From the moment Desmond left Leonor behind to go to the border, he felt a sense of peace he wasn't familiar with.
Someone was waiting for him to return. The trip he was going on was relatively safe and Leonor in the end was practically promised.
His future finally felt like it was worth living. All he had to do was get through confessing the truth to Leonor.
While it wouldn't be easy, it would be necessary for them to ever move forward with one another.
The hug they shared made him certain she liked him for him at that moment without knowing who he was before. While he hadn't fully shown her himself, he was certain she wasn't disgusted with him.
While he could never compare to Valerio in terms of appearance, he could offer so much more than the poor stablehand. He hoped that outweighed the cons of his shortcomings at that moment.
