Witnessing the touching moment distracted everyone for a few seconds. However, the silence was broken by Seteth, who began to panic. "Oh goddess, Nemesis is back."

"Nemesis?" Claude asked. "That gigantic baddie was the King of Liberation?"

"There never was a 'King of Liberation,'" Edelgard said hatefully. "Nemesis wasn't the fallen hero the Church says he was. He was always a monster."

"What Edelgard says is true," Rhea confirmed. "Nemesis was not granted the Crest of Flames or the Sword of the Creator. He was a bandit who stole them from the Goddess and used them to conquer Fódlan."

"Really? Then why do the scriptures say otherwise?" Marianne asked.

"I only discovered this recently," Rhea lied, "but the Crests were not truly gifts from the Goddess, but rather were created by Saint Seiros and Nemesis during the War of Heroes, to give to the nobles who swore allegiance to them. The Ten Elites and Maurice were the ones who fought for Nemesis, while the bearers of the Saints' Crests and the Four Apostles were the ones who fought for Seiros.

"Some time after the death of Saint Seiros, however, many of the common folk rebelled against the nobility, believing they had no reason to obey the descendants of the Elites. After the rebellion was put down, the Church altered the scriptures to claim that the Elites were once great heroes, chosen by the Goddess, and that the bearers of their Crests were also chosen to rule. Whether this was a misguided attempt to keep the peace, or simply an act of corruption, I do not know."

Several of the listeners seemed shocked by the half-true revelation. "That's very interesting," Claude mused.

"How could they do such a thing?" Lorenz asked, clearly rattled by the new information. "Descendants of heroes or otherwise, such an act of corruption is a flagrant violation of the duty of a noble!"

"A lot of the nobility doesn't care," Edelgard told him. "If the nobility was generally more like you and Ferdinand, I would never have tried to overthrow it. But the nobility is rife with that sort of corruption. Men like Arundel, Duke Aegir, and Lord Varley care for nothing but their own advancement, and they don't care who they have to destroy for it."

"As hard as it is to admit it, she has a point," Constance agreed.

"Maybe so, but it is not the corrupt nobles who have done most of the dying," Ferdinand said bitterly. "And you didn't exile my father and Lord Varley, did you? You exiled me and Bernadetta."

"I hate to interrupt, but we really should deal with Arundel. Now," Dimitri pointed out.

"And why is that?" Ferdinand asked.

"Because Arundel is the leader of Those Who Slither In The Dark," Rhea answered. "He was responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur, Solon's massacres, and countless other atrocities throughout the history of the continent. If he is allowed to keep control of Enbarr, a lot of people are going to die."

Ferdinand nodded, then turned back to Edelgard. "This conversation is not over."

Felix then walked up to Dimitri and helped him up. Once Dimitri was standing, however, Felix backhanded him across the face. "That's for letting us think you were dead, asshole."

"So you do care. Good to know," Dimitri replied, just as Annette ran to him and hugged him. The small girl was soon joined by Ashe, Mercedes, Sylvain, Ingrid, Hapi, and even Hanemann.

Meanwhile, Edelgard and Ferdinand both stared quizzically at Felix. "Yes, he is always like this," Dedue confirmed. "He slapped me as well, after our secret negotiations concluded. Anger is how he shows he cares." Both of them just looked at him, dumbfounded.

As the group made their way to Enbarr, Byleth went to speak with Edelgard. "Thank you for protecting Rhea and Leraye. I know you didn't have much reason to, but you did. Thank you."

"You are welcome," Edelgard said, unsure of herself. "Though, I might never have done so were it not for Leraye. I did not understand the reasons behind many of Rhea's actions, and I condemned her for them." She sighed. "She's a good person. A bad Archbishop, who allowed her past to blind her far too often, but I have no room to judge her for that when I am guilty of the same thing."

"You both have made mistakes," Byleth admitted. "But you realized you were wrong, and you're trying to make up for it. As far as I'm concerned, that's what matters."

"I doubt most of the continent would be so quick to forgive," Edelgard said fatalistically.

"Then show them you've changed," Byleth told her. "Prove it to them."

Edelgard remained silent. "I'll be in your corner," Byleth concluded.

Jeritza rode at the front of the group, a short distance from the others. The distance was intentional; he did not want to be disturbed.

But that didn't stop Thunderstrike Catherine. "Is something wrong?"

"It is none of your concern, nor anyone else's," Jeritza told her. "My problems are my own, and no one else's."

"No, I'm not convinced," Catherine disagreed. "I don't like you, Jeritza. I think you're a rabid animal."

"You are correct," Jeritza admitted.

"But you're also important to the war against Those Who Slither In The Dark. And I don't give a damn about you, but if your issues get someone else killed, that would be bad," Catherine continued.

