The Royal Guard led the way to the dining hall, where Dominic was the last of the suitors to arrive.
The Princess wasn’t there yet, and likely wouldn’t be for ten or fifteen minutes, but Dominic saw that there were Royal Guards for each of the others, plus two for one of the Princes.
They wore an emblem that marked them as serving a Prince, and not Crown Prince Claudius, but Dominic hadn’t memorized everyone’s personal heraldry yet.
The similarities and the portion that included the Cygnia Royal Crest were enough to let him know that it was a Prince and not a Princess, but not which one. He would find out soon enough, as if the guards were here, the Prince would be coming to join them for lunch.
Likely as a second chaperone to the Princess, unless the Crown Prince had been called away.
Dominic did notice that each of the others had at least one piece of black clothing on, hedging their bets against the rumours spread by staff that Dominic knew what Princess Alexis was going to be wearing.
Then, Dominic realized what had happened.
The staff hadn’t realized that he was going to change, they thought that he was on his way to the dining room when he was talking to the Guard, as the route was the same.
So, the black robe that he wore as his ’uniform’ during official meetings was expected to be what he wore to lunch. It made sense. The robes were quality magical armour, and highlighted his status as a Royal Sorcerer just as much as the brooch that Marquis Bridgegover was wearing emphasized his status as a titled noble.
"Lord Corwin, Lord Thorvald. Looking stylish today." Dominic greeted the two foreign Nobles when the other locals turned away from him.
They saw that he was still wearing black, so the rumours should have been true.
"As are you, Lord Dominic. Though, I must admit that your take on formal wear is a refreshing change from the standard. Were you already familiar with this particular dining room?" Corwin, the Marquis Bridgegover, asked.
Dominic shook his head. "No, I am simply less susceptible to the temperature changes within the Castle than most. Whether it’s my room facing the garden or the heat of the forge, I am comfortable in the same clothing."
The Midfield Noble nodded. "The coastal weather still gets to me. Bridgegover is well inland, and the weather is far warmer at night than Cygnia City. That cool ocean air is something else."
Thorvald laughed. "It keeps the artificers and Steamsmiths in business, though. The salt corrosion has to be an absolute nightmare to deal with.
But that’s not much of an issue for us in West Keria. Not many cities on the coast, and not as much magitech."
Dominic winked at him. "That might change soon."
Thorvald’s mind immediately went to the Master Blacksmiths that they had managed to recruit away. But it would still take some time before they had enough apprentices trained to really make a difference on a large scale.
One or two masters per specialty weren’t going to be enough to make a notable difference, even in the Capital, never mind attempting to spread their works across the whole population.
And that was assuming that they managed to keep them. Their neighbours to the east were doing their best to steal even those few masters away. Under normal circumstances, he would be trying to recruit Dominic to come and work for them.
In fact, once the selection was over, he would.
As long as Dominic didn’t win the Princess’ favour.
It wasn’t exactly a secret that the Princess was only going along with the process because it was politically necessary, and she had already garnered large concessions from her father for the cause.
Just the fact that they were competing, and not bargaining with the King’s representative, was enough to prove that.
If that had been the case, Thorvald was certain that he would have managed to secure a marriage alliance on behalf of his family already. His family’s wealth and power dwarfed the rest of the competitors combined. But they would only do him so much good here.
He had memorized the lesson plan that the staff he had come with had prepared so that he could answer all the appropriate questions. But he was still at a loss as to why it even mattered.
It looked more like a reason to eliminate some of the less qualified, but really it was just an excuse to get rid of whoever the Princess didn’t like on a personal level. Just a show, so the lesson plan shouldn’t actually matter.
The sound of armoured guards marching along with the clicking of formal boot heels, which were often metal capped, caught Dominic’s attention and let him know that the important guests were about to arrive.
"Those ears of yours aren’t just for show, are they?" Thorvald asked.
Dominic chuckled. His ears weren’t overly large, but were distinctly pointy. They were extremely sensitive, though.
"Of course not. But they’re both a blessing and a curse. Some things you can’t unhear."
The atmosphere was tense as the guests entered, and none of them were Princess Alexis.
Instead, the first and second princes were there with a group of older women, including Lady Camilla.
"Gentlemen, we have brought the Royal Tutors out to review your lesson plans, to verify their likely effectiveness." Crown Prince Corbin declared.
He handed a folder to one of the ladies, and then motioned the group forward as the other Nobles panicked. They had expected that nobody would actually read the documents, and thought that they were mostly just a proof of education.
Well, they might still be nothing more than that, but if Royal Tutors were grading them like a test paper, they had an actual reason to be nervous about the outcome.
"Lord Sorcerer Dominic? I have your document. You may call me Baroness Black, and I will be doing the official review." The elderly woman Claudius handed the folder to announced as she approached.
"Wonderful to meet you, Baroness. Shall we sit? There is tea." Dominic replied.
Now, to try to impress another person with his plan.