That's one crown he'll happily take. Maybe Lucifer didn't get the spy he was trying to mold, but somewhere in all that raw messiness the truth split open, Wilhelm found a better reason to give his loyalty to him. While Lucifer sighs, Wilhelm smiles.

"I'm touched."

It's shaped like a joke, with a hand exaggeratedly clasped to his heart, but he means it too. He hears the fondness pushing at Lucifer's words like uncertain shoots unfurling from the earth. He knows that he has a hard time allowing his emotions, especially the kind with soft underbellies, to just breathe.