Amunet’s pupils constricted when she saw the crown.
"You..."
She looked away from it a lot quicker than Grey expected, meeting his eyes as though she was half baffled and half trying to see if he was pulling her leg or not.
With the gap between their strengths, it didn’t really matter how close the crown was to her. The only reason she had even considered attacking Grey before was because the arms were there to support her. Now, she didn’t even have the 20% chance she estimated before.
And of course, it also had to be considered that the 20% chance she had estimated included buying enough time to integrate with the Lineage in the crown. She had never actually expected to win without stalling first and completely evolving. Only then could she fight a battle on equal footing with Grey.
Who was going to stall for her right now, exactly?
Mauve? Brad?
Absolutely not.
But Grey didn’t show any signs of taking it away. Instead, he dropped something else on the table.
"You will join this first. Then you’ll complete your Frame. I want to sense the entire process."
Amunet looked down at Ma Famille, suddenly understanding. She hadn’t seen the description after the upgrade, but if she had to guess, whatever upgrade was triggered likely had some kickback in benefits for Grey.
Grey wasn’t doing this because he had changed his mind about her. He was doing this because he hated the Great Udon more and was going to do everything in his power to make sure that things didn’t end the way the Producers wanted.
But at the same time, if Amunet took this, she was essentially losing the argument. She would undoubtedly be bound to Grey and all his craziness to the very end with this.
The description of Ma Famille was quite lengthy compared to most treasures she had seen. Even the cloak she kept well hidden didn’t have such an in-depth description to it.
No matter the item, the more mystical it was, the more secret underlying strings existed beyond what its description made obvious.
Something told Amunet that once you joined something like this, breaking free wasn’t going to be a matter of just wanting to, at least not without a price or a higher ranked item.
How much of what she said did she actually believe?
In truth, all of it. It was just like she had said before, all things being equal, if she was in the exact same situation, and knew the exact same things about Grey as she had back then, she would have still made the same decision.
She didn’t have the luxury of making a different decision back then.
She didn’t know Grey well enough back then to know how he would react. Or maybe...
~"You’re just going to sit there while two Legendary Loot Boxes hover here? Maybe I should just take them both."~
Amunet’s gaze dimmed as memories flooded back to her.
~"What are you talking about, woman? Get up. I need you in top fighting shape if we’re going to clear the rest of this."
"I didn’t do much. If not for you, we’d be dead."~
She could remember her own replies so clearly.
~"What is your Neural Frame Type?" Grey asked.
"... Recursive." She finally said.~
She could remember how it felt when she said those words. It had felt like Grey had attached a chain to them and ripped them out of her. She really hadn’t wanted to say it, the guilt eating away at her back then was so real, so palpable.
She had really been convinced that no matter what appeared, she would let Grey have it. She didn’t think she deserved any treasure that appeared.
And then he had said it.
~"If a Recursive Item shows up, you’re taking it."~
Amunet didn’t even notice when the tears started spilling out of her eyes.
This was a conversation they had had right after Esmeralda’s death, but it wasn’t until after Valdris died that the Cloak of the Kin treasure appeared.
She had had little to do with Esmeralda’s death, but she had played a much larger role in Valdris’ death. The two situations had been completely different, and she didn’t feel nearly as guilty taking a treasure from Valdris’ corpse as she had from Esmeralda’s.
But still...
Back then, she hadn’t known that Grey had been capable of using Recursive Treasures too. He didn’t even have a Frame back then to begin with.
She had registered the kindness, but it hadn’t sunk in the same way. She didn’t understand the level of sacrifice that Grey was making, and maybe subconsciously, after she saved his life, she thought the debt was repaid so the same guilt didn’t weigh down on her.
That was why she had spoken those words out of rage back at the gathering, why she had said Grey couldn’t use it anyway. That was what her subconscious had already understood. It hadn’t yet clicked for her that some people really were just that selfless when they wanted to be.
Amunet buried her head between her legs, silent tears she didn’t want anyone to see streaming down her face. She didn’t say anything, she didn’t make a single sound either.
The room fell into an awkward silence.
Brad tried to look literally anywhere else, while Mauve could only rub Amunet’s back and hope that was helping.
Mauve looked up at Grey trying to see how he was taking this, but other than an odd flicker in his gaze, Grey didn’t say anything or have much of a change in expression either.
The room became as silent as it was ever going to get, dead and even.
This state only lasted a single minute.
By the time Amunet lifted her head again, there was no sign that she had cried at all. Her expression was steely, and those amber eyes of hers met Grey’s own with a steady flame.
"Time will tell."
Those were the only three words she said before she picked up Ma Famille and activated her Frame.
Then she picked up the crown.