Emperor how he hated this so much.

He hated wearing the robes that had been pampered and cleaned beyond what he normally did by himself.

He hated preening himself and ensuring that his beard was properly done up so that he might look presentable to pompous and stuck-up Imperial hierarchies.

He hated the meaningless, petty squabbles that seemed to occupy so many of those whom humanity had given the keys to rule. If he could choose between staying a night in a militarum camp beset by xenos or in a court such as this, he would take the soldiers any day of the week. At least they saw ceramite and adamantium and wished for more, rather than seeing it as an ugly necessity for their own protection. 

His current dress was, in fact, one of two sets he owned. The other had been pockmarked by the battle somewhat, and so he would have to stitch it up by himself later, leaving him with this. If he was being strict with the rules of the Cardinals, he should only have been wearing this when posted to a reliquary or other important 'public face' protection job, but it could serve the same dual purpose that he was by being here. A white faux-fur ring around the collar held an implanted heater in case the crusader had to stand for hours on some freezing planet, whilst the length of the robes and the wide-collared hood allowed for his face to remain somewhat concealed. Indeed, to an unpractised eye little would differentiate him from any other reasonably-ranked member of the ecclisiarchy.

The servitor examined him carefully, and would find him lacking. Not so much as a stubpistol would grace his body... Although in truth that was largely due to his utter lack of proficiency in anything further-ranged than his spear, and it wasn't as if he could covertly bring in a man-sized polearm without arousing significant amounts of suspicion. 

Then came the handsome man in the ornate uniform, and inwardly Marcus could feel his insides slowly scream out for release from this suffering. Many cardinals took to self-flagellation in order to prove their piety, but this... This was something altogether different indeed. Torture on a level that even the Inquisition might consider extravagant.