Halia felt his rage - and really, what she had said was meant to be a joke, nothing serious - but she did not regret suspecting him. No matter how much one would profess their loyalty, she was a bodyguard. Another's honor was none of her concern nor their professed loyalty - she was a bodyguard; it was her duty to suspect, to treat every potential threat as a potential threat. He could threaten her all he wanted, she wouldn't even consider him a potential threat - but in the apparently very unlikely event that he was to turn on them she would be ready to bring him down just as she would be ready to bring down someone charging at her or someone under her protection with a knife or a sword.

[color=E6E6FA]"Settle for? Don't you think you're setting your sights just a bit too high? To rank Esdeath below Ogre, now that's a special kind of insult."[/color] she said. [color=E6E6FA]"Just be careful; I'm more than willing to bet that you're not the first one to say that."[/color]