"Very well," Jeritza agreed. "For my part, I care little for my own survival as well. I cannot simply let myself die, my instinct will not allow it, but I hoped to someday meet an opponent who could end my life. Perhaps even you could have been the one to do it. I looked forward to it.

"But today, I did meet an opponent who could end my life. Quite easily at that. And yet, I could not allow Nemesis to kill me. Had he done so, he would certainly have ended the Emperor's life. I could not allow that."

"Having to deny yourself what you want most because of someone you respect? I can understand that," Catherine said.

"That is not all," Jeritza told her. "The Death Knight is both me and not me. A demon who resides in my heart, a reflection of my darkest desires. But not the core of who I am, or so I tell myself. However, when I looked upon Nemesis, I saw the wickedness and cruelty of the Death Knight within him, magnified many times over. It...frightened me. And I do not even truly know why. Was I afraid of losing to him? Being killed by him? Becoming him? Or maybe even that I already am like him?"

Catherine thought about this. "I won't pretend to love Edelgard," she admitted. "But that you hold such loyalty to her means that, on some level, you aren't just a force of unrestrained destruction."

"It is because the Emperor restrains me that I am loyal to her," Jeritza added.

"Then on some level, you do care about the harm you cause," Catherine told him. "I'll tell you what. If you ever reach the point where you get that bad, I will kill you. I promise."

Jeritza gave her a smile that surprised her with its sincerity. "Thank you."

A look of sympathy briefly crossed Catherine's face. "No problem, I guess."

Rhea saw Cyril looking over her shoulder at the baby in her arms. "She's so sweet," he observed.

"She is," Rhea agreed. "She is the most precious thing in the world to me."

Cyril nodded. He tried to touch her, but hesitated. However, after Rhea's prompting, he tousled her hair as lightly as possible. "How's your ear?"

"It is fine. I have had worse injuries," Rhea dismissed. Seeing the look in his eyes, she asked. "Are you all right? Has something happened since..." she trailed off as she realized the question was somewhat ridiculous. Of course Cyril had been through many things that no one his age should have to go through.

"It's nothing," Cyril said.

"You can speak freely with me, Cyril," Rhea encouraged. "If you have something you wish to say, I will listen."

Cyril's shoulders slumped. "The first time ya ever killed someone. What did it feel like?"

Rhea considered the question. Of course that was what Cyril was struggling with. He was still only a child, after all, yet he had been forced to take lives all the same. "In the moment, or afterwards?"

"Both."

"In the moment, I barely felt anything," Rhea admitted. "Everything was moving so quickly. It was not until the chaos slowed to a halt that I was truly able to think about the lives lost. But when the battle was over, when I had time to think about what had happened...it was like I was feeling every emotion at once. Fear, sorrow, anger, satisfaction, relief. I did not know what I felt. I did not know what I should feel.

"That was not my experience with every one of my kills, though," she continued. "When I killed the man who murdered my mother, and many of my brothers and sisters, all I felt was relief that the nightmare was over. However, at the beginning, kills like that were the exception. As time went on, though, it became easier. My feelings on every one of my kills, past and present, became more defined.

"And in truth, that frightens me. I fear that someday, I might kill someone and feel nothing at all. I fear that life might cease to mean something to me. I allow myself to overindulge in my emotions at times to prevent that."

Cyril stared at the horizon. "It might make it easier. But maybe killing shouldn't be easy." He looked back at her. "I understand now."

"Understand what?"

"I understand why ya always looked so sad," Cyril told her. "Ever since you brought me to Garreg Mach, I knew ya seemed very sad. I think I thought you were just tired from all of your work. That's why I always did so much to try to help ya. To make things easier for ya. But it never seemed to help. 'Cause ya weren't just tired."

"No, I was not," Rhea admitted. "Though feeling as if I carried the weight of the world certainly did not help me. Even so, you did not have to work so hard for me."

"But I wanted to," Cyril said. "I wanted ya to be happy."

"I understand, but what I needed was not a servant," Rhea said. "What I needed was family. Though I often denied myself even the comfort of family, out of sorrow."

"Life isn't easy sometimes," Cyril admitted. "But it's better if ya got people helping you out when it gets tough."

"And what about you?" Rhea asked. "Do you have people who make your burdens easier to bear?"

"Yeah! I got Lysithea, and the Professor, and Ashe, and Mercedes, and Manuela, and Seteth, and Petra, and Ignatz, and Shamir, and Claude, and Hilda, and you, and everyone!" Cyril beamed. "And you're not alone either. Ya got the Professor, and Leraye, and all of us, even Edelgard and Hubert, even though they used to be the enemy."

"Yes, yes I have," Rhea smiled. "I am alone no longer."

Edit 7/13/2021: Altered the conversation with Cyril to match his speech patterns better.