I just read this and the reason she chose this path is likely because
1. She doesn't love sammy at all, probably sees him as a younger brother. Also he's a commoner, he won't be able to protect her from her father who's a really powerful noble.
2. If she does completely separate from the Duke , then she has no choice but to go back to her father, who would sell her to some rich old man and who knows how that man will treat her (but we can guess, it seems women don't have much importance in this setting)
3. If she tries to run away it seems this country has a law where she would be declared a witch or something like that and burned at stake if caught.
4. Though the duke lied to her, it seems she fell in love with him when he was impersonating a gigolo. So she wanted to give him another chance to win her back.
Honestly I think she chose the best option. Though that man was awful, he did change for the better and now treats her well while also possessing enough authority and power to protect her from her absolutely shitty father. And now they're happy together so it's okay . She did make him suffer for being an ass ( she could've tormented him more tbh) and they've sorted out their relationship.
i still find that ending very unsatisfying, she definitely deserves better man
it's ironic isn't it, how the story manages to be both a smut comic and a semi realistic ending for a situation like this? I can't blame her for choosing safety and a second chance over a life worth of risk with the commoner boy. wish they redeemed the Duke more though, he needed to have begged
A Hard Agree, he needed to suffer more. I also agree given the historical context, women had little to no agency over their lives. If the patriarch decided to marry them off, for money, land or political reasons, they had to no choice to live with it or die. In that scenario, choosing a powerful man who can protect you and atleast somewhat respected you would've been the ideal choice. Love means little when your survival was on the line.(〜￣△￣)〜
man u guys make great points lmfao, who knew the smut book would accidentally make commentaries on how truly limited the choices women had back then
ur telling me she doesn't end up with the guy who genuinely makes her happy and laugh but stays with the guy who wanted to divorce her and is so insecure that he couldn't see her be happy with another man AND tricks her by pretending to be a prostitute even though she explicitly told him that she doesn't want to have sex with him?
yea that makes sense