The Duchess seemed to read an air of "unrepentant to the bitter end" in him.
She watched the Tarnished quietly and said nothing more.
[You have been invaded by "the Duchess"]
The Duchess did not attack immediately. Instead, she spoke again, her voice unusually calm: "I gave you a chance... You brought this on yourself."
The battle began.
The battle ended.
In the end, the Duchess still lost to the health-lock cheat.
Finally, she knelt on one knee, one hand pressed to her chest, panting slightly.
The player waited warily, expecting a second-phase transformation or something.
But the Duchess simply knelt there, motionless.
The Tarnished approached, and options appeared on the screen:
[Harm] [Violate] [Spare]
Was there even any need to think? The player instantly chose [Violate]... Of course that was not happening.
Mostly because this game was not exactly rated 18+, so it probably did not have what the player wanted to see.
The player wavered between [Kill] and [Spare].
In the end, he chose [Spare].
The Tarnished held out a hand, making a gesture to help her up.
The Duchess stared at the Tarnished's outstretched hand, froze for a moment, then turned her head aside and muttered, "An absolute fool, through and through..."
Bracing herself against the wall, she slowly stood up on her own.
"Forget it..." She stepped out of the way of the door.
"You chose this path yourself. Be careful up ahead... He isn't as easy to 'talk to' as I am."
Controlling the Tarnished, the player finally pushed open the door.
Beyond it was an enormous, incredibly messy study.
As far as the eye could see, towering bookshelves reached the ceiling, crammed with all sorts of heavy tomes, scrolls, and glowing crystals.
At the center of the room stood a