I loved your fic “The only time Esteban ever beat Victor in a race.” It hit me emotionally just there. And seeing Victor comfort Esteban was perfect. I hate all the fics where I see him as a willing conspirator in Shuriki’s takeover who expressed little to no care for the tragedies that occurred that day.
Thank you so much! I was using a stark, show-don't-tell style for it, so I'm glad you liked it!
I've always thought that Victor would be horrified by the death of the Avalor royal family, just not quite as personally affected as Esteban. And of course he would try to comfort Esteban afterwards, give him support when he needed it most, making sure he was still eating and sleeping. (Victor probably wasn't very good at saying consoling things, which made it seem like he didn't care).
As long as Esteban had someone showing him kindness, he was harder to control. I think that's the main reason why Shuriki banished Victor. (Plus it would be easier having one teenage assistant and Esteban probably knew more about Royal politics anyway.) So one day she just lied to Esteban, saying that Victor knew about the assassination the whole time, and that he was happy the royal family was dead. Esteban's emotions were running so high that he believed her. So he agreed when she declared they would banish Victor. (Besides, if he went against Shuriki’s will she might kill him, so he didn't try to stop her).
In the end, both of them had been reckless and greedy, making a plan to take over the kingdom (no matter their emotional motivations), but neither of them wanted anyone to die. At least that's my interpretation of it.