He'd intended to distract the assassin, for Ella to do something, but in a situation like this, there wasn't much he could do. Even if he had been a master swordsman, with a blade against Ella's neck, Marken was useless to intervene. Her words struck as hollow to him, something said out of spite, to hurt him further, considering her assassination had failed.

His face turned to a large frown, letting out a large gasp of breath as he tried to figure out the best way to help Ella. He said nothing, but instead turned the blade to the ground, hoping that would be a sign well enough that he had no desire to do something rash. Standing there, he tried to look unintimidating, something that wasn't hard at all, given his poor sword stance and lordly clothing.