Cecilia expected Lucien and his sisters to feel as much anger towards her as they did towards Michael upon hearing her story. However, while their hatred for their father grows, the looks they give her are more of pity.
She was already used to such looks, having seen the same in the faces of every citizen of her country when she accepted Michael's terms. But seeing her own daughter look at her that way is very painful.
"Don't look at me like that," she requests of Amelia and then the others. "You don't know how manipulative Michael can be, you have no idea how he used his dark magic in cruel ways…"
The group remains silent and listens to Cecilia's story with an open mind.
She explains how Michael couldn't convince the more powerful independent kingdoms all at once, so he focused on each of them individually and their main descendants while his troops delayed the advance of the Silver Legion.