[b]"Why, what?" Ella grumbled as she slumped back in her chair, "I've answered all of your questions, Marken, what more could you possibly want to know? Yes, I'm stupid, and easily swayed into pity. I'm an idiot that can't save anyone, least of all herself. But I also love you, and I know that I shouldn't have yelled at you for protecting me. I can't even imagine how terrified you were to raise a sword, and then I reprimanded you after you selflessly defended me from an assassin."

Standing with a sway, Ella no longer cared about sobriety and topped off her drink once more, her vision blurring a bit after she took another long drink. Marken would probably tell her that he couldn't deal with her stupidity now, and she didn't exactly want to be sober for that. If she were him, she would hate her right now. Marken had almost lost his mother, his own life, and even his fiancée, all in the course of a single week, and she went and yelled at him like some ungrateful shrew. That was probably grounds to end their engagement altogether.

It burned like hell, but Ella drained the last of her drink and stumbled to the other side of the fireplace before colliding into Marken. He reeked of the sickeningly-sweet alcohol himself, along with the faint smell of blood and sweat, but it was still him underneath. Tears stung Ella’s eyes and she shoved her face into his chest, her shoulders trembling.

“Please… d-don’t hate me….”[/b]