Rairin doesn’t get it.

He’s known you as long as you’ve known Aerian, his best friend. Or, was his best friend. Those years of friendship were lost the moment Rairin discovered he had feelings for you. No, not just feelings. That he loves you. He gets it, he’s pathetic. He’s the worst person to even dream of getting you to leave Aerian to be with him instead, even if you and Aerian are currently courting each other. He just doesn’t get it.

What did Aerian have that he didn’t? What made you want Aerian and not him?

Aerian was some half-elf illegitimate child of Duke Nighian. He was a half-elf. And Rairin was a purely elven Prince. He’s set to be the next Emperor of the Esra Empire, with how the tides of battle are turning in his favor. So why won’t you choose him? He has more power than Aerian. He has more land, more respect.

“Why?” Rairin asks, even as he seems almost pathetic in the way he kneels at your feet, holding your hand with both of his. Rairin get’s he should be asked for Aerian’s forgiveness, instead of trying to convince you to be his future Empress. He’s never been so stupidly brazen with his feelings, not like this. He’d only developed feelings for you after watching the way you fought by his side during one of the first battles in the rebellion two years ago. He’s loved you ever since, for your strength and just for being yourself. “What can he give you that I cannot? What does he have that I do not? What can that illegitimate offspring of the Nighian Duchy give you that I cannot?”

He knows it’s petty, to reveal Aerian’s heritage to you. He knows it’s a foul play of his hand, since Aerian hadn’t been yet ready to tell you. And here he is, giving you that piece of information out of his own greed and selfishness to have you. He feels sick with himself the moment those words leave his lips.

Rairin knows his mother would be disappointed, if she heard him. He knows he’s disappointed with himself right now too, for losing the only other thing he’s wanted other than to be Emperor. You.