One half of her desk held actual work, while the other side held the most important pieces from the investigation in the Tragedy of Duscur. Edelgard was almost through the rest of the papers—she was tempted to leave the rest for tomorrow. Walking around town sounded appealing, yet she doubted she could do it as freely as she would like.
She glanced through the rest of her work and considered if it would be better to finish it before dinner. There were voices outside the door, muffled but recognizable—the two guards watching her and a guest.
Edelgard had enough time to fake something resembling kindness when Arundel entered. He kept the door open, but neither seemed able to manage veiled conversation for long.
"I'm surprised Hubert let you in," Edelgard noted. "We took your silence to mean you were done speaking to us directly—considering the lack of mages, I assumed you had finally left this in my hands."
"I had better things to do at the time," Arundel replied coldly. "I'm only visiting now to check on you. I heard about your success at Arianrhod."
"Which parts were you interesting in 'checking on?'" Edelgard asked.
"I heard you were approached by the Kingdom's court mage," Arundel said. "You threatened to kill her." He put on a look that reminded her of what he wore when she asked after Anselma. "I assume that means you know she's one of us. Tell me—when did you realize it?"
"It didn't take that long, to be honest. I looked into the Tragedy of Duscur, and the events matched up with what happened with Tomas."
"Well, in case you wanted praise, congratulations," Arundel said, still not quite bothering with feigned kindness. "But speaking of Cornelia, would you have truly killed her?"
"Without hesitation," Edelgard replied simply. "Like I said, I was under the impression you had cut off the agreement, judging from your silence and the lack of mages following what happened in the Holy Tomb. Even if we were working more closely together, I still couldn't guarantee I wouldn't make the same threat—not without extremely good reason to stay silent."
"You're not worried that I might have truly cut off our aid?" Arundel asked, now prodding for more of a response. "You're not concerned I might leave you alone in the war, to face your enemies on your own? And what if I fought you myself?"
"Your threats stopped bothering me a long time ago," Edelgard reasoned. "They're unlikely to start now. I'm not alone and I'm not afraid that you will fight against me—I have the strength to do what I need to, with or without your people."
"That sounds rather blunt, don't you think?"
"Take the statement any way you will." She moved aside some papers, doing a final look of them. She deserved some level of free time once she finished this. "Now, is that all?"
"Not quite," Arundel replied. He always had something to add. "Out of curiosity, did you ever look into that mercenary's Crest Stone like I asked?"
Edelgard couldn't quite stop an immediate retort. "You call a demand and a threat 'asking?'" After a moment, however, she did sigh. "And, no, I didn't; like I said then, I don't have a reason to. I just restated why—I don't need it, and I like to say I never did."
"You don't care for more strength, then? I assumed you would be eager to gain more power, with your deadly talk against my people."
"Byleth and I have more strength combined than I could ever hold alone, even with the Sword of the Creator."
"Considering how much you wanted to give 'input' on my plans, I'm surprised. You're choosing overall strength over control?"
"I won't let anyone else die just to provide something only I can safely use—especially when that death would be caused by your people. Nothing you can say will change my mind of that."
Thales smiled, likely interested in the challenge. "What if that person wanted to kill you? Or they planned to betray you? Or wanted to help you, but could only do so by offering their life? Would your response stay the same?"
Edelgard remained firm. "You won't convince me of anything else. Even if I had to kill anyone, I would keep it hidden from you."
She ended it there to avoid tempting him. There were many thing she preferred over giving him any more power than he already had. She couldn't amass advantages like she could for this war—those who slither in the dark have been in Fódlan for nearly as long as the continent's had a history. Most disadvantages they had were either well-hidden or nigh impossible to exploit.
Edelgard didn't have that same luxury. It may not be wise to be openly disagreeing with Thales, yet she held no interest in feigning loyalty at this point. She never would have learned anything even if she did stay with him until the end of the war. The possibility of knowledge was the best advantage to the agreement, but she couldn't imagine it was really ever possible.
The silence was long enough for them to reconsider exchanging barbs, and after another moment Arundel simply left. Edelgard gave a quiet gesture to one of the guards outside the door to follow him, and the guard offered no protests.
She went back to the work she had, although her thoughts simply wandered when she glanced at the papers. That continued until someone came to announce that dinner was ready; she thanked them and left.
Whether it was to reward herself for sitting through another dull work day or if it was from some kind of worry about Thales, she decided she would go into town after she ate. It would be a nice break, if nothing else.
