Surprised everyone is blaming Suryeon

thanks to you, same here i don't know why they hate hwaryun so much, thought he's the crown prince he don't enough authority he the one who trying to bring rain to rahan.. as the new chapter he don't know his own ambition as child,. the evil on in this story is that concubine..She used suu weakness, and i don't hate suu but just make me little dissapointed to him.. he almost poisoned hwaryun and hwaryun know too about that.. but still he ask suu to stay and he will protect him.. And still suu going with saharan.. （￣へ￣）

Remember, Suryeon wanted the throne for power, Suu was going to poison the horses for money that he is saving to buy his freedom as a slave. Suu didn't want to kill Suryeon with malicious intent, it was out of necessity albeit evil on its own end (because murder is bad no matter the prerequisite).

Breaking an ankle doesn't make it less bad because Suryeon plans on taking care of it anyway, that's abuse. You don't physically assault someone and say you weren't planning on killing him, just hurting him a little.

The fact that you put Suu's life to a measly worth because he's just a slave is a skewed way of excusing Suryeon's crimes.

Suu wouldn't kill because he wanted power, he does what he does because he wants the basic right to become a free man.

All of them have impure motivations, but what makes Suryeon so unlikable is because he's power tripping while Suu only wants to survive.

Oh... killing for money is ok, it's only bad if it's for power, huh? Didn't know that...
Also, Suryeon mentioned multiple times that he didn't want to be the King. He hid his power as a child when his mother tried to use it as a bargaining chip, but that just caused her to commit suicide. He tried to stay away but the shrine maiden dragged him in. He tried to become a soldier who fights in the border and has nothing to do with the politics of the capital but still the crown prince tried to have him killed. Basically, he is also struggling for his life where he can't trust anyone and people are always trying to kill or betray him.

He may not want to be king but that is what he is striving for. He is a mystery. Everyone is bad here, Suu was killing for freedom, not for money or power. This setting is a land where a lot of this stuff goes on in the shadows.

I'm not saying that makes it okay but it's still better than Jin. No one is a really 'good' person in this story.

The truth was spoken, thank you.

no hwaryun is the choosen one, remember when saharan said to concubine about her child, she should give up..
tbh basic palace story, if you worked there if mean you sold your body/royality to who you serve.. i know suu is just victim between them, and how hwaryun not given suu freedom, he always hearing what suu want , allowing suu meet nadan, spare nadan life too but still that concubine evil kill nadan, and gonna kill suu too..
the past hwaryun action is unlikeable, but for me he's the one who got best chara development is him.. and this series seems faraway with the ending, we need suu backstory too.. so let's enjoy this.. www

preach

Suu definitely wants both money and power. He didn't want to sleep with Nadan when they were dating coz he wanted to sell his virginity for money. When he found out Sahara is powerful, his immediate reaction was to ask, "can you give it to me?" or something along those lines. He treated Sahara well and struck to Suryeon with the thought (it's clearly shown in his monologues) that he can use their power to get what he wants. He even thinks at some point that even though Sahara is a prince, Suryeon (who he thought was a soldier) seems to have more power and would be more useful and so he should get on his good side.
No one is innocent and no one is right. The worst is the Queen. Of the 3 main characters, honestly, Suu is the most selfish and ruthless. He does have pangs of guilt once in a while but he is quite willing to knowingly kill or betray anyone and everyone to get what he wants. He had a direct hand in poisoning multiple princes (there was one where he got poison on the food being carried by another servant to a prince and then commented on how the poison caused his fingernail to come off with a little contact and would definitely kill the person who eats it - remember, he is not just killing a prince but getting the servant who serves the food blamed for it and killed too).

to answer you; I NEVER said "killing for money is ok, it's only bad if it's for power, huh?" ....did you not read what I wrote in the parenthesis? Here, I'll write it again for you to actually read: "Suu didn't want to kill Suryeon with malicious intent, it was out of necessity albeit evil on its own end (because murder is bad no matter the prerequisite)."

Please read carefully before replying to me.

"He didn't want to sleep with Nadan when they were dating coz he wanted to sell his virginity for money"
> Let me ask you, what was that money for? TO BUY SUU AND NADAN'S FREEDOM AS SLAVES. Suu didn't want to sell for money just because he wants some material things, he's saving it up so he can buy both of their freedom, so Nadan and Suu can do as much fucking as they want when they are both free men already. It's not to buy luxury items, it's to buy FREEDOM.

And why do you think Suu wants power? So he could become King or buy lots of expensive items? If you've read the story carefully, you would know, like all of us know, that he sucks up to who has more power because he needs to keep making money TO BUY HIS AND NADAN'S FREEDOM.

Do you think he sleeps, murders, and colludes with all this crap so he could live a luxurious life? No.

