I KNEW IT I WAS RIGHT. SHES THE ONLY ONE WHO USES POISON SO CONSTANTLY IN THIS STORY. The story they released that Lyla's mother poisoned Helene doesn't track with what we know from her memories and what we've seen from other povs so ofc it's that woman who's done it. Sienna is right though. It's not love, what she felt was lust. She knew she had more power over someone so beautiful so she just did what she knows best. Take.
Bruh I'm calling it now, mommy was a mermaid. Beautiful, magic genius, very blank and plain background Ain't no way that a certain species is always mentioned but we see no signs of them being active besides anecdotes and their treasures from other characters. Plus the fact that the spell on her heart can only be replicated by her mother. PLUS HER LITTLE PLUSHIE.
.Reading at chapter 42.
Everyone hating on the Emperor rn just proved how effective the Empress' tactics are to alienate Lyla. We all know that anything coming from Lyla's perspective isn't reliable, she has gaps in her memory and many things she doesnt know, doesn't pay enough attention to political matters unless it's directly related to her, and she has a bigger tendency to rely on her knowledge from her original world.
There's so many political factors happening in this book but so many of you are missing the point.
The emperor is only powerful in picture. The reality is that he rose to the throne using borrowed power from marriages, the costliest one being his marriage to the empress. Even if the fact he made to get married with her isn't real, it's visible that she has the power to back up her actions. The only things he has is the crown and the power of the Emperor. Lyla even said it herself, all the other concubines are acting on their own behalf or trying to gain the Empress' favor by acting against Lyla.
The Emperor cannot show his care for Lyla because the Empress can snap at any time and kill her. We already know how often she was being poisoned by the Empress during her childhood without them bothering to be discreet about it. The only reason she's alive right now is because she wants her to suffer and because the Emperor had already interfered by keeping her safe using the excuse that she's away to study up north. If any of you can show empathy for Helene, then you should be able to show it for the Emperor as well, seeing as they're pretty similar. They're both under heavy scrutiny of the Empress.
The Empress' family seems to be really fond of poisoning. Having her prince attempt to poison Lyla 8x and handing her own daughter a poisonous rose. As well as the many attempts on Lyla's life using poisoned tea(maybe even food).
He can't help her because it would quite literally mean death for him. She cant even admit that Kanna is her servant because, not only does it expose the fact that theyre sourced out by the emperor, or the fact that theyre not qualified by palace standards, it would also mean undermining the Empress' power as per their contract (As far as i remember). If he dies, there's no heir to obtain the power, and no one to protect Lyla because everyone is literally against her. If he dies she'd also end up dying because there's literally no one else capable of helping her besides her father and Helene.
Well I'm probably still missing a lot of info, I'm only halfway there, but so far that's my opinion and observations.