I often see people debating what line is the most romantic between Phainon and Mydei, and it perpetually amazes me that almost no one brings up this line.
The line where Phainon reveals that having to leave Mydei behind to fight Nikador alone disturbed him so deeply that he committed in his heart and thoughts to never leave Mydei's side in battle again--that even if it meant facing the end of the world, Phainon had made a promise to himself that Mydei would never have to suffer and die alone once more.
Like, there's literally no way to take this line other than "I intended to be right at Mydei's side in every single battle for the rest of our lives, to die beside him if that was our destiny."
The fact the he says "I never thought I would" implies that Phainon directly spent time reflecting on having to leave Mydei behind to fight Nikador alone--that Phainon silently committed in his own head to growing as a warrior and a leader so that Mydei would never end up in that situation in the future, so that they would never have to be separated again.
Saying "I never thought I would leave him alone on the battlefield twice" is absolutely the same thing as saying "I promised myself I would stand beside him forever."
This line is like cosmic levels of the "My life is sworn to you and you alone" trope.
It's this one; this one is the most romantic one, I promiseeeee. 😂
