"Ignatia has long suspected she had a hand in my husband's death. I do not wish to think her capable of it but- he picked her out of Halamshiral's alienage. A human girl, living there? I know what that means- and if it were ever a question, his calling her a 'habit' once was more than enough. I never let him say as much again as it is a poor and cruel joke." Half human, half rabbit. Habbit. Frederic was terribly Orlesian, after all. "A lady needs a Valet, he said, and she'd supposedly worked for one of the noble houses of Halamshiral before we employed her. Men were...unkind to her, there. Such things have never happened in this Estate, I made certain she was treated well. She has been treated well."

This is Clara's home as much as it is the Comtesse's, but resentments can linger. "For the Inquisition- I do not know. She knows I support your work, I cannot imagine she'd think bringing them harm would be to our benefit or yours."