"...I doubt I can afford guards that would help against a powerful nobleman. And if someone puts together a mob or something I wouldn't want to accidentally hurt my guards — uh, I channel negative. Apparently that means I'm not actually Chaotic Good yet but I wasn't trying to lie to the committees, I just didn't know there were Calistrians who didn't. Uh, anyways, I've never tried to hire guards before, so I guess I might be wrong about whether there's guards I could hire that will help against a powerful noble."

"Guards are well paid because they know that sometimes their job is to buy you time to run, and that this will usually not end well for them when it is. Running for here is an option you'll have for the duration, and I can see why you might be skeptical but sleeping in the Queen's offered quarters seems safer, no one up to an archduchess is going to try something under her eye. ...I don't have solutions for you, though. Just a few suggestions and the knowledge that the threat is real."

...The idea of paying innocent people to die for her is incredibly uncomfortable. For that matter so is the idea of just — running away — it would be stupid not to run away, if it were a powerful nobleman, but that doesn't mean she wants to.

"Oh, I don't think the palace is a trap or anything, it turns out the Queen is actually Good, just, I heard there were a bunch of nobles staying at the palace so I figured that would probably be more dangerous. Thank you for letting me know about the pamphlet."

"Of course. I don't think we're allies, but we're not enemies either. If you see Miss Rivera and she wants to see the pamphlet, send her my way, I'm in enough committees I'll be easy to find at most hours."

Victòria is honestly still pretty confused by how noble politics works, but she's not sure it's the sort of thing you can really ask someone to just explain to you. She nods and peels off towards the seating for religious delegates.