As Naida questioned Penelope about her former suitor, Crow turned his attention to his lunch. Once upon a time, hearing talk of Gavin would have gotten his back up, but the knight hadn’t posed a threat to them in months. He was confident in his relationship with Penelope, and now that he was a nobleman too, he was no longer insecure about dragging her down with him by being together. As far as he was concerned, her ex suitor wasn’t someone he needed to worry about anymore.

So, when Naida asked him what he thought, he looked up at her with a noncommittal shrug. “I don’t know,” he said, swallowing a mouthful of bread. “He was still getting over Penelope that last time I saw him, but he didn’t seem like he was going to keep trying to win her back. Either way, I trust her, so it doesn’t matter what he does.” He tilted his head back to cast the knight a fond smile. Even if it turned out that Gavin hadn’t given up on her, he knew she wouldn’t do anything to hurt him. She’d already proven that after she’d turned away every other man who had attempted to woo her at the castle.

Naida studied them for a moment longer and then shook her head amusedly. “This is still so weird, knowing you two have been together for so long. It still feels new and fragile to me since I just found out a couple days ago.”

“It’s what we had to do,” Crow reiterated, leaning sideways to rest against Penelope’s leg and grinning at his sister good humoredly. “But I promise you don’t have anything to worry about, O controlling one.”

“You’re cheeky today,” the princess snorted, though a smirk tugged at the corner of her lip.

“I’m in a good mood,” the viceroy explained, lifting his shoulders innocently. “It feels great to finally get out of that stifling castle.”

“Hear hear,” Naida lifted her water flask with a laugh. At her side, Percival nodded in wordless agreement.

Crow took another bite of his lunch, keeping Otto and Rayner in the corner of his eye as he ate. The two knights were rather quiet throughout the discussion, but they looked like they were paying attention. The baron’s eyes were fixated on them, and his expression was as unreadable as always. The former thief wondered what was going on inside his head.