"I mean, of course, sometimes she might have to force you to make decisions that aren't the best for you, just for her own race."
"She might look at you with the gaze of one who is only one of many."
"And of course, people choose to deal with you with respect, which you don't feel you deserve, while hiding away their true sides."
"Most times, you were deprived of love from your own mother and sometimes deprived of true affection from others."
"Most of the time, you're lost."
Everyone treats you with love and care, and in such a case, it's hard to really find out who is real and who is not.
"Those must be hard things to go through every living day of a person's life.
"But still, you said it yourself."
"When you're just home alone with the Half-Fallen One, she regains her smile, regains her care and love. That must mean she cares."
"That must mean she knows—even though she really is the Half-Fallen One—that she, at least, acknowledges the fact that you're her daughter."
"That affirmation, I think, is enough for you. You can play along with her serious vibes when she is the Half-Fallen One."
"You know she belongs to you when the world fades away anyway."
"And besides, I would say the Half-Fallen One faces the most hardship."
"For her to care so much and pretend not to, just to fulfil her role and responsibility to her own race—and then be hated for that by the one she cares most for in the world.
"That must hurt deeper than anything."
"She loves you but can't show too much of that due to her role, where she has to look after everything from a leader's point of view.
"How hard it must be to be a mother and a leader at the same time?"
"All of this shouldered by a single heart, and most not even sensing how difficult that is."
"As much as there are expectations on you, it is almost nothing compared to what is on her."
"She is the Half-Fallen One. Can you imagine the weight of her expectations? But she is your mother too, and that adds additional weight to her shoulders."
"Weight from everything and anything."
"The last thing you should do is make her feel upset or add too much to her burdens."
"She cares for you, even if not all the time. That is a fact you can't ignore. And I think that's all you need."
"So far, you know she keeps caring for you, even if she somehow shows the opposite sometimes."
"The fact is what you need."
"Don't make it more difficult for her."
"And for people hiding their real selves from you because of your identity—you don't need to worry much about that."
"Most people don't have that much of a different side anyway."
"The bad people don't have much goodness in them."
"And as for the good people, they would still treat you with the same respect you deserve anyway, whether or not you're the princess."
"So you being worried about people not showing their true colours is worrying that bad people don't treat you badly—a bit dumb, don't you think?" Ryuk stated in his blank tone, slamming the idea straight into Morgaine's head without any sort of sugarcoating.
This is what made Ryuk's words hit harder than anything.
He wouldn't try and be respectful when giving his advice, nor try to mold it to look a certain way.
He would simply say his heart, and was absolutely fine with whether or not the person was offended. It was their problem. He had stated what he felt.
"Surprisingly, Ryuk, you're the only one that I have met that was of my origin and yet still completely lackadaisical about it."
"Why is that?" Morgaine asked, and Ryuk shrugged.
"Don't know. Maybe that's how all humans are..." he replied as Morgaine harumphed.
"If there is an award for the best bootlickers in existence, it would be the humans."
"I've met a couple of them along with my mother in the meetings," Morgaine said, as Ryuk chuckled.
That was a funny statement, but it made absolute sense.
If the humans aren't in the top ten families, it must mean they are somehow weaker in Grade B.
The weak's best way of survival is to bootlick the strong. So, of course, it made sense they would bootlick the daughter of the Half-Fallen One, a leader of the Devilish Fallen Family.
"I don't know, really. I'll just say I address people based on my first impression of them."
"When I saw you, you were nothing more than another genius, just like me. I didn't even know your grade and simply took you as a classmate of sorts."
"Eventually, even after I learned you're most likely a top-three genius, I still didn't care at all."
"Top 3, top 19, top 40—they all don't matter. I see you as a classmate. You're still a classmate."
"When I saw Ignatius, I saw power and strength. I saw terrifying potential."
"Even after I succeeded in defeating him, when I see him next time, my eyes will most likely still flash in the same awe as when I saw him."
"Even if he is weak later, or maybe crippled, I would still have my eyes flashing in respect because that was how I saw him when I first saw him."
"Nothing matters much to me after the first appearance of a person."
"That is why the Half-Fallen One will always be the Half-Fallen One to me."
"Even if she's your mother, I'll always still see her as the Half-Fallen One—a being to be treated with absolute respect and reverence," Ryuk stated, what he believed about himself.
He didn't know why even he himself was like that, but that was just how it was.
And it was better to accept himself for who he is than to pretend to be what he is not and meld in with the crowd.