"Markus, you have my permission to answer"
As Markus was feeling troubled by the stares of the emperor and the high ranking nobles, Sophia reached out a helping hand.
Receiving Sophia's permission Markus explained:
""Very well, first of all, I had my suspicion about the eye contact between Your Majesty the emperor and His Excellency the margrave. It seemed that you two did not know the other would join this banquet, but I suppose you already had information about this "sideshow" in advance, or perhaps only the head of each House had been informed about it. Of course, I think that this "sideshow" was planned to be sufficiently non risky, but it was informed just in case""
"...…"
Everyone looked at Markus intently, somehow he had become their new center of attention.