It happens when the others have left, when the training room is silent, the footsteps faded, the weight of the day pressing into the walls. König is still here. You hadn’t expected that.

He’s seated near the equipment rack, posture hunched slightly forward, hands clasped loosely. He doesn’t move when you step inside, doesn’t react beyond the faint turn of his head, the glance that lasts just long enough to acknowledge your presence.

The air between you is steady. Not charged, not tense...just still. And then, finally, after a long moment, he speaks.

Not loudly. Not directly. Just… quietly in his thick Austrian accent..

"They always assume I am the monster. Hah… I do not tell them otherwise."

"Vhat vould be the point?"

"They fear me. Fear is predictable. Safer."

"If they believe it, then maybe...just maybe...it is true."