Tomorrow's Crimes ll Moriarty the Patriot

All the World's a Stage, and the Curtain's Falling

"I must admit to some genuine concern about Lady Adelaide's well-being," William said quietly, watching the direction where she had hurried away earlier. The garden party continued its gentle flow around them, the very picture of aristocratic refinement - the same refinement he had come to recognize as a gilded cage. "That panic attack was severe. I've never seen someone struggle for breath like that, as if the very air was poisoned to her."

"Indeed," Albert shifted uncomfortably on his feet, his usual composure fractured by genuine worry. "When I reached her, she could barely stand. Her hands..." He flexed his own fingers, remembering. "Ice-cold and trembling so violently I feared she might shatter. And her eyes, William - there was such raw terror there."

William's crimson eyes narrowed as he observed the gathered nobility, his analytical mind already cataloging their reactions to Adelaide's earlier distress. Most had simply turned away, pretending not to notice – a response he found particularly telling. "The perfect daughter of the Duke," he mused, voice carrying that precise, professorial tone that often preceded his most cutting observations. "Though perhaps that perfection is precisely the problem. The nobility do so love their perfectly crafted dolls, don't they?"

"You're thinking of dismantling something again, aren't you?" Albert's lips quirked in a knowing smile, though it didn't reach his eyes. "That same look you had when we discussed the corruption in the London workhouses."

"The system that created this situation deserves nothing less," William responded, adjusting his glasses with elegant precision. "These aristocrats pride themselves on their breeding, their superiority – yet they would watch a young woman suffocate under the weight of their expectations without lifting a finger to help."

"You should have heard her at her debut." Albert's voice dropped lower, meant only for his brother's ears. His usual diplomatic mask slipped, revealing the sharp intelligence beneath. "I never heard someone speak so passionately about the injustice of society. We spoke of society's lies - how the nobility paint themselves as saints while grinding their boot heels into the very people they claim to protect. And do you know what struck me most? The way she stripped bare their hypocrisy with such... precision. Such quiet fury. Something so unfamiliar to a figure of her standing."

William leaned slightly closer, his scholarly demeanor brightening with intellectual interest. "Fascinating. The rumors painted her as the epitome of aristocratic perfection - the accomplished daughter, the brilliant debutante, the diamond of the season. But you're describing someone far more... aware. Someone who could be quite useful to our cause, perhaps?"

"Will," Albert warned, though his tone held more amusement than censure. "Not everything is about our grand plans for society's reformation. I'm genuinely worried about her welfare."

"As am I," William assured him, his expression softening. "Believe me, brother, my concern is not merely for our goal. A mind like that, trapped in such suffocating circumstances..." He shook his head. "It's unconscionable."

"Painfully aware," Albert agreed, his diplomatic mask slipping further as he recalled their conversations. "She has this gift for making the Lords reveal their own cruelties, almost without realizing they're doing it. At her debut, she had Lord Crawford practically boasting about how he'd ruined that merchant family - all while thinking he was impressing her with his business acumen." A hint of dark admiration colored his tone. "She sees through every facade, every carefully constructed lie. Reminds me of you, actually."

"High praise indeed," William noted with a slight smile, before growing serious again. "But now she's expected to maintain those same facades." His analytical mind assembled the pieces with the terrifying precision. "Her comment about 'processing her understanding of reality' - it wasn't just anxiety speaking, was it? She's experiencing a fundamental disconnect between truth and expectation." He frowned. "I've seen similar cognitive dissonance break far stronger minds."