He does all these evil things because he is a powerless slave who wants to buy his FREEDOM.

I don't know how many times I have to stress out the main motivation of Suu; FREEDOM.

All of the things you mentioned always points out that Suu does things for power, POWER TO FREE HIMSELF, not rule over other people and live a lavish, expensive life like what Hwaryun wants to do.

ALSO, your first reply to me says how Hwaryun tried to get away from becoming a prince, yes we all read that, but what we are pointing out is how he is acting NOW. NOW, he wants to become king, and he doesn't hesitate to kill and wield his power FOR MORE POWER. If Suu wants more power, why isn't he siding with Hwaryun now? Because Suu only wants to become a free man, despite the very luxurious life he may lead if Hwaryun becomes king and he gets to become a rich concubine.

Hwaryun wants power NOW, he doesn't hesitate to kill for that, I personally don't mind much that he has these selfish motivations because everybody has their own degree of shitty motivations. What I dislike about him is the BLATANT power tripping he does as a crown prince. I'm glad that Suu isn't blindly in love with him, but I don't like the fact that Suu is a powerless servant who can't really fight back because he is dealing with one of the most powerful person in the kingdom.

I don't mind that you guys understand or love Hwaryun, what I do mind is your disregard towards the atrocities he does to Suu and even slut shaming Suu when he's only doing it out of necessity.

I don't really understand what your point is if Hwaryun is the chosen one. Him being a chosen one doesn't excuse his shitty behavior towards Suu and killing Sahara. Being a chosen one doesn't mean your choices in life are not your own, he chose to murder for power, whether he is a chosen one or not, murdering for power is not really likeable. that's why the scar faced concubine and hwaryun are not getting any love from any of us. Suu on the other hand, he's doing bad things but he's also doing them out of necessity, which makes him more understandable -NOT ACCEPTABLE, but more understandable.

Yeah we do need his mysterious backstory before he met Nadan.

As for Suryeon having the best character development....hmmm, he aged like old milk instead of fine wine, but that's a difference of opinion we have, and I'm just gonna respect that difference.

Hello again, Ryu. We always seem to agree

I couldn't agree more

Let me first clarify, I don't particularly love or hate any of the characters. They are all interesting characters. I haven't ever slut shamed anyone leave alone Suu (what consenting adults do with each other is their problem). I take offense to people trying to paint one character as pure and good while putting all the blame on another.
You keep using the word "necessity". First off, I don't buy the "doing horrible things because of necessity is OK". Also, it's not about his "freedom" coz Suu is no longer a slave, he is a servant. He is already free. On the other hand, Nadan is not. Speaking of Nadan, he hates killing and hurting and still he became a gladiator to earn the money to free Suu and himself. Basically, you don't necessarily have to poison people to make money out of "necessity". Suu's reckless behaviour caused Nadan to give up on everything to live a peaceful life away from him.

Also, as I pointed out, both Suu and Suryeon are doing things out of "necessity", as you put it. Suryeon lives a life where his food or drink could be poisoned any time, any one who approaches him is likely to have ulterior motives, he can't trust people even if they have been around for a long time and the Queen (probably other princes as well) are trying to actively kill him. He has to look over his shoulder and be on his toes every instant to stay alive. That is not power tripping. If he lets things so and takes it easy, he'll be dead in 5 seconds flat. So, in a way, his "necessity" is more urgent because it involves staying alive whereas for Suu it is about leaving Rahan with the person he likes and enough money.

Again, I don't consider either of them to be good or kind or pure. But blaming Suryeon just coz he currently has more power than Suu is flawed logic. Also, from the time I started reading this manga, if I take a count, the number of people Suu killed is higher than the number of people Suryeon killed (not counting the ones he likely killed in battle - taking that into account won't be an apples to apples comparison).

Better to agree to disagree, but just to clarify @Ryu didn't say killing out of necessity is okay but understandable. Everyone is wrong, killing is always killing but some are more understandable than others.

You're right. I guess it's better to agree to disagree. Taking another life for one's own good even one's own life is not a necessity but a choice where we actively decide that my needs or my life is more important than another human life. So, from my point of view, choosing to end the lives of people one has no apparent reason to kill for money (equating someone else's life to money) is worse. But to each their own.
I find it quite fascinating how Suu tries to convince himself it's okay coz he's just a pawn in someone else's plot. That neither justifies or excuses what he does. But then, his whole personality is a bit twisted. He yearns for the light as embodied by Nadan with his kindness, and his clear sense of right and wrong. All the more because he cannot be that kind of person. Even when he does something good for someone, at the back of his mind, he is always being calculative and thinking of what he can get out of it. That's just who he is. That's what makes the whole story interesting. That's why he is the MC and not Nadan.

Yep, it's really interesting. I still don't really understand Suu though.