Adrien placed his left elbow on the table, and brought a hand to his forehead. "That day, I was -- so nervous, I hadn't slept at all, I was shaking and -- and almost crying, and -- I was taking my exam, and the teacher came to my seat and asked me, 'Are you really that scared?'. I said yes, and --", Adrien's hands clenched into fists as he was retelling the story, his eyes shimmering with barely-restrained tears, "-- and you know what he told me? He told me, 'Then you're not cut out for this. You might as well leave now'".

Valerion stared back at him, his eyes wide, his mouth slightly opened, an expression of horrified disbelief on his face. "And you...?", he whispered.

"And I -- I just -- took my things, and left. I just -- left!", Adrien said, shaking his head.

"I am so, so sorry", Valerion whispered in a broken voice. "I can understand why you'd do that".

Adrien took another sip of water, and his throat seemed to unclench a bit. "Yeah... Now I regret not having said something, but -- I was so... so...".