Yup and esp about helianne, imagine having a stranger all happy and ‘acting’ close to helga because she’s ‘her sister’ and yet she was always treated like a fake. Helianne can never understand how helga felt or feels. Why should helga sympathize with helianne when helianne has always failed to understand and respect helga’s boundaries?
And after being called a fake all her life obviously she would want to have so many accomplishments and make a name for herself; so that she would get RECOGNIZED for it *ahem* via a TITLE. Not under the same family title that abused and used her forever.
I don't understand why people have such an issue with helga's character.
"why did she think she was alone she has so many people" like yall are reading the same book I am right? NONE of the people who cared about her actually stopped the abuse when she was a kid. If you grow up with a bunch of people who are nice to you, but never actually stop bad things from happening to you, a literal child, how are you supposed to trust them? How are you supposed to learn to trust them? Nanny? Kind, but didn't stop the abuse. Maid? Kind, but didn't stop the abuse. Fiance? Kind, but didn't stop the abuse. Friend? Kind, but didn't stop the abuse. It doesn't matter whether they feasibly COULD, what matters is that helga, as a child, believed that she had no one on her side because no one fuckin was, not enough to actually save her.
"why does she only treat people as disposable" Exactly what life lesson was supposed to have learn instead in that house? SHE WAS TREATED AS DISPOSABLE. SHE WAS TOLD THAT SHE WOULD BE THROWN AWAY IF THEY FOUND THE REAL DAUGHTER. SHE WAS TREATED AS DISPOSABLE. And when they did find helianne, those things happened. all the work she did was treated as useless because the "real" daughter was there now. How else is she supposed to grow up but thinking the same thing???
"why is she mean to helianne when helianne is innocent" Again, what was she supposed to do? she'd been told her entire life that this new person would come and take everything. then that new person comes and takes everything. without even questioning it. helga was repeatedly nice to her over and over, didn't sabotage her, helped her with her lessons, when helianne first came too, until finally she decided she wanted nothing to do with this literal stranger. why should she be kind to a stranger who has done nothing positive for her, and her existence is a net negative? why should she help someone who is going to take all her achievements. naiveté really doesn't cut it here, helianne would have to be beyond stupid to not understand what it meant to literally STEAL someone's name, their entire history, and all their achievements.
"why does helga only value titles" my guy this is the world of nobility wtf are you talking about. her entire life was held in the balance because of her title. power in this world is held through titles. helianne was able to rise up to be a DUCHESS because she was a duchess' kid. everyone around her for her entire life only knew here because she was at the time viewed as as the kid of a duchess. you think literally any of the main characters (excluding sion) would give her the time of day if she was a commoner? bffr. they wouldn't even know she existed.
tl;dr helga makes perfect sense as a character and having her be any other way would break the story lmao