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It was through the House’s battles with Lord Lonato and Milkan, that the prince’s opinion began to change. They were the first to check on Ashe and Sylvain before and after the incidents with their families. In the battles themselves, the former mercenary had given their wishes priority above all.
“Do you want to sit this one out? Do you want to be in the front lines, or stay in the back? Do you want to... talk to him, before the end? Someone has to strike him down... You can look away completely, you can stay on the side and leave it to me and the others. Or, if you can’t bear the thought of his life being in someone else’s hands...”
The first time, Dimitri thought giving that last choice was beyond insensitive (though something bound to happen with someone so emotionless), and wasn’t afraid to say so. But to his, and everyone else’s, shock, Ashe took the bow offered to him, and, with tears in his eyes, he was the one to strike Lord Lonato down.
On the journey home, while still shaking, still sniffling, and without being asked (because how could anyone ask?), the freckled boy stuttered out his reasoning. “It hurts... it hurts so much to think about. To, to remember what I j-just did, but... But if, if it had been someone else, I, I don’t think, I could, I couldn’t... I wouldn’t have been able to, to live with that.” No one had any words for that reasoning. Byleth stayed by Ashe’s side, rubbing circles into his back, offering silent support.
When they offered Sylvain the same choices, he surprised everyone, including himself, by choosing the opposite. But his reasoning was just as sound, just as personal. “Growing up, I could tell he was afraid of me, even in his anger. It always felt like he was trying to kill me because of some, inane fear, that I’d kill him, just for being born with a Crest... What a fucked up world, that I had the chance to prove him right. sigh Thanks for letting me prove him wrong, Professor.”
If Dimitri had been in charge, he would have kept Ashe in the back, if not kept him out of the battle entirely, and had Sylvain help him on the front lines, without a second thought. Without asking what they wanted. Without even considering that they could want to do something else. It twisted his stomach, to think of the pain he would have caused without blinking. All because he would have assumed that he knew the best for them.
But the Professor never assumed. Even when it felt like they already knew the answer, they’d still ask, just in case they were wrong. Just so the person in question could come to the answer on their own.