idk this is kind of lining up with the girl best friend trope thing it's called the antagonist's pet with rebecca, sasha and arth on the cover but it seems to me that they're gonna only make arth and sasha a couple even when the title has more to do with rebecca. yes, it does seem like rebecca has some special feelings towards sasha but it feels like they're kind of ditching the idea of a romantic relationship between them
queerbaiting is heavily hinting that characters have like romantic feelings for each other but never actually making it an official queer relationship,, there was one moment in this where sasha literally said that rebecca and arth are her "loves" which holds rebecca up to the level of arth and they are engaged and everything so.... arth also says that it's a shame that rebecca and naska lost sasha (to him) idk what else to tell you but that is not simply a friendship
This is not queerbaiting. And I think people throw that word around too often without actually understanding what it means. Queerbaiting is when you tease two same gendered couples unseriously and ultimately never acknowledge those feelings as romance.
In this one, it's confirmed that Rebecca does love Sasha romantically, which Arth confirms but unfortunately it's not a progressive era, and Rebecca can't be with her. BUT and here's the caveat, Sasha does not love Rebecca romantically. The reason she ended up with Arth is because he gives her the very thing she wanted the most: comfort and stability, something she could never have with Rebecca, and was not given to her by Rebecca throughout the entire series since she lacked power (hence why she was so stressed). Arth has power, and Arth even comments that had this been a different era, Rebecca could have everything she ever wanted to achieve.
this is kinda queerbait