Penelope was glad to hear Crow was willing to get away from the others with her, even if it was only for a short period of time. As he leaned his mouth to rest near her cheek, her smile briefly shifted into a small smirk as he shared his plan to slip away from Otto. It seemed that even though they were publicly courting now, sneaking off to meet each other was still something they hadn’t completely left in the past. The only difference now seemed to be that the stakes were far lower. Otto may get frustrated by their short disappearance but there was little the baron could do in response. 

Her attention was pulled away from the thought as Naida spoke up, grinning at them in a way that made the lieutenant give a small laugh. However, her smile faltered slightly as the princess nearly gave away her relation to Crow. She stifled a grimace and let out a small sigh as her friend was clumsy to recover from her near slip up. As Naida went on, her words brought a small twinge of color to the knight’s cheeks at the mention of their future children. Though it was something they were on the same page about and working towards, she still felt a bit flustered at the topic, namely since it was brought up in front of others she was less close to. It was certainly a relief as Crow switched the topic. It wasn’t the smoothest transition but at least it seemed to get the focus off of them.

“It is a nice kingdom.” Penelope spoke up in agreement with Crow as she reflected back on her mission there. Feeling him take her hand underneath the table, she gave his hand a small affectionate squeeze. Looking over at him, she gave a thoughtful look. “At least from what I remember when we were there. Although, I imagine the outskirts of the kingdom don’t look much better than our own right now considering the ongoing war.” she mused with a soft sight.

Their past trip together had been something the knight usually avoided talking about since she once feared people connecting the dots when it came to how close she was to the thief. Of course, now that they were courting there was nothing to hide and it was a bit freeing to be able to speak so openly. However, it didn’t come without some glances but it was difficult to guess which part of her words had them casting glances. Namely from Otto, who was just returning to table and managed to catch her last words. The baron looked over at her with an unreadable expression before moving to sit down besides his son. 

“We won’t have time for sightseeing anyways.” Otto commented now. “We’re supposed to reach the castle as promptly as possible.”

“Of course,” Penelope mused with an understanding nod only to flash a small smirk right after. “but looking over your surroundings is part of the job anyways. It doesn’t hurt if they just happen to be scenic.”