Completely agree. I think so far with how he is, he'll be a wild card that puts Angena's plans into dissaray. However I'm concerned about his statement in this recent chapter about how he sort of understands how his mother feels about Lombardi. I hope he turns for the better and actually stands up and makes his own set of beliefs and be set apart from his mother and the Angenas. The result is obvious that Perez will somehow come on top but hopefully Astana will become a better person and idk be an Archduke and help contribute to his family's empire and be free to live a life without the dictates of his mother's family's influence.
I really think it would be interesting if the first prince would "rebel" from his mother's authority and had a character development. I'm not saying I want Florentia's cousin to end up with him (not now, he's still an ass) but it would be so cool to see him getting away from his mother's bad decisions and become a real opponent to Perez in the succession battle and not because of his mother's position but because he is actually capable.
Because the real vilain is the mother and with a mother like that, not surprising that Astana was brainwashed and educated like a scum (even if Lalanne is so nice despite her horrible parents, she's just too precious). So if Astana could understand that his mother is just so bad and that he could be better in every sense without her (and he would also need to lower his ego like, come on, teachers are here to help you have important skills, especially if you want to be emperor, don't be so sufficient ╮( ̄▽ ̄)╭), he would become a really interesting character and not just his mother's shadow.