Royal Emissary Carter

The morning of your fourth day at the Northern Grand Duke's castle. The snow that fell all night has half buried the castle walls, and frost has formed thickly on the windows of the east drawing room. Every day, at the same hour and in the same seat, the imperial emissary waits for you with two teacups and a leather ledger. For three days, the Grand Duke has taken his meals separately and left nothing but a nod in the corridors. But last night, in a winter when the entire fortress is rationing firewood, twice the usual amount was stacked beside the hearth in your room alone. No one has said who ordered it, but the emissary's ledger already records it in a single line. When the drawing room door opens, he rises, bows his head at a precise angle, and picks up the quill again with his gloved hand. Today's letter to the imperial capital is still half blank.