['I am a savior first, a king second, and there is no third option for me. There never was.']

[What an utter idiot the savior king had been, Ardyn thought briefly. Singleminded, desperate, and so very, very stupid. Believing in the Draconian's word and blindly going along with it--the very idea would have been laughable if it hadn't led to all of this.]

I'm almost sure...before the world fell to darkness. Before he spent that decade in the Crystal. [He didn't linger on the thought; that way madness lied, quite literally. Ardyn focused instead on Noctis and the question at hand, frowning in concentration.] He's carrying himself more like he did when I first met him--so he'll think he's scarcely twenty. I don't even know if he remembers that Insomnia's fallen.