If I feel like breaking my heart for funsies, two of my favorite parts of ATFR to re-read are when Grand Duke Pellus wakes up from his memory dump and when Daemon Pellus sees Lithera alive for the first time. Both parts are similar in their emotional weight and in how the lead characters behave, though these behaviors are expressed differently.
In the image above, we see Lithera hovering over Pellus. In the left image, the Grand Duke sees an alarmed Lithera after waking up from a memory of her death. On the right, the Daemon Lord looks up at an eager Lithera, after spending (presumably) decades mourning her death.
In both parts, Pellus experiences shock. The Grand Duke is reeling from remembering Lithera's sudden death, while the Daemon Lord is astonished at seeing his dead love/dear friend actually alive.
In both parts, Pellus gets emotional and Lithera touches his face. On the left, as the Grand Duke processes the shock of experiencing Lithera's death, Lithera holds her husband's face while she frantically wonders why he is so upset.
On the right panels, Lithera is at least vaguely aware that the Daemon Lord has been in deep mourning over her, as she touches the pen pal/dear friend that she desperately wanted to meet all those years ago. The Daemon Lord becomes emotional when he starts processing that his long-dead love is actually standing before him.
When I first read the chapters about the Grand Duke's memory dump and the aftermath, it really stuck out to me that for the Grand Duke, this was a horrible nightmare and he could wake up into Lithera's arms, but for the Pellus of the original timeline, this was a horrible reality with no comfort. When Daemon Lord Pellus finally meets Lithera, it felt like I was watching original timeline's Pellus wake up from an extended, hellish nightmare.
Another Typical Fantasy Romance by Wolhet
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