Pardon?

Lydia had a feeling she'd said something wrong.

For starters, Jason was still struggling with his drink. The woman, meanwhile, seemed to be struggling with words. It was like Noble.exe had stopped working.

Shaking it off, the woman glared at Lydia. "Very funny, Lady Lorelei. Are you really going to pretend that you do not know who I am? How childish of you."

The real childish thing was the way the woman flipped her hair after she said that. What was she, twelve?

Lydia smiled at the woman. "Of course I know who you are. Surely, I am allowed to jest now and again?"

Jason finally recovered from his drink. "My apologies, Lady Sophia. It has been a long day for the two of us. Surely you can pardon my wife's ill-placed humor this late at night?"

That woman was Lady Sophia? The person that Lorelei had some kind of huge beef with from her childhood? The one who was constantly poking Lorelei to snap? That Sophia?

"Alright, I suppose," Lady Sophia said hesitantly.

"Then it is settled," Lydia said, turning back to her table. "Have a great evening." It was better to end this fast before she screwed up and revealed herself as not Lorelei.

"Excuse me?" Sophia huffed. "Do you really think you can just dismiss me like that? Who do you think you are?"

Lydia refused to take the bait. She looked at Jason. "When did you first start coming here?"

Jason blinked, eyes flashing to Sophia for a second, then looked back at Lydia. "Around the time it first opened, I believe. I had been working quite hard. I wished to get some air, and someone had recommended the place recently. Now, I am quite happy I listened to them."

Lady Sophia crossed her arms impatiently. "How arrogant of you to ignore a fellow noble in public. Do you have no care what the people will say?" Said people were beginning to look over at them.

Maybe if Lydia ignored her a bit more, she'd get the hint. "I am quite excited to enjoy some exotic food tonight. Thank you for bringing me here."

"I should be thanking you," Jason said, now fully ignoring Sophia, as well. "If you had not given me the idea, I would have been doing paperwork, just like every other night. It is nice to have a change of pace."

"Hello?" Sophia said. "What is wrong with you two?"

Oh? Lydia thought. Does this actually bother her? I mean, I was just going to end the conversation it early and take the social fall later, but if you wanna keep pushing it. . .

Lydia finally turned to Sophia. She made a point of looking her up and down. Painting an expression of disapproval, she scoffed. She then turned back to Jason.

"How dare you---"

"A nice change of pace?" Lydia asked Jason. "Personally, I feel that you provide a certain vitality to my life quite often. And you do it quite well, too." Okay, maybe those words could theoretically be seen in a less-clean light, but Lydia was improvising.

Apparently, Sophia felt the same way. "What a vulgar thing to discuss, here!" The crowd started whispering among themselves.

This had gone far enough, so Lydia turned to Sophia. "My apologies," she said with a small smile. "Were you saying something?"

"Do not pretend you did not hear me!" Sophia said, getting a bit louder. It sounded kind of weird without the contractions.

"Oh, dear," Lydia said, batting her eyes. "Could you speak up? I did not quite catch that."

"Are you deaf, then?" Sophia said. "Pretending to be so is not becoming of a noblewoman."

Good thing Lydia wasn't one. She turned back to Jason. "Jason, dear, do you understand what she is saying?"

"I do not," Jason said simply. "Perhaps she should speak louder."

"So you are both deaf, then," Sophia said. She raised her voice further, stressing each word. "Can. You. Hear. Me. Now?"

"Lady Sophia," Lydia said, a concerned look on her face. "You look quite agitated. Are you okay? What could have gotten you so worked up?"

She went on before Sophia could retort. "Such anger is quite," she batted her eyes at Sophia. "Unbecoming of a noblewoman, is it not?" The people surrounding them snickered.

"Your attitude could use refinement," Sophia said. "I will not forget how you have treated me tonight."

"Really?" Lydia said. "I wish I could."

"That can be arranged."

Lydia frowned. "Sorry?"

"Apology not accepted," Sophia said. She turned away from Lydia and Jason. "See you at the temple." She walked off.

It wasn't until she walked off that Lydia finally relaxed. "Thank goodness that is over."

Jason chuckled. "That was quite the interesting strategy."

"Yeah, well," Lydia sighed. "Modern problem, modern solution."

"What does that mean?" Jason asked.

"It means that, sometimes, you have to get creative to solve your problems," Lydia said. "If you solved your problems just like everyone else, you'd just be living in a box. Sometimes, you just have to try something new."

"Like trying exotic food," Jason said smiling at her.

It was times like these that Lydia didn't really like the swapping part. Thought it was nice that Jason found her funny, it sucked that he was seeing her as Lorelei. It would be nice to have someone smile like that to her. Like the two of them were in on their own jokes. Nico didn't count. He smiled at pretty much everything.

Suddenly, Grace the receptionist came back. "Lady Yasmine overheard your conversation. To avoid further confrontation, she has personally moved you to an outdoor table."

"Wow, thank you!"

The outside looked even better from this angle. Maybe it was the restaurant lights framing the scene, but it looked like an artwork from a hidden talent. The moon winked at them from the glittering stars. The constellations Lydia had learned the other night from Jason waved at her. Across from her, Jason smiled, the light catching him at the perfect angle.

The two of them had a pretty nice night after that. Well, Grace had forgotten that they were there for a bit, but they still got their food. It was the best meal Lydia had eaten in years. Eating it with someone else made it all even better. Lydia didn't know what the temple thing was that Sophia had mentioned, but it probably wasn't her problem. She just hoped that she hadn't made too many issues for Lorelei with what had happened tonight.