“It’s really not that complicated.”
Clearly, this was a critically failed perception check on Astarion's part. You can't win them all, as they often say. But this saying was ignorantly foreign to him, practically missing from his entire vocabulary; he always won, no two ways about it. He was never one to admit failure. He was far too proud of himself to ever do that.
Ruby eyes, sharp as daggers, rolled to the other as the sassy and, honestly, uncalled for, remark wounded the spawn's ego, already wavering in masked fragility. Once folded arms now found themselves at his side, his fingers slowly curling inwards to form fists -- his composure was impressive, to say the least.
"--Well." He huffed passed a forced smile, fangs on show. "It's delightful to learn that you're well-versed in puzzles, my dear." This puzzle he was referencing took the form of a water-coloured painting of a scenic view of Baldur's Gate, hanging on an otherwise unremarkable wall. Upon entering the room, the painting seemed to catch the pairs' keen vision, but Astarion in particular couldn't place its significance or relevance to their surroundings. "It seems you've already pieced it together, so shall I just... leave you to it, hm?" He asked Olvanya with a slight tilt of his head and notable sarcasm in his tone. There was an old bed in his view that caught his attention on the way in. He raised his arms as he pulled an exaggerated stretch, tempted by the idea of taking a short rest. His back was in awful agony from all the standing round and unnecessary staring at the damned hanging picture for no good reason...
