
I'm curious about the gears tuning in the thot's eyes. Also, Claude's reaction to her words. Does she have some kind of charm magic or were those supposed to be the gears of fate that revolve around her?

She certainly has magic (she even commented this chapter, when Belzebub tried to attack her, as a forcefield didn't let him and she said something about it finally being the time for something - most likely her delayed awakening as the holy maiden), but I doubt that Claude's reaction was due to it. Going by the gears metaphor, only Aileen, and after the fenrir incident the thot became self-aware gears, and so influenced the others around them. The rest (including Claude) were still not self-aware, and thus when others act according to the way they were supposed to in the game, they have no choice but to act the same. Here, in this chapter, the same thing was happening. The thot played her part (she even said that "she did everything perfectly"), and so the "gears" were trying to force Claude into reacting as he would in the game - however, Aileen did enough things differently that she influenced Claude's path, so it didn't fit anymore in the original game, thus the gear (that would have made him like the thot) broke under the pressure. He most likely did not become self-aware, just changed his path.

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD
I see quite a few of the fans who looked at the raws dislike the love rival (the blond guy). I think it's interesting though. He is apparently Jamil's long time rival and he despises humans. There is no way protective Jamil would let that guy any where near Jan. I can see blonde hurting Jan just to get to Jamil. However, we can see in the raws that Jamil is not chasing the blonde guy away from Jan. The only reason I can think off for this is that the blonde guy also bonds with Jan. If I'm right, then I think it'll be interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing how this guy handles being bonded to Jamil's human.
This has been on my mind for a while. Remember the dream where Claude was on the ground screaming for Jeannette and this man with Claude's face was standing over them? What if that was from the original story? We know people can change their appearance with magic. What if Claude's brother used magic to make himself look like Claude and then stole his throne? This could mean that the one who executed Athy in the original story was Claude's brother, not Claude.
Ohh maybe. That sounds really plausible
(⊙…⊙ ) omg I forgot about that... I think your right!! So much makes sense if this is true
Woah. Mind blown.
It was from the original story. I read from a spoiler that after the end of the story of loveable princess, shit starts going down. Do you remember how the fortune teller/magic shop owner said that children born of dark magic will always bring misfortune? Well, after the story ended, Claude started getting really bad migraines just by staying close to Jennette. It got so bad to the point he's on the floor, unable to stand. And his brother reveals himself with Jennette being all confused and shit and acting all flustered but following around the brother. They leave Claude to basically die on the floor. ┑( ̄Д  ̄)┍
Honestly though my memory isn't fresh, so we'll need someone who have read the novels to confirm
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It's what will happen if Jeanette's wish comes true and she wins Claude's heart. He will die and the bad guy will return. The butcher who killed thousands and experimented on people with dark magic is her true father.
So yeah, it's terrifying the thought of Claude showing affection to Jeanette. Everyone, including himself, would be doomed.
Meanwhile Jeanette is all *sparkle, sparkle* I hope my daddy likes me. Tee hee ~
But didn’t they show that in the manhwa already? That was the only clue to how the ending went in the novel Athy was reading in her past life.
She’s basically useless right now. Which is annoying everyone. Like, get a hint Jeanette (╬ ̄皿 ̄)凸
Yes, I know. Should've clarified it more.