Whelp, it's official - paladins in general are horrible at deception. Both in executing it (Lloyd, Lexi) and in detecting it (Murphy, Lexi again).

Anyways, I don't think everyone truly realizes how much stress Lexi has been under. Sure, prior to this, he appeared to be on top of things emotionally, but in reality, he's got it worse than Miles.

Let me explain: he's a half-hobgoblin in a country who has always hated the Plavaan and is now openly going about killing others like him. Both he and his best friend are trying as best they can to help the situation, but obviously, nothing they're doing is even making a dent in the overall state of things. Despite all his work to save the Plavaan and Plavaan-touched, they are still dying in droves. Heck, he's likely friends with some of them, and yet he can't do a thing to help them! (Thornton, anyone?)

Miles has been distrusted ever since he first tried to expose Rust. However, Lexi has been held in suspicion for far longer than that - ever since his boyfriend, Lloyd, defected. This only adds to the level of emotional stress he has to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Now, his best friend, the very definition of analytic stoicism, is starting to fray around the edges and go downright paranoid.

However, he's able to sweep this all under the rug and put on a strong face because, even if he dies, even if he fails in his mission to save all those innocent lives, at least Lloyd made it out of Kago alright. He might not have saved the country, but someone he loves is still safe. Now, imagine for a moment what would happen if this emotional crutch is swept out from under Lexington. Oops, despite his best efforts, Lloyd is dead anyways! His actions might have even lead to Lloyd's untimely death.

Yeah. Now you can see why he's crying his eyes out. Frankly, I expected him to be more of a "whimpering in the corner" kind of crier than a "bawling his face off" guy, but if you look at how extensively he freaks out at some of Mile's comments in previous strips, I'm not that surprised to see him break down like this.