Chapter 621: What It Takes to Win Someone Over

Katana reached out and picked up a stuffed cat doll from the cluster near the headboard, pulling it against her chest.

Her fingers sank into the soft fabric, gripping it, holding it like a shield.

She watched the person sitting at her left, but still could not hold his gaze for long.

However, she no longer looked completely away either. Her eyes would meet his, flick away, and then drift back.

Katana’s brows involuntarily rose.

The small movement opened her expression for a brief moment before she controlled it again.

Her face smoothed back into its usual stillness, but something in her eyes had shifted.

She reached out and picked up a stuffed cat doll from the cluster near the headboard, pulling it against her chest.

Her fingers sank into the soft fabric, gripping it, holding it like a shield.

She watched the person sitting at her left, but still could not hold his gaze for long.

However, she no longer looked completely away either. Her eyes would meet his, flick away, and then drift back.

Benjamin eyes rested more on the deep pink rug than on her face while he spoke, as if the words came easier when he did not have to meet her eyes the entire time.

He continued, calmly: "For a long time in my life, I was unable to make any friends. And folks who tried to befriend me were avoided. I pushed them away before they could get close. I was so unhappy with my life and I didn’t want to bother anyone with my melancholy. The darkness felt like something I should carry alone.

"But just when I decided to allow myself to take over a family, to try living with other people in a permanent way, I discovered that I was very sick and would not live very long."

He swung his legs slowly for a few seconds. The heels of his shoes brushed the thick pink rug in a quiet, restless rhythm — back and forth, back and forth.

"I started living in real isolation after that. I found solace only in... uhm... ’magical’ entertainments, like a theater play captured like a moving image. We call them films where I come from, but Elyndor has not nearly got any. There is nothing here that matches them.

"I got a job as a type of cleric, something that let me work long hours, and I worked myself to death to avoid people as much as possible. The job became a bubble. And only when I was about to die did I wish for even one person to be by my side. Just one."

Benjamin turned his head towards Katana and gave a slightly sad smile, his eyes closed.

The expression was small and honest, without any of the usual playfulness he had downstairs. It was the kind of smile that didn’t ask for anything.

"I’m certain my body would have decayed long before anyone realized I was dead. That is the level of isolation I had reached.

"And my world is far more social and packed than Elyndor—crowded cities, constant noise, and people everywhere—which makes the isolation stranger when I look back on it. But I got here and found the amazons... I found the beastkins, the fairies, some other wonderful individuals... and you guys here in Thaad."

He let out a small breath. "Of course I got a bit over my head. The way I envisioned the joke in the weapon shop was far different from how a normal person would see it. I thought it would be funny. I thought it would bring us somewhat closer. But even that is not an excuse. So I want you to give me another chance. I promise to treat you with more—Eh? Katana?!"

The teenage-looking woman immediately embraced Benjamin’s side.

The movement was sudden. She pressed herself against him hard, arms wrapping tightly around his waist and the lower part of his ribs.

Her face turned into the fabric of his shoulder, her eyes were tightly shut, her lips were bitten together hard enough that the lower one had gone pale under the pressure.

Benjamin went still.

The warmth of her pressed against his side. The slight tremor running through her. The way her fingers dug into his back like she was holding onto something that might disappear if she let go.

He just let her hold him.

After a few seconds that felt longer than they actually were, she released him.

She pulled back quickly, almost as if the contact had burned, and looked away toward the far wall with a flustered face.

The color had risen high across her cheeks and reached the tips of her ears. She still held the stuffed cat, but her grip on it had loosened; the toy rested more against her lap than against her chest now.

"Do you have my answer now? I forgive you..." The words came out in a small voice, barely above a whisper. "I am sorry as well, for treating you coldly instead of confronting the matter."

"Katana..." Benjamin smiled.

The expression was softer and more genuine than the one he had worn only moments earlier.

He was glad that they managed to make up.

The tight, uneasy feeling that had been sitting in his chest since the incident in the shop finally loosened and began to ease.

Benjamin had learned something from watching people from the sidelines all his life: the more vulnerable you become in front of someone, the more likely you are to win them over.

"It is getting quite late. Can you still make my legendary-grade katana as you promised?"

Her voice was still quiet, but there was a clear, stubborn focus underneath the shyness.

The request had not left her mind even after the apology.

[She’s so hung up on that...]

"Naturally!" Benjamin rolled his sleeves up with confident, deliberate motions, pushing the fabric past his elbows in two clean movements. "I’ll have it whipped up in less than 20 minutes."