When Penelope smiled at him eagerly, Crow felt himself relax, enjoying her bright enthusiasm at the prospect of showing him around the castle. He was glad that she liked the suggestion so much, since her excitement would hopefully rub off and give him a much-needed distraction from his inner turmoil over the decision he had yet to make. Well, either that or everything in the castle would remind him even more of that decision. For his own sake, he hoped the former would be true.

“You’ve certainly thought about this, haven’t you?” he smirked at her amusedly when she announced that she already had a few places in mind that she could show him. As she led the way out of the room, he trailed after her, still a bit on edge from his nerves but now also curious to see where she would take him. He noticed her fall quiet for a moment as they walked, but didn’t linger on it as his eyes wandered over the corridor they were headed through. It had been quite a while since the last time he’d been in the castle, and since he had always come to scout out or raid specific rooms, he had never bothered to learn the rest of the layout of the enormous building. He supposed he might as well start trying to memorize it now, since he might end up living here if he took his father’s offer. He shuddered at the thought.

When Penelope spoke up again, Crow stopped looking over the walls to turn towards her instead. Her words brought a smile to his lips. Her excitement about touring the palace with him was endearing, and he wished he could hold her hand as they walked. “Alright,” he nodded. “I don’t know much about instruments, but it sounds interesting.”

Turning to look ahead again, he chuckled as another thought came to him. “You know, I never thought I’d see the day when a king would allow a thief to freely roam his castle,” he glanced back at Penelope with an amused gleam in his eyes. “And I bet you never thought there would come a day when you would show said thief some of the king’s most valuable collections, huh?”