This is why I can't forgive Kloff. Sure, Aeroc did something really, really stupid that resulted to horrible things. But the mere fact that he suffered from it a hundred folds is just so painfully excruciating to read. I will never forgive Kloff for what he did. Not in their second life, not in their third, and definitely not even in their 100th.
A crazy stalker ordering a hit on the near and dear ones of the person they are pathologically obsessed with, resulting in someone being sexually assaulted and killed
is apparently just a stupid mistake and not an unforgivable crime in the eyes of some twisted people. Kloff, in the first arc, is guilty of vigilantism, nothing else. But he is guilty of vigilantism not only in what he does to the ringleader that killed his spouse and child, but also in what he did to the henchmen. If you aren't whining about him killing the guys that the MC sent to assault his love rival or the guys that assault the MC near the end of the arc, then don't be an obvious hypocrite and whine about him putting that pos MC through the things he does. I agree that he should have let law and order to deal with that sorry excuse of a human and his accomplices. But, his emotions, his anger, his hatred and his desire to make that stalker-murderer that killed someone important to him because of unhinged jealousy suffer is very understandable.
It's not that simple though. The details are very important regarding this case. It was vigilantism towards Aeroc ONLY at the start, the rest had to do with his self denial and hatred due to his attraction towards Aeroc. In the novel, it is even set clear that he had this attraction even when he was with Rapiel, but pushed it away since he had a family. No doubt his feelings such as anger and hatred are justified, especially at the start BUT what he did after his first revenge was considerably different than plain vigilantism (like what he did to the rapists). He knew that Aeroc paid for his crimes and even if at the start he believed that Aeroc was indifferent, he came to understand that he actually wasn't, not much later in the story, but chose to ignore it because he was undeniably attracted to Aeroc and didn't want to let him go. While i do not take the weight of Aerocs actions away from him, i certainly consider Kloff's actions more demented for the plain reason that what Aeroc did wasn't what he strived for. Once again, i completely understand Kloff's anger but i do not justify his further actions and i do believe that trauma or not, he turned into that same monster he was striving to punish while Aeroc grew into a better person through genuine repentance. I do think that Kloff's actions made him into a horrible person, worse than Aeroc at the start of the timeline, that's why i think it's very fitting that the rest of the timelines are about his own repentance. And yes, Aeroc was a piece of shit at the start of the first timeline (just in case this point wasn't clear enough since i focus on Kloff right now)
In the first timeline, Aeroc suffered beyond human understanding and was punished by Kloff unfairly. Yes, you read that right, it was unfair. I'm not saying the weigh doesn't fall on Aeroc's shoulders for wanting to 'scare' Rapiel, but getting constantly raped, having his original gender (Alpha) changed with drugs and then having his children (created by rape) taken away while he rots with zero human interactions in a small hut over something he VERY clearly regretted and he didn't even intent (he didn't order for the rape and murder of Rapiel, he was just too naive to trust the scoundrels he hired. We already knew he was naive from his investment choices). He lived in the streets getting assaulted and raped only to be moved, to get through even more hell with Kloff. At one point, Kloff abused him only to try and justify the attraction he felt towards him, since he was in denial for liking the person who was directly involved to his late husband's death. Kloff was so freaking messed up, that he even lacked the emotional understanding that someone can suffer without crying, because WHO THE FUCK wouldn't break and suffer after getting repeatedly raped and isolated? But i guess deep down he knew that, he was just going through cognitive dissonance due to his hatred. Kloff is NO better than the people who killed Rapiel, that's why i was furious when he was calling Aeroc 'Despicable' in his frail state. Kloff did something extremely demented to someone who didn't deserve it, and no one can deny this. Aeroc suffered more than enough and as bad as this may sound, he suffered way more than Rapiel did. His life was hell on earth and his last moments were disgustingly painful too. That's why in the other two timelines Aeroc gets the happiness he deserves. In the second, while having his memories of the past, he gets to live happily and heal while in the third timeline, he doesn't remember the hell he went through while Kloff does, and suffers forever with the knowledge that he'll never be able to apologize and give back the life to the frail Aeroc of the first life.