I can't speak for others but for me, Miss Paul's dedication to being a knight and carrying out her Knightly duties is enough for me to love her. From the very beginning she's never been prone to self-pity, she just took life as it came and tried to crave out a future for herself. She chose that road of struggle and never made excuses. She persevered and dedicated her life to one dream and any person watching from the sidelines would surely admire her even if they don't love her. A male knight wouldn't have lasted long in her shoes, that's the cold truth. The emperor spent 10 years with such a courageous, dedicated and honest individual....it's not too hard to guess at why he loves her. As for the 'betrayal' you speak of.....The country already lost and became a part of acrea. As a colonized nation, the subjects will be forced to submit to their new ruler. For those who show dissent/ rebel, they'll immediately be put to death. Not just Miss Paul but the ppl of her country also chose to submit to their ruler, they just wanted the war to end. So did they all 'betray' their country? No, their country is still intact and the ppl/ children will not have to worry about any war. They will attain peace and that's all that matters. A country that puts pride before ppl is bound to fall, it's not worth pledging loyalty to such a thing. The reason Miss Paul even sold any info on her country and neighboring countries is to win trust. She wanted a space in the acrean army and she will need to fight for it. If she didn't, she would have nothing left to her life. Her parents abandoned her and she spent several years as a knight dashing her prospects of a good marriage or stable career, so her future looked bleak.....it's no surprise why she joined the army, that's her only way to crave something for herself. This is in no way to hate your opinion, just providing more perspective.
As I said before, I started liking FL. I can now better grip her situation. However, The whole point of my comment was simply explaining how I feel it was a bit rocky when ML just suddenly fell in love. Why was it rocky? Well: At first it seemed like they were just good friends for the whole season 1. They had a very stable friendship and obviously no feelings for each other. Like when someone brought in a rumor about them loving each other, They both seemed very unphased. They didn't care about the rumors because they were just friends. Then suddenly at the end of season one he falls in love with her. I think it was just a bit... Rocky. He should've shown signs of him developing feelings but nope! He just suddenly says he loves her and then he's so unnatural and blush all of season two. It was just so- random. And it's even more weird that it's already almost half way into season two and FL shows absolutely no interest while ML became some lovesick dog.
It's true that there weren't any overt gestures of affection/ adoration. When I was reading the 1st season, I slowly saw the emperor becoming very comfortable with Miss Paul. He could simply be Lucius around her and there were instances where he confided in her. Although it's true that he's that way with Sir Aino as well. Hence, there are rumors btw him x Aino and him x Miss Paul. Though, unlike with Aino, he gets pretty defensive/ protective when it comes to Miss Paul. We see moments where he doesn't like ppl discrediting her, whereas with Aino he enjoys pegging him down. The emperor is very calculating and ambitious. He also keeps everyone/ everything at a distance. Only Aino knows his deepest thoughts and Aino has known him all his life. So for s/o like him, these actions were enough for me to feel that he has some feelings, even if they aren't deep. Since this seems to be his 1st love, he's quite like a newbie in love. Looking forward to seeing miss paul, hoping that she misses him, hoping to impress her, looking forward to her letters etc. On Miss Paul's side, they are def good friends and nothing more. Whether or not this will change, it's too soon to tell. I heard we are at 1/3rd of the novel. So much is to be covered.
Okay no hate but I don't really ship FL and ML. I just finished season one and personally, It seemed a bit rocky. At first I didn't like FL for abandoning her country then I started to like her again later on. But that isn't really the topic I wanted to discuss. So, I really feel like FL and ML just had a good friendship for season one. She performed her duties just like everyone else did. Of course, She made huge accomplishments. I just think so far they really just seemed like close friends and nothing else. So far I think the only ship worthy thing about them was the fact he gave her a position as knight and when he saw her kinda shirtless. All the other moments were really just bonding times. So I can't help but wonder if he just likes her because she's a strong female. The whole loyalty thing is seriously all the knights. It wasn't just her who was loyal. This is just my opinion for season one. Please don't hate on it. I still have yet to read season two.