In the army under Emperor Kruos, those at the bottom constantly worked far beyond their limits.
The former emperor would hang a carrot in front of the most starved and slowly keep pulling it forward, giving them the promise of a good meal but never delivering. They worked themselves to death for the promise of something unachievable.
When Ebari realized he wasn't going to sleep, it didn't make any difference to him. He was once at the bottom - pulling long hours so that someone would catch notice of him.
Unlike most others, someone did catch notice of him and they pulled him to the top with the promise of power and a life far beyond anything he could imagine. Without the background of a royal - Ebari wasn't going to turn down help especially not from the most powerful being in existence.
However, he wondered when those lines were blurred - where the emperor became someone he accidentally pined over. There never was a specific moment it just happened and he had to accept it.
