I picked up the lady who moaned at my touch. Her clothes were tattered and now coated in what appeared to be her blood. Thankfully the infirmary was close by and she was in no real danger.

I jogged over to the next hall opening and walked up the steps. Several guards looked on in confusion but I waived them off saying it was fine. I heard Sigewinne discussing the proper treatment of a rash with an older male inmate who frequented the Pankration ring.

"Now be sure to apply this ointment before going to work in the production zone and before you go to bed." Our head nurse said cheerfully.

"Yes, mam. Oh, Your grace! I didn't see you there. What happened someone passed out in the ring and you happened to be there?" The older man asked staring at the woman on my shoulder.

"Nope, not this time. Was doing my rounds and this newbie slipped down the steps to her dorm hallway. That doesn't explain this though." I said lifting the side of her shirt as I laid her down on the middle infirmary bed.

"Oh, so this must be Ms. Silva then. Nuevillette wrote me about her yesterday. He said a new inmate would be coming in pretty badly injured. He said to expect her treatment at the hospital to be less than stellar given what happened between her and the guards." Sigewinne said staring at the wound, "It looks like her stitches were snapped."

"She tripped down one of the connecting flights of stairs leading from her dorm room hall. Could the fall of caused the damage to the stitching?" I asked, crossing my arms.

I stared at the unconscious lady before me. She had striking deep navy hair with some forest green low lights. It was a rather strange combination. I noticed there was blood on the palm of her hand slowly drying in the stale humid air of Meropide.

"The stitching still had to of been struck multiple times for the edges of the wound to be so far apart. Nuevillette did write saying she could have enemies among our guards." Sigewinne said cleaning the wound and restitching it.

I noted that the male visiting Sigewinne earlier had slipped out without saying anything. Sigewinne took her time with closing up the inmate's wound. Then for good measure, she rubbed some of the salve she normally uses on cuts and bruises I obtain when I fight in the ring.

"So her name is Silva? I haven't read her file yet but did notice one titled that in the new inmate paperwork." I said as Sigewinne put away her medical supplies into a locked cabinet after pulling out fresh bandages. 

"That's right! Nuevillette said for me to help her get adjusted. I think he pities her." The human-like Melusine said shaking her head as she wrapped the fresh bandages around Silva's body.

"What makes you think that?" I said in surprise.

"The tone of his letter was different. It wasn't the usual great things about his day or a warning saying she was dangerous. He also said to be on the lookout for withdrawal effects." She said sitting at her desk, "Isn't the champion duelist visiting you soon?"

"Crap, that was why I was doing my rounds. I knew I would be busy for the next few hours." I said walking towards the exit, "Oh Sigewinne, please invite Ms. Silva to my office for tea when she wakes up. No one's first day in Meropide should be spent in the infirmary."

She smiled at me and nodded, "Yes your grace."

I took one last look at Silva. I felt a twang in my chest. She had a sad look on her sleeping face. It reminds me of how I looked after my trial. I shook my head, my hair tufts swishing a bit.

I left the infirmary and headed toward my office. My office... it still feels surreal. It hadn't even been a third of the year since I'd taken control of Meropide. I went from a lowly criminal in the eyes of the law to the Duke of the Fortress. I could have laughed.

I arrived at the cold doors of my office. With an easy push, they swing open welcoming me back to my solidarity. Ascending the metal stairs, I smiled as I heard the smooth jazz that played on my record player.

I walked over to my sofa and grabbed my kettle from the coffee table. It was nice they installed a tea nook when I became Duke. It saves me the trouble of having to boil water in the kitchen.

"Let's see, what blend do I drink with Ms. Clorinde? Hmm... it's about time for dinner so how about... ahh here it is Fontainian Garden." I said pulling out the glass jar with the loose tea leaves.

This was an uncommon item in the rag and bones shop so I bought it whenever I could. Hopefully, Clorinde likes this blend. She was quite picky when it came to tea.

There was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I ask out placing a couple of spoonfuls of the leaves into the kettle.

"It's Clorinde. Come on Wriothesley, open the door. We have important things that need to be discussed." A harsh female voice rang out.

"Coming!" I shouted setting down the pot.

I walked down the stairs and opened the door. In front of me was Clorinde with a decent-sized crate behind her. I raised my brow and gave her a funny look.

"I thought you said we were just going to be friends," I said crossing my arms and smiling, "didn't expect you to want to move in after what happened."

Clorinde just glared at me and shoved past, "Just grab the crate Wriothesley. It's your new prisoner's belongings. Not much gets to me but the thought of that woman just skipping

"Alright, alright, Archons you seem like you need a cup of tea. Thankfully I have some brewing." I said lift the crate and brought it into my office.

