her absence while she was away. During her second week of her stay in the Rune's mansion, her family or her sister had sent her clothes she could use which wasn't exactly in good condition. Heidi already had enough dresses and garments which she had never imagined to have therefore instead of throwing them away, she had kept it in the cupboard still in the closed bag.

"I don't think we have. Your family must be diligent to be following every word the council has asked them to abide to," he replied back and seeing her eyebrows furrow he explained, "The council asked not to contact and ask you to come back frequently during your stay here. They want to make sure you get along in this world without your family sheltering you because we don't know yet if you will comply to the marriage entirely. There have been previous cases when the groom or the bride ran away. The council is only taking extra measures."

"Okay," it seemed like a reasonable explanation and suddenly his words sunk into her mind, "What did you mean by extra measures?"

"Like I said, letters and visits. Forgive me. It might appear rude and untrusting but all the letters addressed to you will have to go through me before it is handed out to you. It is also why you are staying at the Rune's mansion. We wouldn't want anyone kidnapping our guest to stop the truce or...the bride running away now, would we?"