Laertes leans back against the pillows, gesturing Claudius to follow. He forces himself to think this through objectively--for although he hates Asmodean, although he would rather Sagramore and Asmodean had never met, he knows that Sagramore loves him as well as he does Claudius. "I think there are three parts to it," he says, after a moment's consideration. "First: he does not know all that Luo Binghe has done. He knew not about the blood parasites until I told him; if he knew not that, he doubtless knows little else. And he may have told himself that if thou didst not urge him to revenge, then thou hadst forgiven the trespass. Second: he loves Asmodean, and does not love Luo Binghe. The crimes of a man whom he knows only distantly must necessarily weigh less upon him than the crimes of a man whom he adores as he does us. That adoration, held in tension with the condemnation that he so rightly feels, threatens to rip him in twain. And, finally: Asmodean feels guilt and shame for what he's done. I do not believe Luo Binghe capable of shame. Having taken his cue for how to feel about their crimes from the men who did them, how could Sagramore fail to condemn Asmodean more roundly?"