"Oh, quite the opposite.  No one else thinks very highly of me at all, and so I must make up the difference myself.  Honestly, I feel my self-reliance in the face of such adversity is commendable."  He clicks his bootheels on the stone as he half-bows to some of the guests, and continues on to the feast.  "Nonetheless, I will do my best to make myself tolerable to you, and hopefully you can extend the same courtesy.  We're stuck in this together, after all, and neither one can blame the other for it."