Have you consummated your marriage yet, Senior? I find it hard to believe you are anything more than a pure maiden, the way you act. Even the monks aren't afraid of touching each other.

[ Especially when the touch is strictly business-like, if casual. ] You mistake touch as interest, but I assure you, I am not.

[ Not now, not anymore. Maybe once, he could have been swayed, but he has been dutiful and chaste the past years, respectful. No one would know it here, but then no one truly knows him here.

His mouth twists and he quickens his footsteps as they wander the hall. His fingers itch to call forth his whip as the ire rises. The incense still burns in the back of his throat and his nose, tainting everything with its putrid smell. ]

A simple lie to a guard? Who does that hurt? Better than feigning priesthood or threats.