now my memory of the books is vague but, did govart not have the incriminating letter for a long time before nicaise stole it and gave it back to him? And paschal was not privy to the regent’s plans- he thought the prince was doing routine border duty before shit hit the fan. And paschal was honestly a lil coward not trying to out his brother. He thought serving the crown was enough until he saw how awful the regent was. I think he wanted to serve Laurent faithfully and in giving him the letter he would’ve risked the fragile trust he’d earned. I think he made up his mind at the chance of their being a trial but even then things were not looking good for Laurent which is probably why Damen needed to call him out.
to be fair my memory is also vague but if im remembering it correctly, nicaise stole the letter at the end of book one (the night of the assassination attempt) and gave it to paschal for safe keeping, which means paschal had the letter for all of books 2 & 3. I guess paschals awareness of the looming regent vs. laurent situation is up to your interpretation, but I always got the vibe that he knew something was off and it was laurent he was chasing to serve. regarding what you said - "I think he wanted to serve Laurent faithfully and in giving him the letter he would’ve risked the fragile trust he’d earned." - the letter states that the regent had laurents father killed. I personally feel like bringing that sort of proof to your prince is pertinent, and additionally, withholding that kind of proof from your prince is, idk, bad?
