[Byleth lifted his head, the odd bashful feeling passing. It was true, though: it could've been worse. He could've been utterly alone. He could've still been with the Church, potentially losing his sense of self if Rhea had succeeded in her goals. He could've died during his many skirmishes across Fódlan. But he lived still, and though this situation was distressing in its own way, he was encountering those with far more understanding hearts than many people in Fódlan here in Kenos.]
I wasn't alone, after all. I had Jeralt's mercenaries, and even though they thought me strange, they didn't fear me like so many others.
[Mostly because the inner circle of Jeralt's mercenaries had known him since he was a child. Even if he had been rather creepy and off-putting, it was hard to be truly afraid of someone when you'd witnessed them eat worms as a kid. Also, the fact he helped them win so many skirmishes, and therefore get paid, meant they were willing to overlook his various oddities and not rock the boat, as it were.]
...not that all of them knew the truth of the matter. Only Jeralt knew.
[And only Jeralt, until he saw fit to tell Byleth the truth once they'd been absorbed into the Kingdom's forces, and thus at risk of running headlong into Rhea. Byleth was still... a little angry about that, in all honesty, that Jeralt had kept something so monumental about Byleth to himself for literal decades! All those years of just shrugging his shoulders when Byleth asked why he had no heartbeat, or where he'd been born... as much as he loved Jeralt: man.]
no subject
[Byleth lifted his head, the odd bashful feeling passing. It was true, though: it could've been worse. He could've been utterly alone. He could've still been with the Church, potentially losing his sense of self if Rhea had succeeded in her goals. He could've died during his many skirmishes across Fódlan. But he lived still, and though this situation was distressing in its own way, he was encountering those with far more understanding hearts than many people in Fódlan here in Kenos.]
I wasn't alone, after all. I had Jeralt's mercenaries, and even though they thought me strange, they didn't fear me like so many others.
[Mostly because the inner circle of Jeralt's mercenaries had known him since he was a child. Even if he had been rather creepy and off-putting, it was hard to be truly afraid of someone when you'd witnessed them eat worms as a kid. Also, the fact he helped them win so many skirmishes, and therefore get paid, meant they were willing to overlook his various oddities and not rock the boat, as it were.]
...not that all of them knew the truth of the matter. Only Jeralt knew.
[And only Jeralt, until he saw fit to tell Byleth the truth once they'd been absorbed into the Kingdom's forces, and thus at risk of running headlong into Rhea. Byleth was still... a little angry about that, in all honesty, that Jeralt had kept something so monumental about Byleth to himself for literal decades! All those years of just shrugging his shoulders when Byleth asked why he had no heartbeat, or where he'd been born... as much as he loved Jeralt: man.]