For the rest of the meal, Crow spoke casually with the other three noblemen at the table. As he’d expected, they weren’t much different from any of the other pompous men and women he’d met at the castle so far. Wayne was by far the most soft-palmed among them. Though his father was a strategist for some of the barons on the battlefront, it seemed that neither of them knew much about the intricacies of fighting and getting their hands dirty. They were big-picture thinkers who studied the history of warfare to come up with tactics that would help their kingdom defeat Younis. He was very well educated, but also lacked an understanding of how war impacted the people who lived on the border. His lack of sympathy was apparent, and it took all of the viceroy’s willpower not to make any biting comments about it.

Robyn wasn’t much better. He seemed to have some experience doing grunt work and claimed to be able to hold his own in a fight if he had to. Crow believed him. The nobleman came from a lower-class family compared to the other nobles in the castle, so he probably didn’t have many servants to do his work for him. He wasn’t even from the citadel. Apparently, his family’s manor was in a town called Naporia, located on the western edge of the inner kingdom. The only reason he’d been fortunate enough to live in the palace was because he’d been taken on as the ward of a higher-ranking nobleman who was training him to become a scholar. The step up seemed to have given him a bit of an ego. Hence the reason why he wasn’t much better than the know-it-all, Wayne.

Out of the three, Crow found Percival to be the most interesting. As the son of a duke, he was just as arrogant as the others, but to the viceroy’s surprise, he really did seem to have some honor. He was a bit soft-spoken, but whenever he engaged in conversation, he usually had well-thought-out things to say. He talked about his life as a member of the royal guard—that part was less interesting to Crow—but he also spoke about his views on the war which were shockingly not very far from the viceroy’s own. Of course, the knight didn’t know the extent of the damage in the outer villages, but he seemed to at least view the peasants’ lives as valuable and corrected Wayne whenever he would make insensitive comments about them. By the end of their conversation, Crow found that he even had a bit of respect for him.

Once everyone had finished eating, they all parted ways to go off to whatever other responsibilities they had planned for the day. Since the three noblemen were still intent on winning the viceroy’s favor, they suggested meeting with him again at breakfast tomorrow, and since he was still intent on using them for his own protection, he agreed. So far, things seemed to be going smoothly, and he had no doubt he had made a good decision by approaching these particular men. All of them had connections around the castle and the inner kingdom, especially Wayne and Percival, so if he stayed on their good sides, he would have plenty of support in no time. It was a strange but encouraging thought.

Crow walked back to his room with Preston at his side, ambling slowly since he knew he was already late for his lesson. Udolf was going to lecture him about it either way, so he decided there was no point in rushing back just to be chided. Instead, he took the time to talk with his attendant.

“Do you think these nobles will give you what you want?” Preston asked after the viceroy finished telling him about their conversation.

“I do,” Crow nodded, casting him a sly grin. “As long as I keep letting them think they’ve got me in their pocket, they’re going to do whatever they can to prevent anyone from taking that away.”

“Even someone more powerful than them?”

“They may not be influential on their own, but they’ve all got connections to men who are,” Crow said with certainty. “Percival’s father is a duke, Robyn is the ward of a scholar of the court, and Wayne’s family is directly tied to the barons in the castle and on the warfront. I’d say that’s a pretty strong wall for that baron to break through if he wants me gone.”

“I see,” Preston mused. “Well, for your sake, I hope you’re right.”

Crow opened his mouth to respond, but then froze as he was interrupted by a flash of light in a nearby window, followed by a low growl of thunder.

“Looks like a bad storm,” Preston said idly as he gazed out the window.

“Yeah,” Crow nodded, recovering from his initial surprise. He could see the guards in the courtyard below scrambling for cover from the rain, and he was thankful that he was warm and dry inside the castle. He lingered by the window for a little while longer before his eyes widened in remembrance. “Hey,” he said, turning to Preston. “You can go if you’d like. I can make it the rest of the way by myself.”

“Are you sure?” Preston frowned. “The stairs are just up ahead. I don’t mind walking with you.”

“It’s fine,” Crow waved his hand dismissively. “I like listening to the sound of the rain, so I think I’m going to take my time anyway.”

“Alright,” the attendant shrugged. “You shouldn’t keep Udolf waiting too long though. He’s probably mad already.”

“He can wait a little longer,” Crow smirked. He turned to keep walking toward the stairs, “See you later.”

“Good luck,” Preston said in response, turning around to walk back the other way.

Crow waited until they had put some distance between each other and then glanced back over his shoulder. As soon as the servant passed out of his sight, he continued walking toward the stairs at a brisk pace, climbing for the third floor. When he reached it, he took a quick look around the corridor and spotted Penelope at her post right away. From a distance, he couldn’t tell if she had been affected by the storm or not. Still, he didn’t want to take any chances.

With no other guards around in this hallway, he hastened his pace to a light jog as he approached her. “Hey, love,” he greeted her in a low voice once he reached her side and then studied her concernedly. “How are you doing?”