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.

Chapter 53