Seven thousand years. He's spent seven thousand years just...being tolerated? Because these people need him as much as they fear him? It hasn't escaped me that even the king was terrified of Ze despite putting on a strong front.

My lips quiver as it dawns on me what a lonely existence he must have led.

No frivolities. No relationships. Nothing. Just...existing.

No wonder he's never felt joy, or anything really. Was he ever allowed to?

He notices my reaction, and his features harden.

"Do not pity me, human," he grits out in a low voice.

I shake my head. Grabbing my chair, I scoot closer to him until we're next to one another. Forcing my lips into a smile, I tentatively reach out, curving my palm along his cheek.

He blinks, his eyes narrowed at me. His chest rises and falls as his pupils become larger in size. His countenance is tentative, as if he doesn't know what to expect—half leaning into me, half thinking to run away from me.

The corners of my mouth curl up.

Running—not something I would ever associate with him.

"How could I pity you when it's all you've ever known?" I murmur as I caress him gently.

A stricken look appears on his face, one that wounds me deep inside because I can see the fear reflected in his gaze, just as I can feel the loneliness emanating from him.

"But I want you to know you don't have to let yourself be tolerated. You don't have to live your life at other people's whims and take whatever scraps they throw your way. You deserve better, Ze."

His lips part, his breathing becoming labored.

"I know you don't need friends. But don't you wish to at least surround yourself with people who...don't hate you?"

Tension fills his jaw.

"I do not need to be liked," he grinds out. "It is the nature of my position to be hated. I do the job no one else dares to."

"But do you have to?"

He stares at me, his mouth opening and closing as if he cannot find the words to answer me.

"Why do you care?" he eventually asks as he averts his gaze, a flush going up his neck. "A few days ago, you were telling me how much you hate me—just like everyone else."

A hopeless sigh escapes his lips as he stares at the faraway wall. My heart clenches in my chest at that lone sound, and something akin to a punch in the gut makes me gasp for air.

I did say those things. I did tell him how much I hated him. Yet despite all he's done and said before... I understand. He was never given a chance to be better, and to my great shame, I behaved just like the others.