Why would you hate the emperor more than the empress? the empress literally both verbally and physically abusing etienne. now i’m not trying to defend the emperor about his negligence towards etienne, but really you should hate the mom more.
The thing about the empress is she's bad... and she knows she's bad. What I hate the most is a person who acts like the things that they do is for the greater good. People who think they are good but can't even see the abuse happening to the person nearest to them. I hate hypocrites. Yeah, I hate the mom. And in the grand scheme of things, she's worse. But if I have to go with whom I personally hate the most, it would be a hypocrite who acts like they are good but aren't.
A spectator is sometimes worse than an abuser. Because you literally can do something to stop things... but you won't. And people might say "he didn't know", but... isn't that also his fault? Isn't it his fault that he knows nothing about his son? He never trued to know his son. And even until just a few chapters ago, he thought he his sone was in on his moms wicked actions.
So yes. I hate the father more. This isn't about who is more evil. This is who i hate more based on my feelings regarding the whole story.
Fuck this emperor. I hate the Mom... but I hate the emperor even more. I need him to suffer.