"Will she know it was you?" Wanda asked worriedly.
"Take a guess." Aaron gave an awkward laugh. "She probably figured it out. After all, at a time like this, the only sorcerer who could come to Asgard and use Kamar-Taj magic is me."
"She figured it out?" Wanda froze for a moment, an inexplicable complexity flashing through her eyes before it was swiftly replaced by immense joy and relief. "Then just come clean. Stop worrying about all that. Take her away directly, and we can deal with everything else after Ragnarok is over."
"No." Aaron rejected the suggestion without hesitation. "Even if she guessed it, as long as I don't actually show myself, that sorcerer doesn't have to be me."
"As long as I'm not embarrassed, then it's someone else who's embarrassed." Banner tugged at the corner of his mouth with a dry laugh. "That's what you mean, right?"
Aaron shrugged, neither confirming nor denying it.
He noticed the hesitation and struggle on Wanda's face and patiently explained, "You know what kind of person she is. With Ragnarok upon them, the last queen striving desperately to prevent Asgard's Apocalypse is undoubtedly at her proudest—and most resolute."
"If you ask me to take her and run at a time like this, you'd be rubbing her dignity into the ground."
"But..."
"No buts. Even if I'm taking her away, it has to be at the very last moment, when she can no longer hold on. Otherwise, I wouldn't have stayed in Asgard all this time. Only by preserving Your Majesty's last shred of dignity can we avoid awkwardness when we meet again. Taking her away now wouldn't be difficult, but she could hate me for the rest of her life over it."
"This..."
Wanda opened her mouth as if she wanted to