"So, give me your blood, and fuck off." I said as I pushed her hands off my shoulders.

"…" She glared at me for some moments.

​​

Which, in my opinion, is pretty amusing.

Neia's reason for coming to meet me was to apologise, yet here we are, where she's looking at me like she'll strangle me to death.

That's a pretty good way to go out, now that I think about it.

Should I just aggravate her even more to turn her into Lecia 2.0 and finish it once and for all?

"So?" I asked.

Let's postpone that plan for now.

I simply have too little information to anger Neia to the point that she'd kill me. I'll have to look into her past a bit more.

"…I'm not giving you any blood until we finish our discussion." She replied with a sigh.

"Are you really that desperate to earn my forgiveness?"

Like what, it was just a couple of punches. I don't think the burden of that guilt is so heavy to make her so eager to make me accept her apology.

"The burden of the guilt of hitting you is nothing compared to what is already on my shoulders, so it wouldn't mean much to me even if you didn't forgive me." She scoffed. "The topic I want to discuss is your attitude."

"What about my attitude?"

I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I'm just a normal boi, who is secretly the First Being.

"The fact that, even if for some moments, you forgot about the terrible things I did to you… what should I make of it?"

"That I'm a very soft-hearted person who's lenient enough to forgive mistakes made in the heat of passion."

"You just said my pathetic apology means nothing to you."

"And that's because I've already forgiven you. No, it would be more precise to say that I neither blamed you nor was angry at you."

I mean, I can't keep being a baby about such small matters.

After all, in the end, it was just some hits to the face.

Sure, she did leave me alone in that forest, but I was more than capable of filling in her shoes and healing me.

The situation simply was not desperate enough to make me hate her.

And neither is she important enough to make me spend the effort in hating her.

That's all there is to it.

"And I'm asking why."

"What do you mean 'why'? Not everything needs to have a reason behind it. Your actions simply were not horrible enough to incur my wrath."

"If it was someone else, they probably wouldn't have forgiven me for the rest of their life."

"Just lemme know when you are going to declare me a Saint in front of the world."

I'll need time to prepare those generic white robes that a saint roams around in.

Those robes, however, while being generic are still comfy as hell.

So, even though being a Saint would be a pain in the ass because of the responsibilities that come with that title, it would be worth it because of the clothes I'd get to wear.

Or I could just buy those robes and don them without becoming a Saint because why the fuck not.

"That day will be coming soon, don't worry." Neia rolled her eyes. "Anyway, there must be a reason behind you being such a… Saint."

"Oh yea?"

Has she considered the possibility that I'm just proficient in the art of not giving a fuck?

"Mm. There could be several, in fact." She smiled slightly.

"Humour me."

Hmm, I think I know where this Dragon is going with this.

"Well, this is just a possibility, but what if?"

"…"

I'm not going to play along, Neia.

"…What if the reason you didn't think much of what I did to you was that it was nothing compared to the things you have already gone through." She looked straight in my eyes, as if hoping to see some reaction out of them.

"Heh." I couldn't help but smile.

As expected, she was going in that direction.

"What if the things you've seen are far worse than what the outside world can show you?"

My oh my, would you look at this little wanker.

It would seem that after leaving me behind in that forest, she calmed herself down and looked at the situation objectively.

Given how awesome I am, my portrayal of a torture victim who has suffered so much that nothing surprises him anymore was probably way too realistic.

Looks like Neia took that as a sign that things were not as they seemed, that my lie was multi-layered.

I guess I'll have to raise her evaluation. This means that from now on, I'll actually have to properly plan while keeping in mind future repercussions while trying to manipulate her.

Sed lyf.

"Hmm, it would seem someone is looking a bit too deeply in a mere joke."

"Am I, though?" She smiled.

"Who knows? At least, I don't."

"What?" She frowned.

"You have already made your assumptions and arrived at your own conclusions. I doubt any half-assed arguments I could make would change your mind, so I'd rather not waste my time."

Like I always say, I have more productive things to do, like figuring out how to dress up like a pinata.

"So…" she raised her eyebrow, "You are admitting that my words are correct?"

"Of course not." I chuckled.

"But you're not defending yourself."

"Not defending oneself and admitting to an accusation are two different things, Neia."

I don't think they sound even remotely similar.

"So you're basically saying that I'm a pain in the ass to deal with." Her eyes twitched.

"I'm glad you are so self-aware."

"Arghh! Why are you like this?!" She covered her eyes with her hands.

"I could say the same thing about you." I shrugged.

"Ahn?"

What was with that delinquent-like tone? This woman is scary.

"I mean, look at it from my perspective."

Let's start my blame game.