The only way where someone can ever be more than a man is when the person is a woman  pretending to be a man.  
It was never Penn wish to don on male clothing and act like a man but it was the only thing she could do if she wanted to survive.  
Living on the streets before she came across a man whose character was erratic and unpredictable,  the man offered Penn to be his heir and Penn had no choice but to accept because her life depends on the protection which the man could offer.  
Penn secret was discovered by her new adopted father who wanted her to remain in her guise as a man to deal with certain issues and cause an insurgency which the man was convinced that Penn was perfect for.  
Keeping her identity  a secret from others and at the same time planning to take down the empire is more than enough work for anybody could handle and as if that was not enough.  She just had to learn some deep secrets about her family that seemed to tilt everything she believed in and fall for the Prince even when she knows that she was trying to dethrone his father.  
Yeah, Penn life was capital letters COMPLICATED.

More than a man

　　Prince Chandler had gone to the weaponry with the words of Penn still ringing in his head. Be careful of shadows, no matter how much he had tried to think about something else, the words kept ringing in his head.


　　Penn words were cutting but true. The soul of the innocents were all he could think of. That and the wickedness of the nobles. Their powers were being abused everywhere and this, he noticed because he was paying attention to the nitty-gritty details not the lofty things which the nobles wanted him to see on  his journey.


　　“My prince.” His manservant called out softly and his voice was followed by the usual soft taps on the carriage door. “Are you asleep?”


Chapter 51