He honestly hadn't expected for the mark to hurt so much when Miku touched it. It felt like the woman had put it on him again, an odd searing pain that was nevertheless confined, like each delicate swirl of tracery was its own trail of agony across his skin. Adelheid was only glad, once more, that he was so used to pain in his short life. He endured flames and the foul curse of his tainted blood, he could endure this. Adelheid sat on the bed, keeping his fingers clenched in the sheet to keep from digging his nails into his palms, gritting his teeth and enduring, just enduring the searing pain for what felt like an eternity.

Finally, unexpectedly, Miku suddenly slumped and the pain started fading away. Not immediately, the nerves were still so used to the constant sensations that its absence was like a new pain of itself, but he knew he could wait it out. That was why he was silent, his eyes squeezed shut, until he trusted himself to speak without a tremor in his voice. Only then did he finally open his left eye- the eye that was a fake prosthetic and therefore not as pained as the other- and inclined his head slightly. "Don't worry about me." No, his concern was about the girl, especially considering how pained she looked now.