The air in the room seemed to tremble faintly under Lacus's direct, pure curiosity.
Facing those clear violet eyes sparkling with inquisitive light, Char La Flaga found himself at a loss for words.
"Why am I on this warship?" he repeated the question unconsciously, then raised a hand helplessly and scratched his smooth blond hair with slight embarrassment.
Avoiding Lacus's overly straightforward gaze, he muttered, "...Well, shouldn't you have already seen that while you were 'reading' me? What happened on Heliopolis..."
He had assumed that during that strange mental link just now, Lacus had already learned such surface-level information and did not need him to repeat it.
However, Lacus Clyne gently but firmly shook her head.
Under the room's soft lighting, her figure appeared even more slender and upright, like a white narcissus swaying in the breeze while remaining firmly rooted.
Her gaze did not waver in the slightest. It remained fixed intently on Char's face, carrying an unwavering insistence.
"No," she said in a voice like flowing spring water. "I want to hear you tell me yourself, Lord Char."
Her voice was soft and melodious, yet it carried a peculiar penetrating power, as though it could reach straight into the deepest part of one's heart.
Char groaned inwardly. Even if that exchange of information had given them a certain degree of "understanding" of each other, wasn't this girl a little too forceful?
Her determination to get to the bottom of things, combined with those eyes now shining inexplicably with pure thirst for knowledge, made him feel an unprecedented pressure.
How had things ended up like this?
He had originally thought that after confirming neither of them bore ill intent and reaching some sort of agreement about the "future"—though it had been decided unilaterally by Lacus—the conversation would come to