It had been a long journey north for Empress Mathilda II. Her imperial procession had wound its way through forests and farmlands, banners snapping in the cold wind, bound for Mainz where the Diet awaited her presence. Yet, when the spires of a small market town appeared beyond the fields, she ordered the column to halt.

Her chief advisor, Lord Otto of Hohenberg, protested immediately, his voice tight with disapproval. “Your Imperial Majesty, this is most unwise. We should move on to a town of higher prestige, who knows what ruffians might liv-”

She raised a gloved hand to silence him, her gaze fixed on the smoke rising from the thatched roofs ahead.

“I have ruled half my life behind marble walls, Otto,” she said calmly, stepping down from her carriage. “If I am to govern my people, I should see how they live.”

Otto was about to protest when she came up with a compromise. She nodded toward the captain of her guard.

“He will accompany me. So I am protected from any 'ruffians'.”

The market was alive with noise: merchants shouting prices, children chasing stray chickens, the scent of bread and smoke thick in the air. As she walked through the market, she glanced at her guard with a smile. "Isn't this charming in its own way? Living in such a community that seems so close-knit. Would you ever consider such a life?"