Albert's residence. The night was thick and dark; only the window of the second-floor study let out a faint, swaying yellow light.
Inside the study, the air was stagnant. Albert sat behind his broad but visibly aged desk, his back ramrod straight yet slightly stiff, his hands folded atop the desktop.
Across from the desk, Kale leaned forward slightly, carefully studying an unfurled parchment bearing a detailed map of Carnford in the dim glow of the brass desk lamp.
"You mean," Kale said, his voice calm to an almost eerie degree, "Her Highness the Princess has already left that scenic villa and moved to... somewhere else? A place we cannot identify for the time being?"
"Y-yes." Albert's throat was dry, and an imperceptible tremor threaded through his voice, though he tried to maintain an outward calm. "Just yesterday afternoon, the Lord... Lord Karl personally went to Amber Bay. Soon after, Her Highness the Princess left under heavy guard. I don't know where she went. Carnford's Intelligence Bureau..."
As he mentioned the name, he instinctively lowered his voice, as though fearing the walls had ears. "...is an extremely dangerous force, with its fingers in every crack. Even the spy network the Sauron people had cultivated for years suffered grievously at their hands. Nearly every move Harald's army makes is under their watch."
"They must have caught some hint of trouble to move the Princess so swiftly. I... I advise you to leave while they haven't fully zeroed in on you yet. Richter, their intelligence chief, is a devil. Sooner or later, he'll find this place—and find you."
Half of Albert's words came from genuine fear; the other half was a pleading attempt to persuade them to leave.
He sincerely hoped this harbinger of disaster would leave quickly and bring this nightmare