You mean because I'd be roughly as charming in Celene's court as the Grand Duke's headless corpse?
( it's dry, unoffended. gwenaΓ«lle has always been perfectly aware of her shortcomings, where the orlesian court is concerned; she had survived it through a combination of her father's far superior skill and her own ability to sleight of hand moodiness into mystery that was never too mysterious. the appearance of a mystery likely easy enough to solve, and thus never meriting the stir to do it. no accident that so many thought they had her measure; that she was able to keep her private affairs private, because she wasn't worth the hassle of the pursuit. someone else always shined brighter, and if she did not thrive in their shadow, she survived long enough to find somewhere that suited her better.
a swig and a shrug, one more elegant than the otherβ )
I'd no intention of going back. Even before the bitch took my title.
( that is, perhaps, a little too unguarded in her feelings on the matter of who survived the civil war, crown intact. )
I'd have always been waiting for that shoe to drop, you know? I knew. Of course I knew. Imagine if I'd married, ifβwhat that scandal would have looked like. In Orlais, instead of here.
( with all the knives and none of the allies. )
I don't have the subtlety to maneuver Orlais on a knife edge. I'd have made an excellent dowager duchess, but I'd never have lasted long enough to get there. And then I came to the Inquisition, and the things I said mattered, and I could make my own place, and make it to suit me. When this is over, why would I do anything but keep doing that?
no subject
( it's dry, unoffended. gwenaΓ«lle has always been perfectly aware of her shortcomings, where the orlesian court is concerned; she had survived it through a combination of her father's far superior skill and her own ability to sleight of hand moodiness into mystery that was never too mysterious. the appearance of a mystery likely easy enough to solve, and thus never meriting the stir to do it. no accident that so many thought they had her measure; that she was able to keep her private affairs private, because she wasn't worth the hassle of the pursuit. someone else always shined brighter, and if she did not thrive in their shadow, she survived long enough to find somewhere that suited her better.
a swig and a shrug, one more elegant than the otherβ )
I'd no intention of going back. Even before the bitch took my title.
( that is, perhaps, a little too unguarded in her feelings on the matter of who survived the civil war, crown intact. )
I'd have always been waiting for that shoe to drop, you know? I knew. Of course I knew. Imagine if I'd married, ifβwhat that scandal would have looked like. In Orlais, instead of here.
( with all the knives and none of the allies. )
I don't have the subtlety to maneuver Orlais on a knife edge. I'd have made an excellent dowager duchess, but I'd never have lasted long enough to get there. And then I came to the Inquisition, and the things I said mattered, and I could make my own place, and make it to suit me. When this is over, why would I do anything but keep doing that?