it’s not much of a love story, it’s just zygril’s one sided obsession (that he mistakes for love) for kay, of course kay can’t do much because he’s not as powerful as zygril and also he values a lot his life, so in the end he just submits to his fate and accepts zygril’s love (also kay hadn’t much of a choice, he was baby trapped by zygril and blackmailed to become empress because he’s actually a noble from another country and if he becomes empress no one can harm him, so he had to choose between death and life); kay is a bit dumb and is easily manipulated by zygril
i must say zygril at first was a huge red flag but towards the end he became somewhat of a dark yellow flag, still not a healthy relationship but at least he treats kay waaaay better now (the bar is sooo low)
the side stories were cute though, not the hidden chapter that one was TRAUMATIC (it was about the dark haired guy, i forgot his name; he’s basically obsessed with money and he’s the illegitimate son of a super rich family, his half brother by BLOOD is the heir to the family’s fortune and he’s in love with the green hair guy so he pays him to fuck and then gives everything he owns to the green hair guy and asks for his love in return, like not brotherly love but the romantic kind…well that was disgusting for me)
i read the novel and may this kind of love NEVER find me