The knight listened as the princess spoke of her family situation, giving an occasional nod to show that he was paying attention. "I see... well, formal or not, a princess would never be taught how to rule most human kingdoms... that's for sure. Most of them don't even allow daughters to inherit... if a king dies without a son, the line of succession typically goes to the closest male relative. So in a sense, your kingdom is quite different from the surrounding humans."
As he continued to hold the princess as close as it seemed she would let him, the knight noted how peaceful the night seemed. Too peaceful, in fact... a sign that they were getting close to the beast's territory as the sound of wild animals dimmed. In the woods, silence meant death, so he would need to keep his eyes and ears open for whatever the killer was.
"Oh were they?" he remarked. "Hm, but aren't you older than the Empire? I heard that whenever I see an elf girl, I should multiply how old she looks by five or so to get her actual age, since you live so much longer than humans." Though he was more curious about her, he was somewhat surprised when she asked him another question about himself. "You know... no one ever really asks me that sort of thing," he remarked. "I don't really have a family of my own. Technically, I've been adopted into the Imperial Family, but I can't exactly think of myself as a prince, and since the Emperor is basically immortal, there's no chance of any members of the Imperial family ever inheriting his throne. It's mostly a way of granting us some kind of claim to nobility in order to distinguish us from commoners, which are viewed as rabble and cattle by so many kingdoms. I don't really visit any family, though... my life was basically devoted to questing until I became a glorified palace guard."
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