[ Claude's not sure what he expects Hilda to say, but what she does about the matter of defense or anything else: it feels like a punch straight to his gut. It's not because of what he knows happened in that other timeline. Or rather, it is and it's also because it's not what he would have wanted in any situation. His grip in their tangled hands tightens like that'll prevent anything, like it'll take away what happened and they both learned, like he's afraid she'll leave then even if there's no cause to. ]
No, they won't, because no one's serving guard except actual guards. I don't want that either. [ After facing everything alone for so long until he'd met Hilda, maybe he's supposed to be grateful for this, or touched that the sentence seemed to be said without a hesitation in the aftermath of the last few months in particular. But Claude sits up enough to prop himself up on an elbow first before sitting the rest of the way up and shaking his head more vehemently than intended to add to that denial. ] I don't want whoever I marry to have to look over their shoulder as much as I did. I don't want that for you.
[ Now it's his turn to say something not entirely intended when the thought formed before he'd ran it against all of his filters and balances to strip sentiment out of it. He means it, though - right down to showing his hand a bit too far on what he feels for her should things have taken a different winding path in Fodlan to ever end up there.
Claude watches her carefully still and raises one eyebrow ever so faintly. He can't help but think of another situation fitting this same outline for the most part, though he has to weigh what his mother used to tell him against what Hilda has when it comes to the strict outlines Fodlan has for its nobility before answering the rest. There's more than a handful of parallels between Tiana von Riegan and Hilda Goneril which can't be overlooked. ]
If that were the case, my mother wouldn't have left Fodlan to be with my father. She chose something else for herself because she believed she deserved more. [ And, as he reaches out with his other hands to brush some hair away from her face gently, ] So do you, no matter what that ends up being, because you do mean something.
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No, they won't, because no one's serving guard except actual guards. I don't want that either. [ After facing everything alone for so long until he'd met Hilda, maybe he's supposed to be grateful for this, or touched that the sentence seemed to be said without a hesitation in the aftermath of the last few months in particular. But Claude sits up enough to prop himself up on an elbow first before sitting the rest of the way up and shaking his head more vehemently than intended to add to that denial. ] I don't want whoever I marry to have to look over their shoulder as much as I did. I don't want that for you.
[ Now it's his turn to say something not entirely intended when the thought formed before he'd ran it against all of his filters and balances to strip sentiment out of it. He means it, though - right down to showing his hand a bit too far on what he feels for her should things have taken a different winding path in Fodlan to ever end up there.
Claude watches her carefully still and raises one eyebrow ever so faintly. He can't help but think of another situation fitting this same outline for the most part, though he has to weigh what his mother used to tell him against what Hilda has when it comes to the strict outlines Fodlan has for its nobility before answering the rest. There's more than a handful of parallels between Tiana von Riegan and Hilda Goneril which can't be overlooked. ]
If that were the case, my mother wouldn't have left Fodlan to be with my father. She chose something else for herself because she believed she deserved more. [ And, as he reaches out with his other hands to brush some hair away from her face gently, ] So do you, no matter what that ends up being, because you do mean something.