Pleasure

Ryu stood in a silence for a long while, the thoughts swirling about in his mind seemingly infinite and intangible. As for the swirl of emotions, they were even more fervent. 

It seemed so very obvious when he thought about it. 

No matter how "cruel" the Martial Gods were, it was impossible that it would be to the point of having Elena ingest pills that were so inferior. That was crossing a line that simply didn't make sense, and from everything he understood, while Elena might not be fond of her father, the opposite wasn't true. In fact, Elena's father doted on her quite a bit. 

Then how had all of this happened? 

The answer was right before him now. Rather than taking advantage of the opportunity she would likely be given, Elena chose to trade it all away for a chance for him.