A Different Battlefield - Part 10

"I think it to be more the case that you would not allow anyone to force you under your thumb, Oliver," Asabel said. "You're such a dangerous, terrifying, cruel creature, and I do not think the wounds that you have dealt me shall ever heal."

"…I did not mean to wound you, Asabel," Oliver said.

"Then you could have started being someone other than what you are," Asabel said. "If I could find it in myself to hate you, this would all have been so much easier… When you came to my lands, before your campaign began, I will confide I was beginning to feel lonesome. That you would speak as you did, in front of my counsel… Was it wrong of me to feel what I did? I clung to your words, for a time… They were an antidote to my loneliness. Once, Oliver, you gave me courage, you forced me down the path of a Queen, despite knowing what I am."

"What you are is nothing to be ashamed of," Oliver said. "Whatever you think you are, I would be far worse."