cain is so gentle with kizu btw TT he says he cannot get used to him but he always does his best to avoid hurting him,, he had such bad luck during anniversary but he missed such a massive point in dealing with kizu

and it has to do with favoritism,, my unpopular opinion is that cain was pretty selfish when he talked to kizu and it was all hc he was blinded by stress and wanting to protect arthur bc that's his "job" and at the same way, he forgot what his "job" is actually about

his job as a knight is to protect everyone not just the person he is told to protect. kizu was taught knights protect and help those in need, that's why he told him "you will save them but not me?" which is also a really contundent way of pointing out how cain overestimates +

+ owen simply because he is older and more powerful than him. he believes he is "fine on his own"

during owen's birthday cain wondered if he was gonna spend his birthday all on his own and didn't talk to owen. he's kind of shy but that comes from the feeling that he is bothering him because owen hates being helped so it's a cycle at this point

but you can see cain learned from this and made his mind up, "owen, i won't leave you alone. that's what i have decided" that last part of the sentence is really important, too. cain realized no matter how powerful owen is, he also has struggles (the ones kizu shows) and +

+ problems anyone can relate to, not only powerful wizards. owen dislikes being alone actually, he is actually naturally driven to places where there are people. cain left kizu inside that room, thinking it would make him feel safe, but in the end, he Left him there as in, +

+ "he will be alright"

cain learned that he cannot cast anyone aside just because they look like they don't need help. even though owen is a tough case and likes doing things on his own, the fact that he won't leave him alone is something really simple to do, it doesn't cost him a lot of effort, and +

+ it will make owen feel tons better,,, "i will invite you again", basically persistent on wanting to make him feel like more people want him here

cain is taking a ton of time and effort more than people like chloe and rustica because he was given a quite terrible experience by owen two years ago but the truth is that owen has always protected cain because he is dear to him, not only in a self-indulgent way but because he +

+ thinks he is a "rare species", someone who is actually a good person. what owen probably didn't expect is to be noticed by cain so that is why he doesn't know what to do now and is awkward with him. owen is actually very shy when he rlly likes someone and distances himself +

+ from people he really loves because he is afraid he may hurt them, like when chloe admitted he was a bit scared of owen in his walpurgis ssr story, or when he kept avoiding cain in that white day login story