Howdy! Love your fanfic bunches and bunches. Had a question that you may or may not be able to answer due to spoilery stuff: Assuming the Pale King is dead in a dream palace, how might the Radiance take that news? She didn't get to kill him, but he still died and in a karmic way she might find great pleasure in. Would she still hold such strong resentment towards Hallownest with Hollow as the new monarch? With her own son as the Monarch's husband? I know her power in DawnBreak is greatly reduced, but I can't help but wonder if this too might be a catalyst for this eternal being to grow as a person. Maybe its a bit incoherent of a question, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
Thank you, thank you! It is a very fun question :3
I shall treat the answer as a character study: so as to say that all of this is purely speculative~
If the Radiance found out that the Pale King died as he had in the game canon, she would be incredibly angry. No satisfaction or gloating here, just the pure overwhelming rage that she wouldn't fully be able to explain even to herself. She had wanted him dead for so long, wanted the universe to punish him for his sins, and this is indeed such a karmic way for it to happen... Only, nothing about the reality of it feels good. If she were a mortal, she might cry angry, confused tears. Because by dying like this, the Pale King took something from her. It wouldn't even be her revenge, as much as the opportunity to set the world RIGHT again. Because he is gone, and everyone knows that she caused the infection, and there will be no vindication, no rewriting of history, no returning her children's home to them, no being the good and just goddess, fighting her evil foe.
She would probably feel very alone.
As to Hallownest, I don't think the Radiance would have much energy to care about it, one way or the other. It ceases to be of importance to her once the Pale King is gone. In fact, she would rather not think about it or the destruction she had brought on it (for nothing) at all.
Eventually, given the opportunity to process those things, the Radiance would have the capacity to start involving herself with her own land once again. Cautiously and with her new Seer's help, she'd remember what the point of all of this had been from the start: to see her children safe and happy. She'd keep an eye on Noon in Hallownest, of course, but after a while, she'd become curious about his actions in earnest. Perhaps, she'd even try to learn how to make bridges.
