Having said her peace, she stepped off the stage. As soon as she did, she felt noticed her legs felt like jelly and her heart was racing in her chest. She might have been able to get through most of the speech rather smoothly but the anxiousness had still affected the knight out. The one thing that kept her heart racing with excitement was the rather enthusiastic applause that she received at the end. Before she could even get a step further, she felt two hands pat her on the back and glanced around to notice that Naida and Dimia had joined her off the stage.

"You killed it!" Naida grinned with excitement.

"You think?" Penelope gave a soft laugh. "I feel like I messed up at the beginning."

"Penelope, you haven't looked over at the table have you?" Dimia smirked in amusement and gestured over to where several nobles were moving towards the table where Oliver remained, kindly overseeing it and personally thanking those who signed it. The knight's eyes visibly widened with surprise, making the noblewoman snort in laughter. "I think you may have seriously pulled this off. I'm glad I bet my money on the right horse. Come on your highness, we better move before we get caught up in any swarm being around her." 

Naida laughed a little and shot Penelope a smirk. "I'll find you again once you're back with us." she said giving her awe-struck friend a playful nudge. Turning, she headed off in a separate direction to join the party once more while Dimia moved to join Oliver. Momentarily leaving Penelope alone.

Penelope felt a swell of emotions in her chest, mainly all of them positive unlike the ones leading up to the event. If as many nobles as she saw moving towards the petition, there was a real shot of her convincing the king. Everything seemed to actually fall into place and the knight couldn't have been happier. Of course, there was still the matter of actually presenting it to the king, but for now, she choose to celebrate this victory. And she knew exactly who she wanted to celebrate it with. Immediately her eyes began to flicker around looking for Crow amongst the crowd. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to find him fast enough. 

"Well, well.. I must say I'm quite impressed with you, Miss Vermillion." The low voice of Kane caught her attention along with the smell of alcohol on his breath. 

She blinked and looked over at the tipsy nobleman, offering a polite smile. "Thanks. I'm glad I managed to exceed expectations then." 

"You certainly did." Kane nodded, crossing his arms. "I thought perhaps Oliver was just too taken with your features but I see now that you're more than that." He swept his eyes over her. "I was wondering if perhaps I could have the honor of one more dance with you tonight?"

"I—" Penelope paused, noticing two things. The first was Crow, who was making his way from the edge of the room towards and the second was Cedric who was finishing signing the petition and kept glancing in her direction. Knowing him, he was likely going to try to approach her again. Reminded of what had happened before the speech, she wanted to avoid him. "—I'm sorry but I think I'm done dancing for the night.. I have a couple other matters to attend to before this night's over. It was wonderful to meet you though, Kane." She gave a polite dip of her head. 

"That's a pity." Kane sighed, seeming genuinely disappointed. He offered her a charming smile though. "And likewise. I hope our paths cross again soon."

Penelope shot him a smile before slipping away from him. Leaving behind the nobleman, she made her way through the crowd, trying to avoid getting stop as she moved to meet Crow halfway.