
can someone explain to me whats going on and how the late emperor was involved+how hes involved with the family? im so confused by whats going on behind the scenes

... inferiority complex he just decided to do another plan, where orlo aka the knight that escaped with regina to spy what going on or more like what are the north Duke's are hiding in their territory (it's something about the fangs)
(We're gonna see what's there because phelio is gonna to show to leo that in the time skip)

Basically the previous generation were not showing their fangs and trying to keep a balance by faking alliance in the open. But the late emperor had ulterior motives and wanted to find out more about the Duke's land and his family secret aka the fangs power.The late Duke also seems to have known that the emperor was up to smth but didn't show it. This was also passed down to the current emperor (then crown prince) as we can see with his action on the present and his hostile attitude towards Phileo.
What Phileo wanted to know was if the plan started from his generation or the previous... The plan being them trying to infiltrate inside the North which is where they also tried to use Regina (Leo's morher) for it...The red head knight she fell for was actually a high ranked nobel who workded for the royal family.

HAVE THEY CONFESSD THEIR LOVE YET OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD IVE BEEN LETTING THIS MARINATE

Not yet ;( but the ml has acknowledged that he likes the fl and the fl is meeting with her ex but she doesn't really feel him like she thought she would so probably for another 10 chapters, it's gonna be them both (mostly fl) realizing that they like each other unless the exes do smth to disturb that.
Its honestly such a good read already but if you want to start reading when they have know they have feelings for each other, you probably let marinate for another month

i finished this a few days ago but it was so emotional that i had to let it simmer in my thoughts for a bit.
i actually think that their toxicity was the best match because in the start, mc couldnt open up her heart properly knowing that everyone she had close to her would end up dying and leaving her behind. so all she knew in her head was to enact her revenge and basically make their deaths "worth it" in a sense.
the issue with this mindset was with will and their firstborn son. she only knew how to use him and she was 100% aware of it. of course with the ml always hiding things from her, it only enabled her behavior of keeping him at an arm's length and continuing to use him. at the same time, will only knew how to be loyal to rein, even if that meant enacting his own method of revenge at the cost of rein's emotional state. im not excusing either of their actions esp not the mc's bc she basically ends up repeating the generational trauma onto her own son. i always hated how parents would take their hatred of their spouse onto their kids so that was truly disgusting for me to read. but im glad they ended up growing and improving their parental love towards their children in the end.
i know a lot of people are calling mc and ml trash "that only deserve each other" but this is actually the most realistic human behavior in all the manhwas ive ever read. they embody the human nature perfectly and show exactly what would happen to human beings in similar situations as them, that's why i feel like neither of their reactions were unbelievable or excessive. they reacted just as how any other human being would have and i think thats what makes this manhwa so perfect.
lmao their poor son just waiting in the home all confused
they just forgot he exists