Duncan glanced amused towards Madeline when she said it was nice. Ah the courtliness. Modest, polite and elegant. he had to admit he admired it in Madeline. That and her loyalty towards the princess of course. There weren't many people out. The day shift hadn't ended yet and the staff was busy making dinner.
Duncan was glad that he could make his own schedule a bit, not that he would stop fulfilling his duties or be distracted from his tasks but he would sure try to do more of this in his free time. 

"It is not often played by noblewoman I suppose but it is a great game, I prefer it over any card game." 
not that he wouldn't play cards with his fellow Guards but still, a nice game of chess was what he preferred. There probably were some card games the noblewomen would play but not all of them liked it as far as he knew. "But we could start with checkers if chess seems to difficult to start with."

He couldn't help wondering what kind of books she read. "Tell me, mylady, what kinds of books do you read? Poetry? Fairytales? informative books? Adventurous tales?"