Crow averted his gaze uncomfortably as Naida prompted Penelope to comment on his appearance. He wasn’t sure what his sister was trying to do, but he knew they couldn’t let her find out about their relationship. From what he’d seen, she wasn’t a very good liar. If she learned they were together and someone else questioned her about it, he was certain word would get out before they wanted it to. For the sake of keeping their heads down until the other nobles got used to him being their viceroy, the princess had to stay in the dark.

When Penelope answered the question vaguely, Crow looked up again, relieved that she had kept calm. However, in the next moment, his eyes widened slightly as he saw that the knight’s cheeks were rosy. He casted a subtle glance at Naida. While he’d found Penelope’s reaction flattering, he worried that his sister might have noticed her blush too. Of course, it was hard to tell, since the princess was a bit drunk. She still had the same mischievous look on her face as before.

As Penelope suddenly announced that she should get going, the thief felt a pang of disappointment. After going the whole day without seeing her, he wanted to talk for a while longer. However, he didn’t voice his opinion, since he knew it would look strange if she lingered for much longer. He let out a quiet sigh. It was going to be frustrating to be so close to her at the castle, yet unable to be as close as he wanted.

“Alright,” he finally said, offering her a smile. “I’m sure my fake supporters will be pleased. Anyway, I’m glad you stopped by. It was good to see you again, love.”

“Yeah,” Naida agreed with a grin as she waved her friend goodbye. “See you later, Penelope!”

The two siblings watched the knight go before Naida nudged Crow playfully in the side. “So, are you still going to tell me you don’t want to court anyone?” she snickered.

He turned to her, feigning a confused look, “What do you mean?”

“Oh, come on,” his sister rolled her eyes. “Even I could see that she fancies you.”

“What makes you say that?” Crow asked, continuing to play dumb even though he was pretty sure he knew why she thought so.

“She got flustered when she talked about you,” the princess grinned. “It was so obvious, Collin. Are you really going to tell me you didn’t notice?”

“I mean, sort of,” he admitted with a shrug. “But you [i]did[/i] spring that question on her out of nowhere. She could have just been flustered because she wasn’t expecting it.”

“I don’t think so,” Naida’s grin widened. “I think she fancies you, and you can’t change my mind.” She clapped her hands together. “This is so great! If you get married, she’ll be my sister!”

Crow felt a bubble of nervousness form in his chest as the princess got louder. Though Naida still didn’t know about his relationship with the knight, he needed to keep her from getting any closer to the truth. “Slow down,” he shook his head. “Don’t get so far ahead of yourself. First of all, you still don’t know for sure that you’re right. And second, I already told you I’m not interested in courting anyone. Even if she was interested in me, that hasn’t changed.”

Naida deflated at his words. “Oh, Collin, [i]please[/i]?” she begged, taking his hand in both of hers and meeting his gaze with a pout. “Would you at least consider it? She’s a great girl, and I think you’d really like her if you took the time to get to know her.”

Crow averted his gaze again. No matter what he did, it seemed like she wasn’t going to give up. “Could we talk about this some other time?” he muttered, trying a more direct approach. “I’ve already had enough to deal with today. I don’t want to think about adding anything else to my plate right now.”

“Oh… okay,” Naida frowned disappointedly but dropped the subject.

As the evening wore on, the two siblings spoke about lighter topics, occasionally watching the crowd as they waited for the banquet to end so they could finally leave.