There was a moment of silence in which Valerion lowered his head again, one hand against his mouth, pensive. Adrien stared at him and wondered: how could someone like him, whose kindness and thoughtfulness were seemingly endless, place such a heavy weight of blame on himself over the smallest of mistakes - if any mistake had been committed at all? Valerion had done so much for him; he had taken his problems to heart to the point that he had framed this entire lesson as a surprise for him - a gift that would help him fight against his own monsters, which so many others had dismissed as a sign of weakness or, even worse, as a quirk of his character. And yet, Valerion was reproaching himself mercilessly over this tiny misstep. Adrien's eyes widened; he felt something clench within as he realized that Valerion's unwarranted harshness towards himself was not all that different from the treatment that he reserved for his own mistakes.

"Valerion", Adrien spoke again, "It's okay. I am alright. And -- I succeeded. Thank you so much for letting me do this".

Hearing his words, Valerion lifted his head; he looked at Adrien with confused surprise in his eyes, but then he smiled - and his smile was bright. "Yes. You are right -- and I should congratulate you; what you did was nothing short of amazing. The mere fact that you were able to hold the link for so long is astounding. But -- next time, please --".