I'm actually quite relieved that Ray didn't go irrational and managed to separate from accepting it happened to him and forgiving it. This kind of problematic thing is pretty evident in the genre of romance—especially toxic ones—and has been swept under the rug multiple times. You don't know how many ukes or protagonists had gone fucking dumb from either sheer naivety or love and excused the horrible things that happened to them. Just no. Just because it's how things go, it doesn't make it right.
Then again, Ray also became the “abuser” at some point given that shock of a news that he once laid with a young boy. The boy's age doesn't matter, it's the fact Ray had maybe frightened some innocents into servicing him in bed and karma is now letting him know the taste of being in the receiving end. Ray may be our protagonist that gets the short end of the stick and forced to face horrifying shit after being reduced into a mere slave in times where royalty is worshipped like gods, he wasn't exactly a good person either. But, it's how Ray is learning, albeit not shown evidently, that makes his character complex. Hopefully, he'll grow.
I'm not defending his actions, but it just makes his character interesting. Jiskar, on the other, is another whole level of miserable (in a bad way lol). Or maybe that's just my bias opinion seeping through
I'm actually quite relieved that Ray didn't go irrational and managed to separate from accepting it happened to him and forgiving it. This kind of problematic thing is pretty evident in the genre of romance—especially toxic ones—and has been swept under the rug multiple times. You don't know how many ukes or protagonists had gone fucking dumb from either sheer naivety or love and excused the horrible things that happened to them. Just no. Just because it's how things go, it doesn't make it right.
Then again, Ray also became the “abuser” at some point given that shock of a news that he once laid with a young boy. The boy's age doesn't matter, it's the fact Ray had maybe frightened some innocents into servicing him in bed and karma is now letting him know the taste of being in the receiving end. Ray may be our protagonist that gets the short end of the stick and forced to face horrifying shit after being reduced into a mere slave in times where royalty is worshipped like gods, he wasn't exactly a good person either. But, it's how Ray is learning, albeit not shown evidently, that makes his character complex. Hopefully, he'll grow.
I'm not defending his actions, but it just makes his character interesting. Jiskar, on the other, is another whole level of miserable (in a bad way lol). Or maybe that's just my bias opinion seeping through