Elise remained seated, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them in a futile attempt to keep the cold away. As she listened to him, foreign emotions tore at her, and collided with the ones she already felt. They shared sadness and loss, but his was of a different kind, for Valence was in a different stage of grief. Elise was still consumed by anger in the wake of the tragedy, anger that had only built when she had a target to direct her efforts at, doomed though they were, doomed as she had been.

His grief was more crushing, more destructive. Elise knew that she'd likely be able to recover. As he said, she still had her father, and she had a strong spirit. Compassion had driven her to violence, but in time it would drive her back. All assuming she hadn't met her end at Valence's hand, of course, which it seemed he had gone to great lengths to ensure she continued to exist.

She felt tears sliding down her own cheeks, but they felt invasive, and she wiped them away, frustrated. "You're right," she managed, with half-choked breath. "You are a monster."

It wasn't his fault, she supposed, what his history had turned him into. He saw no other choices, where Elise still saw many, with him settling on the most despicable course. Their experiences were wildly different, though, as were their upbringings. But she couldn't see his choice as anything other than selfish, petty, malicious, desperate. What happened to him was horrible, but it did not justify what he chose to do next. She did happen to think it was something of a foolish plan, too, more likely to align the Vale with his enemies than anything else.

"What would you have us do?" she questioned. "Throw our army against a superior enemy on foreign territory? I'm sorry for what happened to you, but I believe grief has twisted your mind. As it twisted mine." She ran her gloved hand through her hair, a golden mess at this point. "I never should have come here." Easy to see in hindsight, but part of her had known her death would be the result of trying to fight such a man, and hadn't cared.

"You may not have hope for the future, but I refuse to succumb to that. I suppose it doesn't matter what I think, though." For she was, for all intents and purposes, a dead princess, heir to the grave. Perhaps she was [i]still[/i] dead. Elise hardly understood her current condition. She'd been dead, Valence said, but she felt alive. Her heart beat steadily, her lungs took in air, her limbs ached, and her belly cried out for food. Alive, but... not the same.