Are... are you saying that you loved me, even back then? Even as you cursed my name?
[It shakes her, honestly. To think they both loved each other and were torn apart. To think that they may both feel the same now, but are unable to act because of the years between them.
Or... perhaps she's the only one unable to act. Despite overcoming so much she still feel frozen. Unable to grow beyond her place of righteous fury and rebellion. Or perhaps Edelgard is simply scared that she does not know how to accept even the simplest of affections. Stunted in more than just her height.]
In a sense, yes. I doubt I could have recognized it as such at the time, but that does not mean those feelings ever truly left me.
[ If anything, they'd only served to feed the hatred he held towards both her and himself. A sick, miserable cycle of regret and fury; all providing weapons with which the dead could use to torment him. If he'd cared for her less, perhaps the knowledge of her sins would not have weighed so heavily, compounding his need for vengeance with the sting of perceived betrayal. ]
I apologize. It's a... disturbing thought, I know, considering the wounds we inflicted on each other during that time.
[ Unintentional though it may be, he wouldn't blame her for being unsettled by the correlation between those events and their current topic of discussion. ]
No, [she says softly as she raises their hands. He holds hers, but she cups her free hand over his. Now she holds him in her hands.]
There is no need to apologize. Your breakdown was intentional. It was planned. That's why I did not argue the truth at that time. And I feel as if maybe I know how to better accept your hate than I do your affection. I am not particularly well versed in receiving it. Or even having friends.
I never thought days like these would come again after I did what needed to be done.
no subject
[It shakes her, honestly. To think they both loved each other and were torn apart. To think that they may both feel the same now, but are unable to act because of the years between them.
Or... perhaps she's the only one unable to act. Despite overcoming so much she still feel frozen. Unable to grow beyond her place of righteous fury and rebellion. Or perhaps Edelgard is simply scared that she does not know how to accept even the simplest of affections. Stunted in more than just her height.]
no subject
[ If anything, they'd only served to feed the hatred he held towards both her and himself. A sick, miserable cycle of regret and fury; all providing weapons with which the dead could use to torment him. If he'd cared for her less, perhaps the knowledge of her sins would not have weighed so heavily, compounding his need for vengeance with the sting of perceived betrayal. ]
I apologize. It's a... disturbing thought, I know, considering the wounds we inflicted on each other during that time.
[ Unintentional though it may be, he wouldn't blame her for being unsettled by the correlation between those events and their current topic of discussion. ]
no subject
There is no need to apologize. Your breakdown was intentional. It was planned. That's why I did not argue the truth at that time. And I feel as if maybe I know how to better accept your hate than I do your affection. I am not particularly well versed in receiving it. Or even having friends.
I never thought days like these would come again after I did what needed to be done.