Gérard had observed the conversation of the Comte and the Duchesse from a distance and nodded to himself as they decided on the Galerie de Guerre.
That room would be the first opportunity to arrest the woman and have her locked up in the palace. However, it might also be worthwhile to simply have her talk for a while and learn whatever her intentions may be for Amiens and the brewing revolution.
Making sure to be well ahead of them, he made his way towards the Galerie and positioned himself next to the door.
The Comte may enjoy chatting up pretty girls, but hopefully he keeps the actual purpose of this meeting in the back of his head. Otherwise, well, I'm still here, am I not?
When the pair arrived at the door, he stepped in front of them and lightly bowed his head, a fake smile on his face. "Duchesse, what an honour to meet you. My name is Gérard Favreau and I was tasked with organising your stay here." He then opened the door to the Galerie for them. "The Galerie has been prepared for your meeting." He gestured them to enter the room.
Merci, Gérard. - Arnaud then turned to Claire. - Aprés vous, Duchesse.
Before going in after the woman, Arnaud turned to Gérard for a few brief words. - [I'll need you to stay around from now on.] - This officially meant that Gérard got the honorable role of serving for the two of them in La Gallery de Guerre, but they both knew unofficially it meant more than that. The Comte has estimated that the messenger has already delivered the message by now, and that response can arrive at any point onwards. He also did not say it with words, but with a brief look on his face before following the Duchesse into the room: Don't screw this up for us.
La Galerie de Guerre was a long and large rectangular room situated in the western wing of the palace, stretching along the northern side of the first floor through almost the entire lenght of the wing. From one side it is surrounded by a corridor along the longer wall, on the opposite side large windows provide scenery over the gardens and allow light into the room, by the shorter walls two staircases are the neighbors of the gallery. There are four doors allowing entry, two along each of the longer walls, near the corners of the room. The doors to the gardens are currently closed.
Majority of the internal ornamentation can be summarized as plenty of small statues of various artists depicting things related to war, lined along the longer walls between portraits or windows, as well as over a dozen of holoportraits on the walls, each of which related to a historical combat event, such as one of the battles won by the royalists during the Normandy uprising, the tragedy of Gap Station, the reconquest of Languedoc, victory over the imperial Kusari fleets, over the Bretonians, other successful skirmishes against either foreign or domestic threats, or famous historical individuals, generals participating in these victories.
Furnituring, relative to the size of the gallery, is minimal, in order to allow enough room for larger gatherings. At both ends of the long room there is a coffee table surrounded by armchairs, and a sofa towards the middle of the room, opposite to it a modern version of an open fireplace in the middle of the short wall. There are dressing tables with already prepared tea, coffee and relevant ingredients, on both sides of each fireplace. In the middle of the room under the richly ornamented carpet there is a large liftable iPlaSteelTM touch screen holotable, used mainly when the room functions as a host to military-grade meetings and combat planning. It can also double as a dining table for plenty of guests if covered by tablecloth and properly set, but for now it is meant to stay under the carpet. From the ceiling large chandeliers hang above each table with smaller wall-mounted ones providing additional light from above each small statue.
Upon entering through the south-eastern door the Arnaud offered Claire seats, motioning towards the closest sofas and armchairs. He himself sat down onto the armchair closest to themselves, between the table and the door they just came in through. He spoke out loud, seemingly not towards anyone, just into the air in front of him: - Aurel, chargez les fichiers sur l'Écologie d'Amiens, sur les Temps d'Amiens, sur l'Industrie d'Amiens, sur Tailleferre CryoTech SA, sur Sievert Industrielle Amienois et sur Dupont Agricole SARL. - with that he leaned forwards to get a box from below the table and put it on it.
D'accord, monsieur. - a warm male voice responded seemingly out of nowhere. Aurel was the assistant artificial intelligence unit for the augmented reality system installed throughout the entire palace. It (or he) communicates through the several hidden speakers spread around in all rooms of the palace, coordinating them in a way one could barely pinpoint the source of the voice.
[Oh, I almost forgot, do you want to have something,] Duchesse? [A cup of coffee or tea, or some refresher, maybe?] - Arnaud asked, turning to Claire before opening the box.