Military AU
So in this AU Reynold admitted to planting the necklace in Penelope's room when she was 16 instead of just before she was 18. He decides to teach Penelope swordsmanship and figures out she has quite the knack for it. On her 18th birthday Ivonne (not Lelia just regular old Ivonne) comes back. One month later someone poisons Ivonne and Penelope gets blamed for it.
But instead of being executed Reynold managed to make it so her punishment was less severe so instead she has to serve a year in the military in the north. They let her take one servant with her and that servant is in fact Emily (in this AU Penelope reprimanded Emily so they are now pretty tight).
Through a series of coincidence Penelope actually manages to make it to the rank of general (although there was a lot of loss on the way),. Lelia does exist in this AU but it's not Ivonne. Lelia killed Penelope's comrades so now she is also out for revenge.
The thing is Penelope doesn't have the motivation or the time to tell any of the Eckharts besides Reynold that she is now a big part of Eorka’s military system. A month before her birthday because of her pressing duties as a general she ends up back in the empire and that's when shit hits the fan.
The Eckharts are not very happy with her decision to become a big part of the military because that means it basically puts her under a leash as one of the Emperor's dogs. Penelope begins to develop a positive relationship with Ivonne and at some point starts seeing her as a sister and not just some random chick.
Since Penelope is a general she ends up interacting with Callisto a lot. At first she does not hit it off with Callisto. She thinks that he is a cocky asshole. Callisto is curious about who Penelope is and what she does so he ends up going out of his way to interact with her more. After some time they end up slowly but surely falling for one another.
