Florian looked away.
Scarlett didn't know what she was saying. She couldn't know.
Because she didn't know what Heinz had done—the full extent of it.
She empathized with Heinz because she saw a reflection of herself in him.
Because she had once been prideful.
Because she had once hurt Athena without meaning to.
But Scarlett… Scarlett was no murderer.
She was no tyrant.
She had no kingdoms' worth of blood on her hands.
And she realized her mistakes on her own—without needing divine intervention.
Or a second chance at time
Or someone dying for her to change.
Heinz was nothing like that.
Heinz was still lying to Florian.
Heinz was the reason the original Florian had become borderline suicidal—driven to desperation so deep he tried to self-abort.
Heinz was the reason Florian suffered in two lifetimes.
Heinz was the reason every bad thing spiraled the way it had.
And Heinz only felt remorse when he was certain he was the one fully in the wrong.
