"What? I know nothing," Lara already expected such a message from the city leaders, and prepared an answer already for all this hustle; which was total denial.
Yet she never thought such a thing would happen. She thought they'd notice William's departure, and didn't even imagine that he'd take such a grand step, one that'd stir up all such responses from the city masters.
At the same time, she first realised how grand William's reputation was in the entire master community. She was always by his side and didn't have the chance to experience the opinion of others about him.
As she now knew, she got to admire him even more and knew her earlier decision of following him and leaving the city was right.
She got away from the expected interrogation of the city masters by what she stood by. She kept denying anything about William, denied knowing anything about his plans or moves. She wasn't faking it, and that helped her to speak honestly and with sincerity most of the time.