My thoughts exactly. Thank you
Exactly! I second all of what you said.
She was presented as the epitome of nicess but really did nothing to stand up for this name. So while she did nothing particularly great, her mediocre acts of niceness were rewarded and treated like grand acts. From the beginning her actions brought benefit to herself = she gifted the ribbon, Claude lost his memories. She brought Athy back to Claude, now she can have tea time with the two people she longs for.
I've seen her worried that Athy doesn't consider her a sister, that Claude doesn't ask about her (and that right after she witnessed how Claude was destroyed inside because he was ill, but she didn't worry about him, only about him not asking about her) but never once I've seen her really worried that her own actions might bring unhappiness to others.
From her point of view Athy doesn't know that she is her "sister", but she doesn't worry that Athy might be unhappy with her, an outsider, barging in her tea time with Claude. In her eyes there is no way that they will not love her and that is because of blood, not bond. She longs for a father and a sister but she doesn't worry that her presence will destroy their relationship. Kind of like a Chuunibyou syndrome. She thinks she will be the glue that will bring everyone together when in reality she's separating them and killing Claude in the process
You hit the nail on the head. She’s only concerned about her own happiness and regards the people around her as a means to accomplish that. She doesn’t see them as people with their own complex interior lives, and that’s actually concerning. She’s lifted into the skies for the most mundane things and I assume this helped create this self inflated image she has of herself. She smiles at people and is nice in the moment, but it never goes beyond any superficial courtesy. She’s all flames that Athy is her secret friend, and doesn’t worry why she’s there, living in hiding. She’s also possessive, which you can witness by her being annoyed that Athy has a good relationship with Jeanette’s adoptive brother. Like she doesn’t want anyone around her. She certainly gives me low key yandere vibes and I’m just waiting until she snaps.
I see a lot of commenters hating Jeannette and being confused at the same time as to why. She is portrayed as being kind and smiley so it trips people up. The issue with Jeannette is that she’s kind in the most shallow way. She lacks real empathy, compassion and is overall extremely callous. She’s never shocked about what happened between Athanasia and Claude. There is not one instance where she actively thinks about MC’s pain. She’s portrayed like she cares about both of them and wants to play family, yet her caution with Claude had never anything to do with knowing that he chased MC out of the palace. She even witnessed their close bond at that ball. Yet she’s never put out by Claude’s behavior in this regard. She wants a daddy and is probably subconsciously happy that Athy is out of the way, so she can interlope. Of course this is all pushed by her caregiver but she couldn’t be more pleased it seems. I wonder if this was the author’s intention and if it will be brought up that the heroine of the novel has actually character traits that align more with an oblivious villain. What would happen if she notices that Claude cares more about MC even after pushing herself between them?