Crow softened a bit at Penelope’s gentle expression. When she thanked him, he flushed slightly and looked away, muttering: “It was nothing…” He still felt strange for trying to comfort the her. Ever since he was a child, he had considered all knights to be his enemies, but he somehow found it difficult to look at Penelope in such a way. Like the other knights he had known, she was strict and distant, but at least she had treated him like a human. He was glad to have met her.

But now, it was nearing time to say goodbye.

After a moment, Penelope spoke up again, [color=fff79a][b]“Your situation was unfortunate, to say the least... Nobles are selfish people...They care only for the security of their name and rank.”[/b][/color]

“You speak as if you’re not one of them,” Crow said absently. As he spoke, he let his eyes wander discreetly over the houses around them. They were getting close to the edge of the village now, and he couldn’t have hoped for better circumstances. Penelope had completely let her guard down, they were alone, and there wasn’t a single local knight in the area. He swallowed in anticipation, being careful to keep his expression neutral so Penelope wouldn’t suspect anything. Now that he had done his part to help her recover from the fight at dinner, he could leave without any regrets.

As they neared the tree line, Crow glanced back at Penelope. While he wanted to make a clean break for the forest, he couldn’t help but add a little bit of flair to his escape. It was just his nature. He stepped in front of the knight and turned around so that he was walking backwards in front of her, “Do you remember what William said about a knight being able to do the job I was assigned by the king? I don’t believe it for a moment. What about you?” He crossed his arms and smirked at her challengingly. “Do you think you could sneak into the Younisian king’s palace and steal his beloved staff?”