Samuel sighed as he made his way down the long, bright hallway of the Royal Palace. It was too gaudy for his tastes; the ceilings were too high, the windows too impractically large. The worst part, however, was the sheer amount of wasted gold the hallway represented. From the polished quartzite floors to the gold-gilded ceiling arches, all he could see was money stolen from the citizens of Atalia being used for pointless displays of wealth.
Those were his feelings on everything involving the nobility. Though he was a duke himself, he made it his mission to stay as in touch with the citizens as he could. It was why he pressured the staff at his estate to call him by his given name, and why he knew all their names, down to the most obscure stable boys.
Shaking his head, Samuel stood in fro
