Penelope shifted her gaze away from him as he recommended her and Gavin acting as if they were still courting. Though the male knight had already offered to play along with her, she was still reluctant to do so. It felt wrong both because it'd nearly feel like she wasn't being faithful to Crow and also due to Gavin still handling his own feelings. However, the more she thought over the situation, the more it seemed to be their best option. Even if John only learned she wasn't courting Gavin, there was still the risk of him forcing her into that courtship if not into a new one completely.

"If you're certain," she mumbled with reluctance. "I might have to do that then... Even if he just found out about me breaking off the courtship, I don't think it'd go over well. He was already speaking as if he was going to try and take away my job as a knight again after learning I was nearly killed." The knight shook her head, feeling her small flash of annoyance return as she recalled her father's disappointment. If he took her rank away like he had before, there was much more at risk. She shuddered at the thought of him forcing her off the front lines and to return to the inner kingdom just so he could force her into a marriage. 

Penelope paused, realizing that her likely had no idea what she meant by that since she hadn't told him about the short period of time when she had been stripped of her job as a knight."I never mentioned it before since I didn't think it really mattered before but, a short time after I returned from trying to hunt down the staff wit William, my father returned to the inner kingdom and was furious with me... He heard about my injury and how I went out to hunt the staff again despite the danger. He thought I was getting too reckless, too careless, to be a knight." she shifted her gaze away from him to glare at the ground. 

"He made me step down from being a knight because of that... I was forced to learn how to be a proper noblewoman." she snorted and the fire died from her gaze a bit as she recalled that time where she hadn't been a knight. It had been a rather bleak point in her life. After losing Crow, losing her job too had been a heavy hit. It had felt like she had no control over her life and had been the one time that she had nearly abandoned everything to find him again. After all, if she couldn't protect her family—which was one of the main reasons she had given him up—why would she bother to stick around. 

"It wasn't a fun time... But Mia got me out of it. In the end, my father agreed to let me serve under her as a lieutenant but only if i was being courted for marriage. Which is how I ended up getting courted by Gavin." Penelope explained as she shifted her gaze back over to him. She frowned and leaned down to rest her head against his, subconsciously seeking comfort in his touch. "I just hope fooling him about Gavin courting me will be enough to keep him from doing something like that again."