BuzzingBee

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

"I guess you must have been busy lately huh? I've barely seen much of you since we got back from our trip to Bellmare." Naida mused as soon as her friend joined her.

Penelope nodded her head and rested her arms on the table. "A little. Between regular work and having to work on gaining support for the end of the war, it definitely leaves me with very little free time." she admitted with a small shrug.

"True... I heard you were even involved in a serious case of missing jewelry this morning." Naida said leaning in curiously. "How'd that go?"

The knight smirked a little in amusement. She was a bit surprised the princes was even bringing it up since she was rather certain she must have heard all about it by now. It was the hot topic in every conversation that day after all. However, thinking it over again, she supposed that Naida was just eager to learn her side of the story. Although, there wasn't much of that story that she could tell to her unfortunately. "Fine, I suppose. I don't think they've recovered the missing objects yet but we were at least able to clear Collin's name." she said with a shrug.

"That's good." Naida nodded and smirked. "I bet he's quite grateful for that." She seemed ready to say something else but fell short as someone caught her attention. Penelope followed her gaze over to see Crow had entered the Great Hall. She bit back a smile and blinked as she felt Naida nudge her. She rolled her eyes at her friend, noticing the mischievous glint in her gaze. She shook her head and focused back on Crow as he joined them.

"Hey Collin!" Naida grinned.

Penelope gave him a small smirk. "Good to see you're still walking freely." she mused. Before he could reply, her gaze shifted on the figure of another approaching person and blinked in faint surprise as she noticed Cedric walking over to the table. The male knight offered her a friendly smile and hesitated as he reached them, his gaze glancing almost a bit nervously between Naida and Crow.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting," Cedric said politely before focusing his gaze onto Penelope. "I was just hoping to join you for supper if that's ok?"

Penelope glanced at Crow and Naida before shrugging her shoulders. "Go for it." she replied, figuring it was fine. Cedric smiled and wasted no time in moving to slid in besides her. He dipped his head respectfully to Naida and then shifted his gaze onto Crow. He wavered for a moment before offering the viceroy a smile.

"I don't believe we've formally met before." he mused politely and extended his hand. "I'm Cedric.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Nice xD

Also didn't really have much planned for Penelope so I just skipped her day over lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The rest of breakfast went by rather peacefully, which was a nice wind down from the chaos that the early morning had held. Her and Cedric spoke casually as they ate, discussing simple matters such as their work and other such topics. Despite having been skeptical of Cedric, she found herself beginning to view him as a friend. He was decent company and had apologized for the past. Plus it wasn't like she had anything to offer him. The wealth and power of the Vermillions that he had been looking for in the past was still out of her reach after all. In her opinion, there was nothing he'd have to gain aside from friendship.

Eventually the knight finished her meal and parted ways with the male knight as she headed off to take her guard shift. Luckily the weather seemed to be better today, despite the chilliness of the day. She relieved the guard that was on duty and took up her position in the corridor, letting a small yawn out as she began to watch over the hallway.

---

Her shift went by agonizingly slow. There wasn't much to worry about and she only saw a few people pass by, mainly servants but there were a couple other knights that were likely reporting to the king. All in all, Penelope found herself wishing she could have used the time for something more productive. Namely writing letters to the list of nobles that Jonathan had given her. However, she supposed that'd have to wait until the next day when she was free.

Another guard finally appeared to take her off for the evening and she dipped her head appreciatively before heading off down the staircase. Hungry, the knight made her way straight for the Great Hall and hoped she'd be able to catch Crow. With the events that took place that morning, she wanted to make sure he was still in the clear and that he'd get the chance to sneak the missing jewels back to their respective owners.

As soon as she stepped into the room, she swept her gaze over the tables looking for him. Unfortunately, the knight didn't spot him but she did see Naida. The princess spotted her from her seat and waved her friend over eagerly. Penelope smiled a little and walked over to join her at the table. With any luck, she'd still be able to catch the viceroy if he joined them for dinner.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Oh boy xD

Cedric got excited to hear about the king trusting her lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope glanced over at the king as he said he wanted a word with Crow. She looked over at the viceroy and gave a small nod before turning to follow her father as he gestured for her to follow him. She fell instep behind him and walked out of the room. Once the door closed behind them she let out a long sigh and shifted her gaze onto her father. "So what do we do now?" she asked quietly.

"You go about your day as normal. I'll handle speaking with Tybalt about what happened and conducting the search for the 'culprit'." John explained to her with a shrug. "There's nothing more we can do other then that. Besides you have guard duty later today, right?" He looked over at her and she nodded her head in confirmation.

"Not until midday though." Penelope responded.

"Well go get something to eat before then. The Great Hall should still be serving breakfast right now." John sighed and began to head down the staircase. Penelope followed after him, silently noting that the crowd that was there before seemed to have left. The only ones that remained were Tybalt and a couple guards that had been in the throne room with the nobles. Tybalt was listening with his arms crossed over his chest as they seemed to be recounting what was discussed. However, the conversation fell short as the two Vermillions reached the end of the stairs and eyes turned to them.

John dipped his head to Tybalt and stepped over to the captain, dismissing Penelope as he moved in to report to him. Penelope gave a grateful nod to her father and continued on her way to the Great Hall. As she stepped in, it was easy to tell that the people of the castle were still flustered about the events of the morning. It seemed like nearly everyone was looking over their shoulder, except for a small few who seemed unconcerned.

