[center][color=#C0C2C9][h1]Adelaide von Hresvelg[/h1][/color][/center]
[right][indent][sub][color=#C0C2C9]Interacting with:[/color] [@McMolly] | [color=#C0C2C9]Location:[/color] Garreg Mach Monastery - Courtyard[/sub][/indent][/right][hr]
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Adelaide glanced thoughtfully across the courtyard, which grew all the busier as others began to filter their way from their classrooms out to whatever leisure awaited between education and prayer. An interesting little taste of what was to come. But it was not of potential recreation that her thoughts lingered. It seemed as though Widolaic had heard about as much about Johann von Aegir as she herself had. Not a surprising thing, considering her cousin's relative isolation from the greater Empire. All things considered, there were worse fates for a young maiden of noble blood. Some were married to tyrants and villains only interested in their dowries and the promise of a Crest-bearing lineage. Others found themselves engaged to men many years her senior. Even Adelaide herself had nearly faced such a fate, albeit a kinder one than the typical affair. Engel himself would be nearer to thirty than twenty-five by the time she came of age to properly wed him. 

A man with a 'knight's heart' was an easier weight to bear, no matter how politely dressed a term it was. She could do worse than a consort who fancied himself a chivalrous sort. Even if he turned out to be a particularly pompous man, as those of his line tended to be, as long as he made up for his pride with valor and loyalty, all could be forgiven. 

[color=C0C2C9]"I suppose I should consider myself lucky, then. I've always preferred honor to duplicity, and ego to cunning. It's far easier to keep a handle on an honest, arrogant man than it is the alternative,"[/color] It all sounded a little cruel when stated out loud, but she was sure the pragmatism of her statement was not lost on someone of Vestra stock, [color=C0C2C9]"As long as he doesn't allow his pride to get in the way of my ambitions, I'm sure our match will at least be a tolerable affair."[/color]

That was a matter that would need to be handled as it came up, and not a moment sooner. Tilting her head so she could glimpse instead at her dark-eyed kinswoman, Adelaide offered the mage the smallest hint of a playful grin. It wouldn't do to just speak of her marital woes, of course. Others present had yet to set their romantic affairs in stone.

[color=C0C2C9]"What of you? You are to be a Marquise now, once my dear uncle has stepped down as head of the Vestra. Has he mentioned setting you up with any enterprising young gentlemen? Or should I expect to see you prowling the monastery's halls between classes like some sort of huntress?"[/color] [/indent]