"We mistakenly thought we'd done enough research." Prince Elior shook his head once before continuing.
"But it turns out, we underestimated what House Kyros meant when they said they were in seclusion."
As a member of the elven royal family, even if he had been deposed, Elior, and by extension Rahil, were fully aware that such arrangements weren't unusual. Noble houses did withdraw from public life from time to time. However, most families still maintained a certain degree of presence. Influence had to be protected. Visibility had to be preserved because more often than not, houses that vanished too completely eventually fell behind.
Elves valued bloodline deeply, even when they pretended not to. So for them, such seclusion wouldn't necessarily be catastrophic. Their lineage alone carried weight.
But the Empire of Solaris was different.
