[Noctis hesitates, reluctant to answer because he knows how it'll sound, but he pushes past it stubbornly, straightening his shoulders.]

...A... while. Look- I get it, okay? I needed some time, when I woke up and saw him here. I tried to kill him. If my dad hadn't stopped it, I'm pretty sure Ardyn would have let me hurt him.

[Not kill him. Even if he wasn't immortal, he can't see Ardyn just laying down to die. But flee, wounded- that he could see. He'd gone over that moment enough times in his own head to remember how it went, how Ardyn had summoned his blade not to fight but to defend himself from the Armiger Noctis had conjured that day. He'd looked every bit the startled animal that Noctis had felt like in the moment.]