[Usually, the face that Liem wears for the world is an accommodating one, mild-mannered and courteous. There are always multiple ways to reach a given conclusion, and he's well used to being flexible.
The look that he aims at Hayame now, however, is stubborn. She asks why he insists on disagreeing with the opinion he supposedly cares for, but he is not simply intent on being contrary. It would be the easiest thing in the world to go on showing only his most civil, helpful face to his fellows in Kenos, but he didn't join Meridian to build a nice, rosy life for himself there. He swore to return his world and his patron to life, and he intends to follow through, whatever it takes.
And if returning his world to life means waging war on those who wish to leave their own worlds behind, he cannot be overly concerned with appearances.]
Because I wish to be truthful with you.
[Hayame does not know the Liem Talbott who acts worse than the beasts she'd scorned at the masquerade, indulging a desire for flesh and blood that went beyond the hungers of human men. She does not know the Liem Talbott who has delivered troublesome repeat offenders in Oppara anonymously to the foreign slave galleys in its harbours, or who ensured that a heretic in his custody would die rather than reach prison. She has judged him without knowing him, not fully — and surely she would think differently about him with that knowledge. Any just and sensible person would.
Unclasping his hands, he lifts one to hold it, palm-up, in front of him: a silent invitation, should she wish to accept it from a man who has decided to be so frustratingly difficult.]
no subject
The look that he aims at Hayame now, however, is stubborn. She asks why he insists on disagreeing with the opinion he supposedly cares for, but he is not simply intent on being contrary. It would be the easiest thing in the world to go on showing only his most civil, helpful face to his fellows in Kenos, but he didn't join Meridian to build a nice, rosy life for himself there. He swore to return his world and his patron to life, and he intends to follow through, whatever it takes.
And if returning his world to life means waging war on those who wish to leave their own worlds behind, he cannot be overly concerned with appearances.]
Because I wish to be truthful with you.
[Hayame does not know the Liem Talbott who acts worse than the beasts she'd scorned at the masquerade, indulging a desire for flesh and blood that went beyond the hungers of human men. She does not know the Liem Talbott who has delivered troublesome repeat offenders in Oppara anonymously to the foreign slave galleys in its harbours, or who ensured that a heretic in his custody would die rather than reach prison. She has judged him without knowing him, not fully — and surely she would think differently about him with that knowledge. Any just and sensible person would.
Unclasping his hands, he lifts one to hold it, palm-up, in front of him: a silent invitation, should she wish to accept it from a man who has decided to be so frustratingly difficult.]
I owe it to you, of all people, to be so.