#Chapter 50: Looking For A Favor

Another day, another banquet, this time for lunch. I’m starting to realize that the noble elites require Caleb’s time as much as his people’s problems do, likely to make themselves feel important. Half an hour into this banquet, and I’m still unsure what the purpose even is. When I ask Tristan, he gives me the flat, bored look I’m coming to expect and says, “It’s some nobleman’s birthday. Our King tries to play nice these days. He’s killed too many nobles in the past. It’s been tiresome trying to replace them.” An answer like that, which includes such blatant murder, shouldn’t be said so lightly. But, as I’ve been learning, there is nothing soft about this place. Only the strong survive. The rest are walked over so much they suffocate. Thank the gods I at least have Bethany in my theoretical corner. “There,” Tristan says, nodding his head. I follow where he’s indicating and see a man wearing a gray sash from shoulder to shoulder. Otherwise, he’s mostly average. Average heigh