--She moved next to his face and wiped the tears from his face. "It's okay. You're not a monster, dear. Being a dragon doesn't make you a monster."

--"It's not just that," he whimpered. This puzzled Lilia.

--"What do you mean?"

--"I've acted like a monster."

--"No you haven't," she said assuring him.

--"You don't understand. I've been treating you horribly. I've manipulated you and cheated you out of the good life you knew. I've lied to you and worked with you like a puppet."

--Lilia was bewildered by this. "I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

--"I'm talking about our relationship. The first time I saw you was when I looked out that hole in the cave. I fell in love with that beautiful figure standing on balcony, singing to the bird. I wanted you and would do anything to get you. From the very beginning, I've been sneaky and deceitful about it. I took advantage of your desire for politeness and made myself look like the perfect man, so you would fall in love with me. You're a princess, a very privileged person, and I took all of that away from you. When I gave you the choice to leave with me, I knew you would never stay because of my powerful persuasion. You never had a choice to love me, I made you love me. I never once told you that I was anything but human, and let you marry outside your species. I've ruined your chance to ever have that good life you could have had."

--She tried to not believe what she was hearing. "But you warned me and I didn't listen. It's my fault," she insisted.

--"It's not your fault. I was selfish and didn't care about what I was doing to you. I was only telling you part of the truth. I knew how you would feel if I was simply less attractive. I made it look like I was concerned for you while I was just worried about you staying with me. When you saw me as a dragon for the first time, I did something so evil, I may never forgive myself."

--Lilia could not bring herself to object or question anymore. She just kept listening in surprise.

--"It is not your fault for being scared or surprised to see me as a dragon when you woke up. Nothing would have prevented that. I should have done the proper thing and tried to keep you calm while I explained that I was a dragon. But instead I did not reveal myself and scared you. I knew the reactions I would get from this. You would scream, treat me like a monster, and try to defend yourself. I let you figure out that it was me by yourself so you would feel guilty about doing what was a normal response. I thought that if you felt guilty about hurting me that you would not leave me. But I didn't stop there. I took it even further and tossed you out to endure the cruel outside world. If I were to take you back, you would be grateful and would further guarantee you staying. I did not trust you like I should have. Because of my selfish actions, I allowed those two horrible men to abuse you. I managed to stop them in time before they did their unspeakable acts on you. I never cared about your safety or well-being until then. I even dared to insult you of only loving me for my appearance while I was guilty of loving you for your appearance. I knew what I said was not true. I knew I was doing wrong by treating you that way. But I did it anyways, because I wanted you. I treated you like a monster. I acted like a monster. I am a monster." He began to cry more and sniffed, "It's appropriate that I look like a monster too." He laid his head on the cave floor and wept.

--Lilia was about to say, "It's okay. I still love you." But the words got stuck in her throat as she wasn't sure if she meant them anymore. She was confused and did not know what to think about him. She couldn't stand to see him hurting like this. She patted him on the head and said, "You're not as bad as you think."

--"How am I not?" He asked between sniffles.

--She thought for a bit and said, "At least you were honest and told me."

--"Why does that matter? An honest monster is still a monster."

--"It means you cared enough about me to tell me. You could have never told me and I never would have known. But you had a good heart and told me because it was the right thing to do."

--"It still doesn't make what I did right."

--"No it doesn't but now I don't feel guilty anymore. That was nice of you."

--"I'm so sorry," he said covering his face underneath his paws again. "I don't deserve you."