i think that eris and helena see character foils of one another. both had to deal with immense pressure to be a certain way but their way of trying to meet those expectations differed. helena is a fallen noble with connections to the royal family. her method of living is by acting in ignorance and as a fool in order to survive. eris is the daughter of a proud noble and has the responsibility of being perfect and ‘arrogant’ in what she does.
when i say arrogant, i mean having to uphold a certain image like being the crown princess fiancé. the way society reacts to both characters differs on how the MLs treated them. notice how the MLs preferred the softer and accepting helena to someone more straightforward eris. they like helena since she’ll follow along with what ever they do but not eris since she has dignity and can’t be as easily manipulated.
the effects of misogyny has been a prevalent topic in this story(the treatment of sorceresses, the role of women, etc) and it’s interesting to see how the author highlighted this through these two characters.
SPOILERS
FL already had her revenge in the 7th life and killed her whole family. Now in this life all she wants to do is break the loop she’s been in and die in peace. She has no will to live as implied by her empty stomach and nonchalance.
P.S. to the people calling her dumb for needing 7 lives to realize the truth, the girl was raised in an abusive household and would not know when she was being manipulated. she has no allies, no supportive figures and no one she could turn to so of course she hung onto the only family she had. the people calling her weak are privileged to not have been in a situation like hers since gaslighting and manipulation can ruin someones perception of reality.
i agree with both sides tbh. i’m more sympathetic to judiths case though since her wanting to stop the gossip is for luca’s sake. since she entered the duchy as his ‘mother,’ the maids thinking she’s trying to seduce rudy will only make things difficult for luca’s reputation. they aren’t nobility unlike rudiger who grew up wealthy so they obviously need to be more cautious.