Sanguine’s admission that he had killed other children while himself still a child was enough to shock Juli into silence. She was inclined to believe he was telling the truth about that—it just seemed too insane to be a mere story. For her part, the princess had first taken another life at the age of fifteen—that had been traumatic enough, she could not imagine having done it when she was even younger.<br/><br/>At the assassin’s speculation over the king’s health, Juli shook her head slightly. “Mad rumors spread like wildfire in times of uncertainty. A part of me almost wishes it was foul play—strange illnesses like this are so frightening because they can strike anyone at any time. It would be easier to have someone to blame. Then I’d at least know how to feel—the man’s my father, but I hardly know him at all...” It was a personal thing to say, but with LeChance’s startling admission she felt it only fair to reciprocate with some insight in turn. She took a sip of her wine and considered her next words.<br/><br/>“I would prefer we get along as well as possible—I dislike confrontation and bluster when one can be choose to be civil instead. But you and I will always have severe differences. I’m also a killer, and for that matter I’ve ordered and carried out missions where the primary objective was an assassination. But why one takes a life is just as important as whose it is. I can understand killing in self-defense, or to protect another, or for beliefs, or for king and country. I suppose I can even understand killing in the heat of the moment out of jealousy or rage, even if I can’t condone it. But to take away another’s life—everything that person was and ever could have been—and to leave that awful void in the lives of everyone who knew your victim... committing such a deed for something as frivolous as money is utterly alien to me. I don’t think I could ever understand.” Her words were not angry or accusatory, but rather filled with regret and sadness. She was so tired of seeing how the world was and feeling helpless to improve it.