Galina relished the initial shock on Souma's face, and then the unbound laughter that filled the small room with a warmth that was near tangible, and she could not help but join him. Some small, mischievous whisper in the back of her thoughts wondered what in the world Daisuke must be thinking on the other side of the shoji screen. The image of that mountainous man's perplexed and likely oh-so-disapproving face would have let loose a fresh gale of crystalline laughter, had Souma not leaned just a little closer with a tantalizing question of his own. 

[i]'Well then! How [b]delightfully[/b] unexpected... '[/i] 

This time Galina's dark, sparkling eyes widened with surprise as the breath caught in her throat, and then narrowed playfully as she leaned forward some subtle inches more toward Souma across the narrowing expanse of the small, elegant table. She worked her full, silken lower lip delicately with ivory teeth for a moment before a crafty gleam lit her face with undiluted mischief. Galina chuckled, and then met his riposte with a counter all her own, doubling down on the playful challenge with a grin as wide and genuine as Souma's own.

"Souma, please, don't be cruel to my tender, womanly heart," she crooned softly, her voice not much more than a breathy whisper he must lean forward further still to hear all the better - and what man with ears to hear would not do exactly that? Galina's voice was magical, enchanting, low and warm and laced with an otherworldly beauty to hold even a nightingale enthralled. 

"I think you know [i]very[/i] well, the answer to your question." Galina pouted prettily, though a single, elegant hand rose to cross the slowly-closing distance between them, gentle, careful fingertips wiping away the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes. 

The backs of her fingers wound a soft, leisurely path down the length of his cheek, his jaw, until they lightly fell away to rest in her lap once more. "What possible chance could that poor noblewoman and her silver tongue stand against such an enticing ruffian, I ask you? How could she [i]possibly[/i] resist if he assails her frail, defenseless senses, offering up the promise of a single, matchless taste of his wicked, feral ways?"