beta
This is so beautiful :( I’m so glad there were side chapters, because I was not ready to let this story go. It’s so nice to see them be happy together knowing that their upbringing had been nothing but sad and complicated. Seeing them both love and have complete devotion towards one another—having so much respect and kindness and affection—is what made this story so compelling and heartfelt. I’m so so glad I got to read this!!!
Honestly, this in itself would still have worked even without the age gap. Something similar to childhood friends or something. Overall, the story was cute and good but the ages and timeline is unsettling. Although, I did notice that they tried to “remove” the aspect of grooming by pointing out that the Duke didn’t raise him with the intention of dating him in the future. They explicitly said that he thought of giving Alois freedom, not wanting to chain him up to his life. But it’s still weird how even without the intentions, he still looked at a child and thought “Oh, I probably love him in a romantic sense.” I don’t really know, since the Duke made an effort into avoiding Alois and his advances. Personally, the last panel strikes me as more of a fatherly-son relationship, or a brother relationship, or just a familial one in general which is quite cute. But adding the whole romantic sense on top of it makes it a whole lot weirder. Again, the plot is cute but why does them having an age gap and knowing each other from childhood necessary to the story? Like? I honestly don’t mind age gaps, but the Duke meeting Alois at such an early age and raising him? Hello?