I first attempted to change the subject.

“How did you get here?”

“By carriage last night.”

“…Did someone drive you here?”

“The palace is crowded with people. I couldn’t exactly ask them to run a train at such an odd hour, could I? It’s not like it costs just a few pennies.”

Taking a steam car here wouldn’t be cheap either.

No, more than that, arriving by ‘car’ from the capital to here was no small feat. Although the roads were somewhat established, many of them were just dirt paths. They were maintained to some extent, but still.

“Don’t worry. …