Vladia also doesn't get much in the way of praise.

Per Dan's notes from all the way back at the end of Painted Black, Vlad was the kind of person who easily confused fear with respect, and that sort of thing comes from, well, not being used to anything resembling respect.

Until further notice I would assume that the blushing is due to not being used to being told "good job."

...Actually, something interesting when they get to Magus... Vladia might be the sort of situation that MAgus thought that Ellen was trapped in. Valdia started using Female pronouns and a feminine form of her name because people around her were uncomfortable addressing her as male and she stayed in this form even though she should be able to shift through all of her forms at will without issue now because she's afraid of either experiencing the pain of transforming again or being stuck in a non-human form.