“No kidding,” Crow laughed when Penelope said she’d wanted to start strong. He left his eyes rove over the tall ceiling once more before he trotted after her to see what was next. Despite the fact that the riches of the castle represented everything he despised about nobles, he couldn’t help but feel awestruck at the sight of the lavish ornamentation. He’d always been attracted to the sight of beautiful things. In fact, it was part of the lure of being a thief for him. When something caught his eye that was small enough, he would take it, but he still appreciated being able to stand before something as grand as the great hall. He may not have been able to steal a building, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t take in its beauty in the form of a memory.

As Penelope took him to another smaller door, Crow peered over her shoulder before stepping around her to look inside the dark room. At first, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at. It was clearly a storage space of some sort, but all of the contents were sealed away in jugs and other large containers. He strode along the edge of a tall shelf, looking over the mysterious containers with interest. Though the room may not have been as eye-catching as the great hall, he’d found that humble storage spaces could hide even greater secrets within them if one looked closely enough. After all, he’d found plenty of forgotten treasures in places just like this.

When Penelope spoke up again, the thief looked back over his shoulder to meet her gaze. “Wine, huh?” he mused, examining the shelves again. He supposed that would explain all the jugs. It seemed the nobles of the castle had quite the collection, given the sheer number of containers in the room. 

“I know I told William I wasn’t planning to steal anything, but I don’t think anyone would notice if one of these smaller jugs went missing. Do you?” he casted her a mischievous smirk as he traced his fingers over a dusty clay jug that was a little shorter than the length between his elbow and wrist. Despite knowing he had to be careful to keep his head down while he was in the castle, he couldn’t help feeling a little tempted to take something he wasn’t supposed to. It was just his nature.