[ It's difficult for her to say what is normal or not for the lives of others in an entirely different world, but what is rare, she imagines, in any world is the life of someone who is royal or someone who has the words fate and prophecy attached to them. She can imagine aspects of his life were cushioned, yet other parts (of what she knows of it) were anything but: a grave attack on him while younger that left him unable to walk and his powers irreversibly handicapped, then practically estranged from his father as the other was tied to the wall and politics, formative years full of relentless training and honing his magic as he came into adulthood, and then... loss after loss, after loss, followed by him giving up more and more and more of himself.

"More important stuff going on" would only reinforce viewing himself as less, what with those more important things being the war or duty, she presumes. Or, literally anyone else he'd place above himself regardless as his role as Chosen to protect. In light of all the conflict that surrounds his world and his upbringing, there wouldn't be enough time for him.

What he wanted in general, then, was-- is-- to not be hurt. Coping by thinking he was less served its purpose in his world, but in this one, that tool he's developed in order to push onward has revealed its claws. ]

If it's so painful to accept that you're worth not hurting or that you can want for better [ In a world away from his own, even. ] Then.... No, Noct. No. [ She shakes her head, looking down at him sadly. ]

I think that-- that 'normal' for you... It was just surviving as best as you knew how.