I feel the same as you!!! I actually was going to comment this, but I then I saw your comment, that is why I like this manhwa, tbh. The ML is scum, but he is BELIEVABLE Scum with layers to him, rather than your textbook scum who does things for no reason, not even a good bad reason. I do think Navier was a little too closed off, but that is her adopted persona for her role, and she has it TOUGH as an empress! Sovieshu just isn't suited for her, he is an emperor by birth, but he really isn't made for the position, and when he keeps pursuing Trashta (fckin forgot her real name XD), he just proves how unsuited he is as a ruler.
He acts quite irrationally and never bothers to communicate with Navier (neither does she, but well, she is loyal and Sovieshu cheats) so he loses Navier. I understand Sovieshu's actions, he lives in his own world where he justifies things to himself, never considering what it's like to be Navier. I can't fully hate him though, this character needs a good therapist.
YES THANK YOU I'M SO GLAD SOMEONE ELSE UNDERSTANDS!! I genuinely believe that our mc needed to open up more, and that he shouldn't have closed himself off from her. I feel like this couple needed some serious, "let's just sit down and talk" conversations. I also feel like it could have worked out I genuinely do. Sadly enough neither of them did that. :( It's really sad because you can see how much they genuinely cared about each other in the past when they were still kids, but sadly life changed them. well, I don't think they changed him, but they really changed our MC. She had to grow up, she couldn't act like a child, she barely even had a childhood to begin with. All she was doing was just studying to be empress. So when he met someone with that lack of intelligence and childish personality (which is just nasty ) he wanted her immediately. I think it reminded him of his past with our mc when they were still children. I also think it's very clear that he doesn't really give a damn about Trashta at all, he still loves our mc but doesn't believe she feels the same way, but of course, we know that she does. (Or well did but probably still does in some way.)
Her whole life is about being the empress. She feels like she is nothing else, if she's not an empress she doesn't know what she's going to do with her life. THAT'S what really sad about this story, because she's so much more than that, but that's all she's known in her life. And I feel like our ML is going to show her that once they get to his kingdom.
THISS!! She has grown up under constant pressure and so has he, her response was to mature quicker and accept her role, but she also suffered because all she sees herself as is through the lens of her role as an Empress. He instead kept being hopeful and clung on to the past, forgetting to live in the present. He did not understand that people always change with time and that change is necessary to be an adult. I too, feel that a series of long talks would have helped rebuild their relationship, but neither reached out. She felt there was mutual understanding but he didn't and then he committed his worst mistake of cheating that eventually led to the disintegration of this relationship. If anything, I pity Sovieshu.
I can already foresee a breakdown incoming for him, I just hope he rids himself of the toxic individuals and thoughts and becomes a good emperor, sans Navier.
I want Navier to go to her happiness, but I do not want Sovieshu to constantly dwell on her. He lost the chances to rebuild their love, now his best choice is to move on, even leaving Trashta behind because she is..... absolutely silly. Give her life support, raise your child and be a good emperor. Let Navier go. Heal.
This is going to be long and I feel like a lot of people are going to disagree but if you aren't willing to hear me out just don't read it cause it is long XD
Wait stop my heart got a little swayed when they were little and he brought her cookies that was so wholesome where did that love for her go bro FUCK it also makes me curious if they could have ever fixed the relationship if he hadn't brought in a mistress? and instead she started opening up more about her emotions and feeling towards him? Because I do believe he loved her a lot at one point, but over the years that she started becoming an empress and everything she turned, how to say it, more stern and more straight faced? Which is a given because she had to grow up to be an empress. Occasionally, for instance, when she was getting those messages from the bird she would smile that loving smile but when you get flashbacks of them as kids she's smiling that same way with him. As they got older I think she started focusing more on being an empress and to make it easier, even though she loved him just as much as he loved he,r she stopped showing it and decided to bring it back down to just being friends to make it easier to run their empire. And while she thought he was doing the same thing it wasn't the case. I think the only reason he likes Trashta is because she acts the same way our MC used to act when they were younger? Does that make sense? (Note not the exact same way but it's the smile I think is what it is and the affection as well that she gives him) I think he misses what they used to be before they became emperor and emperors, before they got married, and before she drove into all the heavy pressures being an empress is. I'm not trying to defend him, I'm just trying to understand where he's coming from. The author put a lot of thought into these characters, and it's really good! I feel like a lot of people reading this don't try and look past the outer shell, of the other characters. And if you do you don't say anything about it because yeah they are both trash but all of them have history.
Summary of that long ass paragraph
1. When she became empress after a while I think she closed off her emotions so she could focus more on running the empire and therefore stop showing him affection which I think we can see at the beginning of the story they don't look close at all but when you get flashbacks they look very happy together so as you learn further in the story that was never the case
2. After she holds off her feelings he stopped trying I'm sure in the first few years of their marriage it went great but when she started becoming closed off he stopped trying to keep it going and only supported her as a friend but I still think it's very clear that once upon a time they did love each other even if she couldn't show it anymore and he stopped trying to as well
3. I think that the only reason he even likes Trashta (tbh I don't think he really likes her all anyway) is because she has a childish personality which reminds him of when they were younger and were still kids and when she became more mature and started caring more about the bigger picture(the empire) she lost that childish behavior that he likes apparently (weird)
4. He's only marrying her for a kid he thinks is his he doesn't care about her at all he only cares about the affection and attention he gets from her
5. Now that I'm thinking about it's kind of weird how he wants a childish personality a woman who has no intelligence just seems like he's the type of man who wants a woman to just rely on him and be stupid
Sorry this was so long ._.