When I decided to show you my back, I took a giant leap of faith. I was exposing myself to you in a way I'd never opened to anyone else. That was my last secret, the only thing I hadn't yet told you. Everything else of importance had already been said before, and with this last secret you would know me back-to-front. Almost literally.

Somehow, I knew I could trust you. At least I hoped I could; I hoped ever more desperately with every minute as we made our way back to the mansion, up the stairs, down the hall, and into the privacy of my bedroom. What if I had been mistaken of you? What if you were not the honest, trustworthy young man you seemed to be?

But as soon as I turned my back to you and lifted my shirt so you could see, I knew I had been right all along. Another man might have taken advantage of my trust then, but you understood and respected what I was doing. You hardly even touched me, and when you did it was the faintest, most fleeting touches I have ever felt. You respected me and protected my modesty, and that was how I knew I could trust you with everything. I could trust you with my secrets, my desires, my fears, my heart, my very life.

I think it was in those moments of almost absolute silence as you studied the transmutation circle on my back that I began to love you. I wasn't overwhelmed with a mad urge to kiss you or anything of the sort, but I mark that day as the beginning of everything. As the years have progressed since that day, my trust in you has only grown. I have seen that I can trust you with everything. You will protect it all till the last breath leaves your lungs.

It's only fitting that I do the same, then. I have tried as hard as I know how to be as trustworthy as you are. I strive to remain loyal through thick and thin, through every hardship. I try to make it so we face every hardship together. I can't stand the thought of you alone, and that is why I always try to remain at your side. Personal peace and contentment has nothing to do with it, because I could never be at peace until you reach your goal.

And I pray that when - yes, when - you finally reach your goal, you might look behind you and see that I have been with you through it all, watching your back and protecting you at every step. Then, maybe...you will entrust your heart to me as well.