"Penelope!"

An eager voice came from the right of her and she turned her head to see Cedric waving to her from a table he was sitting at. The knight hesitated to join him. In truth, she had been hoping to find Naida since she would have liked to speak with her friend about what was going on, even if she couldn't share all the details. However, the knight didn't want to be rude and reluctantly made her way over to join the male knight at his table.

"Morning." she greeted him with a small nod.

"Have you heard what's going on? Everyone's saying that the thief stole from like three people." Cedric asked immediately, seeming a bit excited by the castle gossip.

"Heard about it? I spent half my morning proving him innocent." Penelope smirked.

"What?" Cedric blinked in surprise. "How'd that happen?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "The king ordered my father and I to speak with Collin and search his room."

"The king himself, huh?" Cedric mused eying her. He smiled. "Well I'm guessing you two didn't find anything then?"

"Not a thing. People were just quick to jump to conclusions due to his history." Penelope said before shifting her attention onto her food as a servant brought them plates. "So aside from that, how's your morning going?" she asked casually, beginning to dig into her meal.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Definitely not XD
he really dug himself a grave with that lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope remained quiet as her father announced to the king that they had found nothing. She gave a small nod of her heard in agreement and shifted her gaze over to Adam as she noticed the baron looking furious. The knight bit back a smirk as he began to stutter over his words, grabbing at whatever straw he could to still prove Crow to be guilty. Of course he couldn't just accept defeat and had to demand for Crow to be patted down.

She let out a faint sigh and took a small step back as her father and Arledge stepped over to search Crow. The knight looked over at the thief before shifting her gaze onto Adam again, noticing how he was focusing intently on the search as it began after some mild protest on Crow's part. When nothing was found immediately, she could see the victorious look on the baron's face waver as a hint of desperation replaced it. Penelope looked away from him to focus her gaze back onto her father as the king addressed him.

Of course they didn't find anything more than a dagger from their search and the group was dismissed. Her gaze tracked Adam as he and the others left the room empty handed. Now that Crow's name had been cleared, she felt a bit of relief. All there was to worry about now was the former thief sneaking the items back into the noble's rooms.

"So, was there really nothing in his room?" the king mused, a faint smirk crossing over his lips as he looked down at the two knights. Before John or Penelope could answer, he gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "Actually it's probably best not to answer that.. I trust you two will see to it that this matter gets resolved?" he asked glancing between John and Penelope.

John looked up at Albin and dipped his head. "Of course your majesty."

"We'll see to it that they are able to recover their belongings." Penelope nodded.

"Good. So long as that gets done, you're dismissed and free to carry on with your regular duties." Albin said then paused. "And John?"

The older knight paused just as he was turning away to leave. He looked back over at the king. "Yes?"

"Keep an eye on Fischbach for me. If he does have anything to do with what's going on here, I'd rather have it not happen again." Albin said with a small frown.

John nodded his head. "I'll remain alert." he assured with a bow then turned to lead the way out of the throne room. Penelope copied her father's gesture and then moved to follow him out of the room as well.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Nice lol

Penelope's ready to see Adam squirm xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Penelope gave a small smile at Crow's confidence in his skill. She was rather certain the thief wouldn't have too much trouble but, more so than the guards, she was worried about the nobles themselves being on high alert. It'd be difficult to sneak around with everyone already viewing him like he had a target on his back. However, he seemed sure of himself so the knight made no comment on it.

Instead, a smirk crossed over her lips as he said they should go. "Me too. I'm sure he's going to start floundering." she mused as she moved to follow Crow. She crossed her arms over her chest and let out a sigh as she looked over to her father. Her smirk faded into a frown. "Although I imagine he's not going to trust us very much after how my last meeting with him went. He'll probably accuse us of lying or something worse."

John shrugged. "He can try and if he does, it'll be an easy problem to solve since the jewelry won't be in the room." her father pointed out with a nod to Preston. "He'll be backed into a corner once he realizes the jewelry isn't where he put it. After all, if he says anything, it'll be obvious he was the one behind everything."

Penelope nodded her head in agreement and focused her gaze ahead as the group headed off towards the throne room. Off handedly, the knight began to wonder about the other two nobles that were 'stolen' from. It was difficult to sat if they had willingly participated in Adam's scheming or if they had just been unsuspecting victims he happened to be close to. Surely if him or his son were able to steal from them, there must have been some level of trust or agreement. It was difficult to say since he seemed to have been the most vocal about how to handle Crow while others just voiced their agreement. Regardless, she planned to keep an eye on the other two nobles as well.

As they reached the room, her father allowed them to step in first, falling to the back of the group. Walking in, her gaze fell upon the three nobles and the guards that accompanied them. All heads turned to look over at them as soon as they entered. And one look was all it took for the fury to return to their gazes. Adam glared at Crow venomously before shifting his glare onto Penelope, who moved to stand at the right of the viceroy.

"Let's end this quickly! Arrest him." Adam growled.

"Yes. I want my pendant back! It's a family heirloom!" whined another noble.

"Now, now. We mustn't jump to conclusions." Albin spoke now with a commanding wave of his hand. His gaze shifted to focus on the three. As he did, the two knights bowed to their king. "So tell me Vermillions, was any evidence found proving Collin guilty of this crime?"

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

John's gotta plan lol