To be honest, I think Zephia and Griss's death scene is misunderstood
This is just my perception, but I always saw this moment as a way to show the hypocrisy that lead to their downfall rather than "feel bad for these villains as they die"
Zephia clarifies that she really did want a family, but has no idea what a healthy family is meant to be. She shared Sombron's view that family is an obligation. Her family would have to be subservient to her the same way Alear used to be towards Sombron
When they talk about genuinely loving the Hounds as a family, they're not saying that they really were secretly sweet people who loved each other the entire time. They're saying that the abuse and mistreatment they inflicted on others is how they defined familial love
Notably, Zephia is genuinely surprised when Griss admitted that he does love Zephia like family and assumed he was lying. She is aware that a family shouldn't be like this, but she doesn't understand how to be anything else. She doesn't understand how it's possible for him to actually love her when she's a terrible person
Griss explaining his backstory of never having anyone in his life but Zephia is meant to show why he is the only person capable of loving her. Just like her, he has no concept of what a healthy family looks like and is able to love her because he had a similarly toxic upbringing
I personally view their death scene as a way of saying even people like Zephia and Griss can genuinely love each other, but genuine or not, their concept of love was still toxic in a way that it would always cause their deaths. Abuse and suffering is their normal and they were never going to let that mindset go until it caught up to them
