That was why Arlo had really taken good care of Penny over the last two years, appointing her as praetor and training her however he could, while also affording her family special treatment.

In fact, Arlo had even decided to arrange a marriage between Penny's half-sister, who was three years younger than Penny herself, to his youngest son, further binding the Singers to the Griffins.

Furthermore, he had made clear to his own branch family that they must all treat any Singer wife with respect and not take a mistress while being married—a privilege afforded to the Griffins until now.

Before this, if a Griffin was dissatisfied with their wife, they could just take a mistress from the collateral families after three years while still having one wife. Higher-ranked Griffins may even take two mistresses, while Arlo, a governor, was afforded three mistresses at once.

After all, if the number of Griffins increased without control, even the collateral families would have trouble keeping t