[Same Moment - From Aetron's Perspective]
As the first light of morning seeped through my tent's leather, my eyes were fixed on the ceiling. Sleep... My body might have rested, but my mind was tired from talking with Null all night. So much had happened... The tournament victory, Eirlys's appearance, Null's strange reactions, and most importantly, that echo in her soul... I hadn't even been able to talk properly with my father and mother. As someone who had acquired leadership qualities, I had responsibilities—the forest's curse, the House of Luminis's scrolls... I needed to ask dozens of things, but my mind was elsewhere. On Eirlys and Null.
"Are you still thinking about her?" Null's voice asked in my mind with a sulky tone—the tension between us since last night hadn't entirely dissipated.
"No," I replied. "Just... thinking about the complexity of the situation. And why are you being so..."
"So what?" she asked immediately.
"Jealous," I completed, smiling inwardly. I liked these human reactions of hers.
"I'm analyzing, not being jealous," she corrected immediately. But I knew the feeling emanating from her was lying.
Just then, a voice came from outside my tent. "Lord Aetron? Princess Eirlys wishes to see you."
I sighed. Here we go. "Null, please," I thought. "Just try to stay calm. This is important."
"I'm always calm," she replied, but the tension in her voice said otherwise.
I walked toward the larger tent reserved for guests where the princess was staying. When I entered, I found Eirlys sitting in her bed, looking at a book in her hands. She looked better than yesterday. The pallor on her face had diminished, and the sad emptiness in her eyes had dispersed somewhat.
"Princess," I said, bowing respectfully. "You called for me."
She lifted her eyes from the book and turned them to me. There was a difficult-to-read, neutral expression on her face. "Yes, Aetron. I want to thank you again for what happened yesterday... and for your treatment."
"It's nothing, Princess."
"Your mother explained my condition in detail last night," she continued. "And that unusual method you suggested... She said it's quite risky but could be effective." She paused, her eyes locking onto mine. "But before I accept this treatment... there's something I need to be sure of."
"Here it comes," Null warned. "Be careful, Aetron."
"What do you need to be sure of, Princess?" I asked, trying to stay calm.
"Your loyalty," she said clearly. "You know, the Kingdom of Valdorin is powerful. But the Auryan Dynasty... you've gone through difficult times. You're a fallen dynasty." She stood up and walked toward the small wooden stool in the middle of the tent. She slowly placed her foot on the stool. It wasn't like yesterday. This time, it was more conscious and more calculated. "Normally, offering such a proposal wouldn't be very appropriate. But our circumstances... and your status... shouldn't be much of a problem." She turned to me. "I want you to prove your loyalty to me."
There was a moment of silence. That astonishment and hurt I'd felt yesterday returned. This time it was sharper. So that curiosity, that admiration I'd seen yesterday, was just a game. Or maybe it wasn't. Perhaps this was part of her suspicious nature. It would be foolish to expect a princess growing up in palace intrigues to trust a stranger immediately.
Her eyes first moved to her foot on the stool and then to my face.
"I don't need to tell you what you need to do, do I?" she said, with the icy tone in her voice.
"Don't do it, Aetron," Null's voice said, suddenly hardening in my mind. "You don't have to do this. Your worth is more than kneeling before someone."
I looked at her foot. It was an elegant, small foot. Even the silk slipper on it seemed like a symbol of nobility.
"I knew you were a pervert," Null hissed angrily. "But I didn't know you had a foot fetish! Is that how you're looking at her?"
"What?" I thought in astonishment. "No! I'm trying to understand what she's doing! Why don't you trust me?"
"What are you going to do? Kiss it?" Null asked, her voice both angry and... hurt.
This irritated me. "Watch and see," I thought, deliberately to provoke her.
"If you do this... if you do this, I'll never forgive you, Aetron!" Null's voice was more like a plea than a threat.
I slowly began to kneel. A faint expression of triumph appeared on Eirlys's face. But just as my knees were about to touch the ground, I stopped. I raised my head and looked directly into her eyes.
"I apologize, Princess," I said, calm but determined. My loyalty is only to those who will walk beside me, to my equals." I stood up. I may be a member of a fallen dynasty, but I've decided to live my life for my honor. I cannot offer you my freedom along with my loyalty."
Eirlys's triumphant expression gave way to astonishment. Her brows furrowed slightly, bewildered by this unexpected resistance.
"And there's one point where you're mistaken," I continued. "I'm not trying to gain anything from you. I'm the only person who can offer you a chance at recovery. However, if our relationship is going to start this way, if it's going to be built on a master-slave dynamic, unfortunately, I cannot teach you Edgium or the purification process."
Eirlys's lips parted, as if she were about to say something, but the words didn't come out. The astonishment in her eyes was slowly giving way to anger. No one had ever opposed her like this.
"That's it," Null thought, an icy satisfaction in her voice. "Show her who you are."
I paused, then softened my voice slightly without losing my determination. "By the way... your beauty is undeniable, Princess. But using it as a tool to test people's loyalty... This doesn't suit you. True loyalty is earned through respect, not fear."
These last words struck Eirlys's face like a slap. Her face reddened, the anger in her eyes giving way to momentary shame. She quickly turned her head away.
I looked into her eyes one last time. Astonishment, anger, shame, and perhaps a bit of disappointment... All at once. "If you change your mind and decide to treat me as your equal," I said, walking toward the door. "I can consider these events as if they never happened."
I left the tent without looking back. My heart was beating fast. I was angry and ashamed, but strangely, I was relieved. Perhaps I'd made a politically incorrect move, but I was sure I'd done the right thing.
Just then, through the connection in my mind, I felt Null's complex emotional fluctuations. On the one hand, irritation still emanated from me looking at the princess's foot for so long, as if saying, "Serves you right." But at the same time, a strange, secret feeling of pride was seeping through at my choosing my honor, demanding equality. These conflicting signals suggested she couldn't decide how to feel about my action, perhaps even embarrassed by her reactions. I realized once again how much our bond had changed her.