Yes. We can't hesitate due to misplaced... compassion.
[Spoken like a true Ashen Demon, and Byleth hated it. He hated how this place was making him harden his heart even as he tried to open it. He's done awful, unforgiveable things before, of course - wiped out entire mercenary groups, killed knights only fulfilling their duty, ignoring their pleas to leave their land and to spare their countrymen. Jeralt had ordered him to advance, and so Byleth obeyed... but joining Dimitri's army had shown Byleth that camaraderie was something he could achieve. There was a space for mercy, compassion, compromise...
Then he was pulled here, and it was as if this place was trying to warp the lessons Byleth had previously learned. He preferred easy categories: enemies, allies... but the lines were getting blurry at times, and the cause Byleth championed was something he only half-believed in. He didn't trust Meridian as far as he could throw a demonic beast, but desperation made strange bedfellows.
So he shared Dimitri's frustration, but instead of expressing it he just swallowed it down and sat on it, like it was a foul egg just waiting to hatch into something far worse.]
...but this topic is something for our future selves to ruminate on. For today, we're to improve our morale, are we not? Have you been enjoying the gathering, Dimitri?
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[Spoken like a true Ashen Demon, and Byleth hated it. He hated how this place was making him harden his heart even as he tried to open it. He's done awful, unforgiveable things before, of course - wiped out entire mercenary groups, killed knights only fulfilling their duty, ignoring their pleas to leave their land and to spare their countrymen. Jeralt had ordered him to advance, and so Byleth obeyed... but joining Dimitri's army had shown Byleth that camaraderie was something he could achieve. There was a space for mercy, compassion, compromise...
Then he was pulled here, and it was as if this place was trying to warp the lessons Byleth had previously learned. He preferred easy categories: enemies, allies... but the lines were getting blurry at times, and the cause Byleth championed was something he only half-believed in. He didn't trust Meridian as far as he could throw a demonic beast, but desperation made strange bedfellows.
So he shared Dimitri's frustration, but instead of expressing it he just swallowed it down and sat on it, like it was a foul egg just waiting to hatch into something far worse.]
...but this topic is something for our future selves to ruminate on. For today, we're to improve our morale, are we not? Have you been enjoying the gathering, Dimitri?