[He just sighs faintly at that, but doesn't deny it. His mother--his mother, yes--did a fair job of raising him, he will be the first to say. And he would be the first to step in and defend her.

...So he says nothing.

Instead he focuses on the heavier topic, expression solemn.]

I suppose that cannot be denied. There is a difference, however, between you and I.

[He leans forward as if for another kiss, but he halts himself, hovering just above Tony's lips, and sighs, instead pressing their foreheads together very, very gently, with only the faintest of pressure.]

The difference is that I used my villainy knowingly, in a most villainous way.

[And he knows that to be true, and he always said he would not deny the consequences--

And so he will not deny the consequences. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. He was a villain, he was born a villain, and he chose to be a villain. And so--]

Thus...though you may take villainy as a part of who you are, I would not have you blame yourself for such a thing. Are you not constantly repenting?

[In the form of heroism.]