“I’m sure you will,” Crow smiled at Penelope fondly as she promised to help him adjust to the changes that would soon be coming to his life. Once again, he was glad that she had been able to convince her baroness to let her return to the castle with him. It was hard for him to imagine what his life would be like there without her by his side. He shuddered at the thought. With the overwhelming majority of nobles out for his blood, it was going to be nice to have her around to remind him of why he was doing this in the first place.

As Penelope went on to mention Naida, he casted her an amused look. It was funny to think that she had gone so long without ever realizing his sister was part of the royal family. While Naida didn’t strike him as a stereotypical princess type, surely she had other duties around the castle that were different from regular knights? Perhaps she just preferred to keep those to herself though. Since they were related, he wouldn’t have been surprised if she shared in his distaste for the pomp of nobility. Even from their last talk, he’d gotten the impression that she regretted not being allowed to fight in the war instead of remaining in the inner kingdom to complete mundane tasks.

Additionally, Albin hadn’t been in power as the reigning king for more than a year. It wouldn’t have shocked him to learn that not every noble in the kingdom knew who his children were. Only those who cared enough to win the king’s favor would have bothered to memorize all their names. Penelope didn’t seem to care much for winning anyone’s favor, so of course she wouldn’t have gone out of her way to find out who they were.

“I think it’s a good thing,” he shrugged, habitually kicking a small rock off the side of the road. “Accident or not, now we have a mutual contact in the castle, so we’ll be able to see each other a bit more without raising any suspicion.” He turned back to the knight with a wry look. “Plus, you sort of got back at Olivia already, in a way. She may have kept Naida’s title a secret from you, but you’ve known who my father was for quite a bit longer. I think you’re even.”