( Ayaka really is so good at reading him... god bless her. I'm so sorry she's cursed with the knowledge Hwylryn intuition brings.

At this, a cloud crosses Hwylryn's expression.

During the trial, Hwylryn had gotten really emotional about Junior "picking fruit" for him and "falling out of a tree" - he'd said earnestly he shouldn't have let Junior do that for him.

Those feelings were all genuine, and heartrending. )

... I don't know how to kill like a person. I needed someone who would help me, who... wouldn't be at risk of being voted.

( And Junior did get some votes, but he didn't win the vote. Had execution been on, this would have been even more important. )

Because all I needed to do, to prove these things to myself, was to get through the trial. But I didn't want whoever helped me to suffer in my place.