Meanwhile, Xue was getting dressed and secretly keeping an eye on Aile. Seeing that the first thing Aile looked at was her made her feel proud, and seeing that he still maintained his gaze as his mouth was opened just by a little made the blush on her face spread. She did not hurry up to dress any more, what would be the point after all of that. He had seen much more, and it is not like he will forget it based on his reaction. The fact that Aile looked at her so intently did contribute to her lack of haste in her actions.
She got dressed and noticed that Aile started to move his body a clear sign that he had started to heal. Snorting at him while flashing a displeased look, she walked away.
Aile was touched by Xue's action, and the situation has made him lean towards this cute girl. Xue giving off the impression of being calculative, but had been very reliable in the end. She especially seemed bitter about how Aile forced her to work for him indefinitely. He was going to make her feel better about that. Aile then subconsciously touched his lips where he was kissed by her. He was annoyed at Mei, even more, she had stopped him the first time why did she have to completely drain him of his energy, could she not leave him enough to reciprocate that kiss. Aile would be lying to himself if he said that he did not enjoy Xue's treatment and was indeed wondering if it really would be bad had Mei not come back.
Aile shook his head and decided that such a forced situation would only be awkward. Anything after it would not be built on a solid foundation, but a forced and shaky one. Seeing her behaviour and actions for him made him even more sure that he would not give up on her and in fact would take steps to win her favour. She was no different than the others close to him, only he had pushed her away and made her feel aggrieved. Aile got a mission for himself to make Xue feel appreciated and was looking forward to the next leg of his journey. Forgetting about Guang, Mei and Heian, leaving the problem to when he is not emotionally involved.
Xue had kept an eye on Aile from the side of his eyes, wondering what he will do. Already planning a few scenarios and her response to them. Surprisingly she saw him pack up everything and make trips to the mounts, storing them in the proper positions. Then after that calling her to go get ready so that they could travel.
The uncaring behaviour of him made her furious. Being angry at him, she wanted to ride solo. But he said that he still was not feeling 100 percent, so Aile sat behind her as they left towards the other door of the enclosure and towards Fort Bot. Aile, of course, holding onto Xue's waist lovingly. The conflicting actions and behaviour made her perplexed.
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Just as they were about to leave the enclosure, Xue looked at Aile thinking will he be alright facing the illusions. After all, he has been drained of energy not long ago, and without it, he would not be able to fight back.
Noticing her worried expression, Aile realized her concern and said, "Open your mouth."
Although she was confused, she did listen to him and opened her mouth. Aile dropped a tiny crystalline piece of the blob he took from the geyser in her mouth. She was suddenly assaulted by a nice feeling, slowly clarifying everything to her. She felt like the pill acting as a lighthouse clearing the fog for her, and she knew that she would not face any problems in the forest anymore. The fact that she got a clear-mind and Aile had a much better pill than she took before surprised her, and then it made her think why she did not receive such a thing on when she entered the forest. Did he still not trust her then? Aile noticed her changing emotions and whispered to her that he did not have this before and will explain it to her after they leave the enclosure for safety measure.
Snorting angrily at Aile, she guided the mount out of the gate as they were heading to Fort Bot. The forest without the distracting and hallucinogenic miasma was not dangerous and more manageable to traverse. As they were travelling, Aile said, "I am sorry for pressuring you to work for me. If I knew before that you were so troubled about it, I would have allowed you to leave. To be honest, I never intended to force you to work for me once the merchant union was established. However, now I have changed my mind, and I am not planning to let you go, and I am happy to have you by my side for as long as possible." Xue tensed up after hearing the first part of Aile's claim. After all, it sounded like a tit for tat, I saved you, and now you saved me so now we are even, let's break this relationship up. The second part made her happy and furious at the same time. This was controversial enough to make her start a conversation with Aile about it. She started the conversation with another session of venting her emotions on Aile and explained her grievances. The next was her making demands, to which Aile accepted most to coax her, others he pretended to not hear or outright rejected. She had claimed Aile needs to take responsibility for her after what happened, only if she failed to find someone else. Seeing her smirking face, Aile denied it immediately and held her tighter. Followed by planting a kiss on her cheek and ended with the roguish claim that she forced herself onto him and even kissed him without consent. So she should be the one taking responsibility.