[ It's a short answer, not as long as it possibly should be... but it tells Noctis enough. He's quiet, thinking about his and Ardyn's time with the Network. He remembers watching Ardyn's season, watching him go from kind, noble healer to the Accursed, and not sure how to deal with it. He remembers being so unsure of Ardyn... and then being sure that Ardyn, even if he'd done terrible things, and had never expected forgiveness, wanted to be...

better.

And Noctis finds himself missing the Ardyn he'd spent close to a year with. ]

I believe you. [ He does, truly, not just because he knows Ignis would not lie to him. He closes the distance and sets a hand on his friend's shoulder. He squeezes lightly, and Noctis remembers their reunion, how he'd done the same in the darkness of Eos. ] Because I saw it myself. I saw the person Ardyn used to be, before he was burned and buried under the very thing he healed from so many people.

My next question is about how you saw that part of him, though.