Crow continued to lean against Penelope, making himself comfortable as she began to tell him about her life in the inner kingdom. It was interesting to him how some aspects of noble life were similar to that of peasants in the outer villages, such as the large, communal housing many of them shared. However, as she went on, it sounded to him like nobles cared more about having impressive family clans than they did about living together simply to be close. Of course, he couldn’t say for sure without seeing how they interacted, and he knew he was biased, so he didn’t say anything on the matter.

He was interested to hear the history of her family specifically, since it seemed like they were powerful even when compared with other nobles. He was surprised to learn that her own father had been first in line to be the next head of the family and wondered if that would have any influence on the Vermillions’ interest in keeping Penelope from leaving to be with a thief. If their wealth brought them as much power as he imagined, it was going to be difficult to get away from their influence for a while.

As she went on to describe how nobles had to act in certain ways to keep their statuses, he frowned slightly. This was one subject he knew at least a little bit about. It was one of the least appealing parts of nobility, in his opinion. Generally, peasants could do and say as they pleased without too much fear of rejection. Even as a thief, he had met plenty of people who didn’t look down on him because of his life choices. Everyone in the outer villages knew that life was too short to outcast someone just because they disagreed with them. It was a very live-and-let-live type of culture, and it was the type of culture he preferred.

Crow smirked at Penelope when she said she took after her father. “I’m glad you did,” he said, planting a swift kiss on her cheek. Aside from the fact that the journey had been much more enjoyable to him with her for company, he was excited to have found an unlikely companion in the knight. It was curious to think how much his life and plans had changed after meeting and falling in love with her. For one thing, he never expected to ever want to settle down, but now the desire felt almost natural. He also never thought in a million years that he would end up with a noblewoman. He had always thought of them as arrogant and snobby, but Penelope was neither of those things. She was different in the best of ways, and he was overjoyed that she had fallen for him too.

He listened again as she continued to tell him about the parts of noble life that she found to be fun. She was right that he didn’t understand a lot of it—formal celebrations and fighting for fun didn’t sound very appealing in his mind—but he tried his best to empathize with her excitement for it all.

After listening to her go on about noble life with such enthusiasm, he felt a little guilty for taking it all away from her. Even though he didn’t get why she liked it so much, it was clear to him that she did. He just hoped she would enjoy being with him in the outer villages even if it wasn’t nearly as extravagant as the place in which she had grown up.

“It sounds like you had a lot of fun there,” Crow said once she had finished speaking. “I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed it so much.” He took note of the way her smile had faded a bit and rested his hand on her leg, offering her a comforting smile. “I know I can’t appreciate it the same way that you do, but I do appreciate that you shared your experiences with me. Truly. I love you, darling, and I like to learn about what makes you happy.”