Unyielding Caveat

His words were painful to her.

Painfully tempting.

She almost wanted to abandon her dignity as a Martial Sage and beg him to heal her. Yet, her discipline as a military woman held strong as she closed her eyes, regaining her composure.

"What do you want?" she asked.

She was not naive.

She understood how the world worked.

There was no such thing as a free lunch.

Rui smiled.

She had already taken his words to be the truth.

It was within his predictions.

Ordinarily, a more prudent person would have demanded proof for his claims. He had even secured some proof on his person if it came to that.

However, he had known that he probably didn't need it because of a simple fact.

She was desperate.

Desperate people could convince themselves of just about anything if their desperation was strong enough. It was fortunate for her that he was indeed being sincere, which she could sense.