For a moment, Cobra's mind blanked as hideous thoughts slowly trickled in. The idea that Sorano knew was more terrifying than a hundred fights to the death with Jellal. Or equivocally one fight against Titania. His blood chilled at the idea of Sorano spreading the information at camp. First, just Richard would know, then Meredy, then Sawyer, then Jellal. They'd all be laughing at him, and not even all to his face. Fairy Tail would follow, along with all the other guilds, legal and not, in the whole of Fiore. To top it off, even the damned council members wouldn't be able to resist a chuckle at the absolute degradation of a man. His precious fearsome reputation, in shambles…
He caught Lucy eyeing him worryingly. "Everything ok?" She mouthed. He took the opportunity to breathe, and after a few deep breaths, began paying more attention to Sorano's thoughts.
Strangely, no particular emotion, besides sheer apathy, appeared on display. Even a layer down, nothing in her mind suggested she knew of his terrible side hustle; not a shred of sadistic glee or prime satisfaction. And Sorano was not an actor by any means. There did appear just a hint of melancholic thoughts as she boredly ran through what she had to do for the assignment.
…Assignment?
He shut out her thoughts, confused as to why coming here of all places would be viewed as an assignment. Although at least it seemed she really didn't know he was here. For now. And he was going to make damn sure it stayed that way.