Are narcissists capable of regret? Can they ever experience regret for doing wrong to a good person (to one of their victims)? Can they ever experience any ‘epiphany’ when they realize, for a short moment of revelation, how bad they are at somebody?
In short, no, not genuine regret.
You would really need to ability to feel empathy towards others to show genuine regret.
They may feel regret, but it’s purely about themselves. They regret being exposed, they regret losing supply, they regret losing benefits, they regret failing, they regret not being able to convince you otherwise, and regret the new supply did not work out.
And given the chance, they typically will repeat the exact behaviors that you forgave them for, over and over again, even if they become better at hiding it.
Now, this doesn’t mean they can’t exhibit regret or understand empathy, other words they may know how you feel because they study humans and their emotions (but not feel empathy), and they may know what to do to make you think they feel regret, so they will play that role.
Sometimes they watch movies or other clips to find out how to react in a situation, this is why their actions can be a little over the top or crazy romantic, even though they change right back to their old selves shortly after.
I hope this answer was helpful, please leave your comment below.