After walking several paces, Elara stopped and turned to face the fox knight trailing behind her.
"That lion beastman. How much influence does he have?"
The fox knight paused mid-step, ears flicking forward in surprise. A subtle expression—one Elara had learned to read as equivalent to shock in someone trained to show nothing.
She tilted her head slightly. "Beast knights aren't supposed to display emotions. Most of you show nothing—not reluctance, not pleasure, not even acknowledgment beyond functional response. But he was smiling. Why?"
The fox knight lowered his head immediately. "Your Highness, it's not that we cannot feel emotions. We simply aren't permitted to show them." He paused, choosing words carefully. "Sir Robin is... different. Perhaps because he is the First Princess's most favored knight, but he displays expression quite openly compared to the rest of us."
Elara processed this. "So he shows emotion regularly? This is normal behavior for him?"
