The man in front of her sighed deeply as he heard the declination. Augustin was even slightly taken back by it though he did understand why she'd refuse. Clair nodded in an approving motion before locking both of their gazes. "Let me help." He asked her without much hesitation and realisation. He, himself didn't expect to say it in such a confident tone. Knowing that she was in no condition anymore to be as graceful in battle as she once was, Augustin could not just stay back.
"I understand that it's a sacrifice and I will accompany you through it if you'll let me." He responded to her remark regarding the sacrifice that she had to go through with. His tone spun a hundred and eighty degrees as it went from an easy-go-lucky tone to one she was more familiar with when she spoke to him all those years ago. The cold, assertive and serious battle-ready one. The look on his face said it all. He was ready to throw everything away that he currently had to assist the person most important to him. His eyes almost begged her to let him be of use.
"It will be like all those years ago." A rather smug appeared on his face afterwards.
She was thoroughly surprised with how eager Augustin was, and had to think for a while on whether she could let him help with anything. If only the circumstances were different...
"I really appreciate it, Augustin, but I think either you or the people that promised my family safety will end up dead if you come along." she answered after much deliberation. "I don't want to work for them at all. You can imagine how they treated me for those years I was stuck with them. But there's not really much else of a choice for me - you still have a future and a choice. I could call you when I need help, but it's better for everyone if you stayed doing what you do. For the Kingdom."
The woman was honest, and that reflected in her eyes. She figured that sincerity was probably the best way to convince him to stay - it would cause too many issues with her plans if she had him follow.
"I'll come back and join you once I did what I need to. That's a promise."
The eagerness in his eyes faded out the moment she denied his offer. The smirk was wiped off of his face instantly, leaving him with a stoic look and absolute defeat in his glare. It was almost like he got shot in the head point-blank execution-style. All of his thoughts stopped abruptly as he stared at her in a state of disbelief. Though, even in his state of disbelief, he kind of expected this outcome. Clair just sighed deeply before throwing himself into the chair with a glass of wine in his hand.
"Okay, I will do what I have always done." With a cold and unenthusiastic tone, he replied to her grand idea. There was no future for Augustin. He hoped that Ambre would have picked up on his desperation and that he had no choice or future either. The only difference being, he was stuck serving the King and Lucie Leblanc as nothing else but a zealot instead of being used by the enemy.
"Yeah. A future and a choice." He gave an extremely sarcastic and forced chuckle as he sipped the wine. This Augustin was more akin to the one she knew many years ago. The man that appeared out of nowhere just to kill the Bretonians and any other enemy of the Crown.
Forcing himself to appear happy and optimistic once again regarding her ambitious promise, "Yeah. Surely you won't back down on your promise. Ambre." Augustin smiled at her with a somewhat genuine expression. Of course, this didn't change anything between them, at least from his perspective. Though, whether he would survive to witness the promise become fulfilled was an entirely different scenario altogether.
Chills ran down Ambre's spine as she witnessed Augustin go through a swift mood change, followed by sarcasm that would have made a Bretonian proud. She had only realised later what he implied earlier in the conversation, and thought hard on how to recycle the situation.
"Look.. I don't know what I'll be doing. Or how long. Or whether I'll survive. I feel like that's the same for you, and all of us." she replied, keeping her serious tone. She could feel his disappointment from the other end of the table, and his smile only reinforced that. Mirroring the man on the opposite end of the table, she took a sip of the wine glass, the luxurious taste of the wine causing nostalgia and remembering the simpler, older times.
"If you truly want to come along, I'm not going to keep you from doing that. But it will be working with Bretonians.. people you hate, and people who hate you. It's no way of living." she continued, a giving a reaffirming gaze at Augustin.
"If you want to do something else, say so. Returning to the Kingdom isn't an option as there is no Kingdom left, but the rest of Sirius is there. It could be worth looking into. We've had one expedition to the Omicrons to crack open the Vault, and we worked with some "Core" organisation during that process. Maybe you could check them out, or some other allies, in the meantime? It could be a way to get out for us both, and my family."
"You will survive." He looked at her with a soothing expression once more. "I hate a lot of people that I work with. Even now." Augustin took a minor sip from his glass, "Has either of us truly lived in the past few years?" A sigh escaped him quickly afterwards, as his gaze shifted onto the crown that was engraved on the table. He calmed down and seemed a lot more relaxed, after realising that Ambre did finally understand what he meant previously.
"Of course returning to the Kingdom isn't an option. I am well aware of that." He grabbed her hand once more, in a comforting and re-affirming motion. "I will do all that I can to get you and your family out of the pitiful hole that you've found yourself in." The tone of his voice was confident and yet, his eyes were full of doubt - not in her, but in himself. Clair was confident in the fact that if he failed the task of helping her, he'd meet death soon afterwards.