*Briella*
The tiniest bit of hesitation shot through me as Tian said his “vows” to me. I felt myself reeling with shock at his heartfelt confessions. His words brought me back to when I first saw Tian in Celestial City. I had known he was trouble at first glance, but I had convinced myself that he was just a power-hungry general who wanted to take over everything.
I definitely hadn’t been wrong at the time, but my instincts failed to see the layers behind the situation.
Of course, I had no way of knowing that Tian was actually, in a sense, a physical manifestation of Malphas. The demon lord very literally created Tian out of his own evil essence, but even that part of it wasn’t black and white.
There was compassion in Tian. Sure, he was angry and really only wanted to follow Malphas and take over Embervale with his so-called father, but I saw something else in his dark eyes as well. I saw a glimpse of who his mother must have been, the poor young woman who had birthed him.