Closing the door, I ascended the stairs. Clorinde sat down on the couch. I shook my head and sat the box down on my desk. The kettle started whistling as I grabbed the sugar from the bookshelf. I plopped two cubes into a cup and poured the slightly red-colored tea.

"Care for a cup?" I asked looking over my shoulder.

"If you insist. One sugar cube would be nice, please." She said her shoulders relaxing as she laid back and got comfortable.

"So this is the girl who landed ten guards in the hospital. I haven't read her file yet but the steambird sure had decent coverage on it. Said she took them out with a dendro vision. If that's the case why wasn't she sent here as a precaution? That's what they do with dangerous prisoners. It's protocol so why wasn't it followed." I said curiously pouring Clorinde's tea and placing one cube in it.

I sat at my desk placing her teacup at the top of it. She stood up and shuffled through the files until she uncovered Ms. Silva's. Handing me the file she walked back towards that couch, taking her tea.

"Take a look and you will understand." She said.

"You know it's rude to rifle through someone's work desk," I smirked as I opened the file.

"Just read it, then we can proceed with the main reason why I am here." Clorinde huffed.

I started skimming the folder. There wasn't much on Ms. Silva. Her travel records show she came through the Chenyu vale of Liyue and was in Mondstat before that on a job for Dr. Baizhu of Bubu pharmacy in Liyue. She wrote down that her reason for traveling to Fontaine was research. That didn't explain much either.

"Weird how there is so little right, Wriothesley? Normally we would have all her information. We contacted Liyue, Sumeru, and Mondstat. They only have records of her traveling for research. We could only assume she's from Inazuma as her first record is a travel permit to  Liyue from Ritou. It was commissioned by an Ayato Kamisato. Every one of her permits is for research. Nuevillette asked me to bring the belongings from her hotel room and search through the items with you." Clorinde said taking a sip of the warm beverage in her hand.

I continued to read over the file and a note from Monsieur Nuevillette shocked me. I could hear his voice as I read the line.

"Ms. Silva was attacked and drugged using a potent Dendro drug that has been spreading like wildfire through the court of Fontaine. While there have been only a few deaths due to this drug. Ms. Silva has shown us that those with dendritic energy have a horrific effect on these drugs. A Dendritic energy overcharge causes a massive burst of the Dendro element dealing damage once the user is put under stress. What Ms. Silva told me has led me to believe that there is a tie between this drug and a dendro dragon. Keep an eye on her at all costs Wriothesley. Something tells me she will be the key to solving this case." His voice rang in my ears.

"WRIOTHESLEY!" Clorinde shouted snapping me out of my trance.

"Huh, oh sorry Clorinde. It's just Nuevillette's notes. They just have me a little on edge." I said setting down the file and picking up my now cooled tea.

"I was trying to say that you should be careful with regarding her. I just have a bad feeling, call it hunter intuition." She said setting her empty cup down.

"I will now let's get going through this stuff I'm sure Ms. Silva would at least like some of this stuff back. As long as it is appropriate for the fortress of course." I said prying open the wooden box.

As the box cracked open, I was met with a soft aroma. It reminded me of walking into a luxury tea shop in the city.  When the lid came off there was a multitude of sealed glass jars with many varieties of herbs. They seemed to be being kept fresh by cut mist flowers. I've seen the corollas being used but not whole flowers.

"So it seems she does not possess a vision after all," Clorinde said sifting through a small pile of folded clothes.

"There is a small silk pouch right here," I said picking up the purple purse, and with an unfortunate turn of events the contents spilled out.

"Letters and documents?" Clorinde said picking up the papers strewn about.

I glanced down and saw a lovely wax seal of a glaze lily on a golden letter, "What's this?"

"I have no clue. It must be important and it has been opened previously. Why don't you go ahead and read it?" Clorinde asked.

"Everyone has the right to privacy. In one sense or the other. I have no search warrant, so I won't read it." I said setting it down on her pile of documents, a smirk growing on my lips, "I'll ask her directly."

"And how do you plan on doing that? From what I heard from the guard who escorted her, she fell and passed out." Clorinde said crossing her arms.

"Did he now? Because from what Sigewinne has told me she had to of been shoved multiple times with relatively decent force. She was bleeding  when she fell right in front of me." I said with a slight growl in my voice.

One thing I detested among my staff was lying to higher-ups. I knew lying to prisoners was sometimes unavoidable, however, lying to me or a champion duelist would get my blood boiling. Clorinde stared at me with mild shock in her eyes.

"Sigh, I'll leave this to you then but your grace as a friend I have some advice for you." She said as she walked to the stairs.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" I asked staring at the golden envelope.

"Don't forget  Nuevillette's warning. That woman is a danger." I heard Clorinde say as she exited my office.

Tsk. I can handle myself. This is Meropide. No newbie could cause that much of a distraction. Her sorrowful sleeping face came to my mind. Could she?