"Is it true what they say about the king?"
"Well, it depends." Mother said with a wry smile. "Are you talking about the rumour that His Majesty is smarter than he lets on and has a plan for every circumstance, or the one where he's nothing but a pretty man with an empty head and the chancellor's the one who runs the kingdom? Maybe you mean the tale that he'll bed anyone with a pulse-or perhaps that he's never been kissed?"