[The question is a volley in his direction, a bullet that’s attempting to punch through his argument. Ardyn will not allow that, even if his response relies too heavily on his usual flippancy. But there’s nothing that will stop him from sidestepping it, swatting it aside.]

Because you just happened to be there.

[And yet as soon as that sorry explanation leaves his lips, he knows it’s lacking. A knee-jerk thing at best, and he knows he can do better than that.]

And because you are a relic of Eos, just like myself, and something from home is not to be destroyed so easily. [Translation: it’s an issue of control, of that terrible attachment to home. It’s easy enough to tell himself that, at least, when it is rooted in the truth.]

Would you prefer for me not to, next time?