"…I've been meaning to talk to you."

Liam glanced at her as she spoke those words.

"About what I asked."

It was not phrased as a question.

She nodded faintly.

"Yeah."

There was a brief pause after that, as though she were deciding how best to begin.

The academy buildings around them stood tall in the soft gold light of evening, their shadows stretching long across the path. Somewhere in the distance, a group of first years laughed too loudly before immediately quieting again when an instructor passed nearby. The sound faded just as quickly as it had come.

Sheila kept her eyes ahead for a moment longer before speaking.

"I thought about it," she said. "Properly."

Liam said nothing, allowing her to continue at her own pace.

"For more than just a day or two," she added. "I kept thinking about it during class, after class, while trying to study, while trying not to think about it… and it never really left my mind."

That was answer enough to tell him she had taken it seriously.

Sheila let out a quiet breath, one that seemed to carry both thought and acceptance with it.

"I kept trying to approach it from every angle," she continued. "As a princess. As someone from the Crescent Kingdom. As… just me."

Now Liam looked at her more directly, though he still remained silent.

She noticed, but went on.

"At first, I thought the hardest part would be deciding whether or not I could help you at all," she said. "But that wasn't actually the hardest part."

"No?"

She shook her head.

"The hardest part was accepting that I understood why you came to me."

That made Liam's expression shift almost imperceptibly—not surprise exactly, but attention sharpened.

Sheila gave a small, humorless smile.

"I didn't like how quickly that part made sense."

The wind moved lightly again, stirring the edges of her hair.

She looked ahead as she spoke, her voice calm and steady.

"You were right," she said. "About my people. About the kingdom. About how they would react to you if they ever had to confront you as more than a rumor." She paused. "And that isn't easy for me to admit."

Liam listened quietly.

She continued.

"The Crescent Kingdom prides itself on clarity. On righteousness. On order." Her smile thinned slightly. "But pride has a way of making people stupid."

That line might have sounded harsher from someone else. From Sheila, it sounded reluctant and honest.

"And if something like you…" She stopped herself and corrected it. "No. Let me say that better. If someone like you becomes a matter the kingdom feels forced to address, there's a real chance they'll come to their conclusions before they ever care enough to ask the right questions."

Liam's gaze remained on her.

"That was my concern."

"I know," Sheila said. "And that's exactly why this bothered me so much."

They walked a few more paces in silence.

The crowd had thinned even more now. Most of the students had already dispersed toward the dorms, mess hall, or evening activities. The path ahead was clearer, quieter.

Then Sheila spoke again.

"I can't promise I'll be able to control what the Crescent Kingdom does," she said. "I can't promise that my family would listen to me immediately, or that everyone there would suddenly become reasonable just because I ask them to."

"I never expected that."

"I know." She glanced at him briefly. "That's part of why this conversation is so annoying."

He looked at her.

She gave a small breath that was almost a laugh.

"You ask for impossible things," she said, "but somehow not in an unrealistic way."

"That sounds contradictory."

"It is."

A small silence followed.

Then Sheila's expression settled again, becoming more serious.

"But I do have an answer now."

Liam waited.

Sheila slowed just slightly, enough that their steps matched more deliberately.

"Yes," she said.

The word was not dramatic, not whispered, or even hesitant.

It was just firm.

Liam's gaze stayed on her and she met it this time.

"Yes," she repeated. "I'll do it."

For a second, neither of them spoke.

Then Sheila continued before he could respond.

"But not blindly."

"I assumed as much."

"I'm serious, Liam."

"So am I."

She held his gaze another second, then nodded faintly and kept walking.

"If I do this," she said, "I do it as someone trying to prevent unnecessary conflict—not as someone choosing your side against my kingdom."

"That's acceptable."

"And I know I said this before, but if you ever give me reason to believe I'm helping something I shouldn't…" She paused, searching for the right wording. "Then I stop. Immediately."

"That's also acceptable."

She looked at him again, as though testing whether he truly meant that.

His expression gave her no reason to doubt it and that made something in her shoulders ease.

"I thought it would be harder to say out loud," she admitted.

"You were already leaning toward it."

Sheila blinked, then narrowed her eyes slightly.

"You knew?"

"It was likely."

"That is unbelievably irritating."

"It's also true."

She let out a breath through her nose, a reluctant smile almost forming before she suppressed it.

They walked on.

After a moment, Liam finally spoke.

"Thank you."

That, more than anything else, made her turn her head toward him again.

Not because the gratitude was unexpected in itself.

But because he said it simply without trying to make the moment heavier than it already was.

Sheila's expression softened a little.

"…You're welcome."

For a few more seconds, the only sound between them was their footsteps against the stone path.

Then Sheila folded her arms lightly.

"There's something else," she said.

Liam waited.

"If I'm going to be this bridge, then I need more than just your trust." Her tone remained calm. "I need information. Not everything, obviously. I'm not asking you to dump every secret in your head into my lap. But if I'm ever expected to speak on your behalf to people from my kingdom, then I need to actually understand what kind of ground I'm standing on."

"That's fair."

"I need to know what you want," she went on. "Not in broad vague terms. I mean specifically. What you're trying to avoid. What you're trying to build. What kind of future you're even imagining that would make this worth asking of me in the first place."

Liam was quiet for a moment after that.

Then he nodded once.

"I can tell you."

"Not now," Sheila said. "Not while we're walking back from class like this."

He glanced at her.

She smiled faintly.

"I agreed to help you," she said. "That doesn't mean I've suddenly lost all sense. This is still the academy."

A slight beat passed.

"Tomorrow evening," she said. "After classes. Somewhere quieter."

"That works."

She gave a small nod.

Then, after another few steps, her expression changed into something more thoughtful.

"You know," she said, "if anyone had told me two months ago that I'd be walking beside Liam Hunter at the end of a school day agreeing to help him establish political footing with the Crescent Kingdom…" She shook her head. "I probably would've thought they were insane."

"That would have been reasonable."

This time she actually laughed.

It was brief, but real.

"See? That kind of answer is exactly why talking to you is so frustrating."

"And yet you keep doing it."

"I'm beginning to question my judgment."

"I thought you said that was your strength."

Sheila looked at him in mock disbelief.

"…Did you just make a joke?"

"No."

"That was absolutely a joke."

"It wasn't."

She stared at him for a second longer, then shook her head, smiling despite herself.