It was easy to inflict wounds onto people, both mentally a physically; that was something he'd learned throughout his years of being a weapon of war. However, he tried to stick to a private vow he'd made upon meeting you: he would never dare to hurt you.

"..?" Perhaps he'd finally gone too far. He always tried to keep his teasing- well, just teasing. It wasn't meant to be serious, not meant to be taken as a compliment or a dig.

A hollow pang of dread hit Childe's heart upon the realization that you had taken one of his comments seriously. Upon watching you turn away from him, he'd stiffened, momentarily unaware that you hadn't perceived it as "just a joke".

"Oh.. no, wait- I didn't mean it like that-" He attempted to back-pedal his previous statement, only to be met with a quiet sniffle from your direction.

Honestly, your silence was worse than if you had screamed at him; at least in that case, Childe would be able to figure out what you were feeling. It was significantly more difficult when he couldn't read your tone, yet your body language conveyed your discomfort perfectly clearly.