When Penelope looked up at him with rosy cheeks, Crow smiled, feeling a burst of affection for the knight. He found her bashfulness endearing and was glad that his words had been reassuring to her. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel like she had to meet a set of expectations that he didn’t even have. All he cared about was that she would be willing to work with him on sharing responsibilities, and based on what she had said to Gavin earlier, it sounded like she was already planning to do just that. If he ended up being the one to cook for both of them, that was fine too. He didn’t mind doing it if it would take some stress off of her. After all, they had never followed traditions to begin with, so why start now? As long as they were getting by, it didn’t matter who did what chores in his opinion.

He leaned in to meet her lips as she kissed him again, enjoying the moment. It was the first time they had talked about what their lives would look like after the war, and he was glad they’d had the conversation now. Speaking with her about the future made him feel closer to her. He leaned his head against hers, his heart swelling with fondness for the knight. He couldn’t wait for the time to come when they would finally get to be together all the time, and he hoped again that the end of the war would come swiftly.

“You already make me happier than I’ve ever been,” he assured her with a grin. “Just the fact that you’re willing to give up everything is more than enough for me. I couldn’t ask for anything more than that.”

As she went on to say that she should still learn some from Gavin, Crow shrugged. “If you really want to learn, then go ahead. I’m not going to stop you. Just don’t get it in your caring little head that you need to take over all the duties around the house.” He poked her forehead with one finger and smirked at her teasingly. “I couldn’t care less about what a ‘proper wife’ is supposed to do. Whatever you need—cooking, cleaning, even taking care of children—” he blushed slightly. “I’ll be right there to help you, okay?” He kissed her again, more passionately this time both to show her the sincerity in his promise and to distract himself from his slight awkwardness at bringing up the prospect of a family.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a whistle by door and pulled back from Penelope to see that Olivia and Gavin had finished washing the dishes and come to set up their beds for the night. The female knight was looking at them with her arms crossed and an amused smirk on her face. “I’m starting to wonder if we should have given you two your own room,” she snickered. “Just imagine what we would have walked in on if we’d come in a few minutes later.”

Crow rolled his eyes at her sultry comment, “We were just about to go to sleep anyway.” He took a step back from Penelope and let his arms fall from around her, taking her hand instead to lead her over to the bedroll he had laid out earlier. Laying down carefully—he was still feeling sore—he shifted to make room for the knight and wrapped his arm around her once she was lying beside him.

“I can’t wait until the day when we won’t be interrupted anymore,” he whispered in her ear as he settled down against her side.