At one point, before everything at the temple, Jin Guangyao might have looked at some of those words differently, especially in conjunction with the way Lan Xichen started. Perhaps a little embarrassed, in a good sort of way.

Now all he can think is, really, Xichen? Is that how you feel about this, that you're just being used, making it sound half like you're trying to trade yourself for the wellbeing of others? Do you think that poorly of me now, still?

But if that was all there was to it, truly, some of that conversation on the moonlit streets wouldn't have happened, that admittance that he didn't want him to choose anyone else.

It was all still difficult, the way things had ended up, wasn't it?

"I'll try," he can only respond quietly, bowing his head a little as he can feel the magic settle around them, a warm tingling where they're touching. He attempts to focus more on that affection and comfort he'd found there in that too-close moment a number of days ago rather than his faint disappointment and much less faint anxiety over just how much would come through in the Bond and what that would mean for the future.