She gave him an apologetic smile. "Well, thank you for the compliment. I've tried my best to learn proper court manners, should the occasion ever arise when they were needed so I didn't embarrass my husband. Not," she added, "that he cared what the nobles thought. But even so, it was one thing that he didn't. I just... I suppose I wanted to prove that he hadn't married beneath himself, even if I'd only been born a serf."