She relaxed a little, and she even laughed, looking over at him. "So you will admit that maybe you weren't a great ruler."
"I wasn't a liked ruler," he said, "but I expanded the kingdom, aided the economy, and disposed of anyone who opposed me."
"You conquered innocent communities," she corrected, "made yourself more wealthy, and murdered everyone who disagreed with you." She caught herself and exhaled, shaking her head. "I can't ask you to feel regret. I can't ask you to be better."
She seemed dismayed by the cavalier nature of his response, her brow furrowed. "Don't you... don't you worry?" she asked, gesturing vaguely. "Don't you worry about the effect you've had on people's lives?"
"But now," she insisted, tilting her head. "Look at this situation. You lied to me to get you out and then threatened to kill me and my family unless I helped you. Don't you see something wrong with that?"
"My other option was rotting in the crypts until the day that I died," he said flatly. "It's not like I could do anything else without immediately being arrested and put back there. I had to threaten you so you wouldn't turn me in."
"And yet," she said, raising one finger. "I've lived my entire life and I've never had to threaten someone. And I'm not even a good person, Zerras."
"No, of course not," she said, shaking her head. "I'm not nearly as good as I should be." She went silent for a moment before shrugging a little, looking thoughtful. "It's hard, you know? It's hard to choose to be good. It's hard to not only think for yourself and your immediate instincts. The most difficult thing any of us will do is to continue to choose to be good even when it hurts us."
She laughed a little, rubbing her arm. "Yeah. I guess so. But still, I wouldn't say that a majority of my actions are for the common good. I'm pretty selfish."
She shrugged a little. "I'm pretty haughty, I think," she said embarrassedly. "And I think I make people feel unwelcome or... I don't know. Lots of little things."
"You made me breakfast, dinner, and brought me a blanket. You know who I am and even did it after I threatened your family. You're not unwelcoming. If anything, you're naive."
"It's not naive to be polite to other people," she replied, sounding a little irritated. "It's sad to believe that being polite to other people is a sign of foolishness."
