grooming
noun
Preparing a person for a position requiring skilled behavior, especially by providing opportunity for practise and guidance in making the right decisions.
to provide grooming for one's successor as president
The activity of getting dressed, washed and generally of neat appearance.
The activity of cleaning oneself or others by removing lice, ticks, dirt, etc. from the fur; -- of animals
Shocker - the one you're referencing has nothing sexual, and if you really did read it, you knew she had 0 romantic interest in the ML until he started to manipulate her.
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Child Grooming
The offender may use social media, mobile phones, or other forms of technology to interact with the child
The offender may use flattery, gifts, or other forms of manipulation to gain the child’s trust
The offender may isolate the child from others and create a sense of secrecy around the relationship
The offender may use emotional blackmail or coercion to achieve their goals
Try again babes ╮( ̄▽ ̄)╭
Also the ML is the child lover here, he wanked off to the FL child portrait
Since you obviously haven't read it, here's what's actually happened
https://www.mangago.zone/home/mangatopic/16096492/
The bitch's poor son is basically the recipe for those stories where the kid is neglected by his parents, yearns for love, and it's basically how they grow jaded and end up setting the world on fire.
The emperor is definitely not great but my God is she an awful bitch. I don't even mind that she is a garbage towards ML, my issue is that she is such a disgusting unworthy mother. I really hope for a "tragic" ending for this story where she kicks the bucket. If I were the author, the last chapter would have her die miserably alone lost in a desert or something like that and at the same time, there is a scene of her son thriving with his chosen family.