beta
My hypothesis for why the FL’s alleged trauma responses (i.e. avoidance, low self-esteem, paranoia) are so annoying is that it’s not clear what triggers her. If the sister was present, we would get it because we know she’s evil. If the ducal family was still neglectful, we would get it because we know that’s bad.
But neither of those things are true at this current time, so the FL‘s flaws feel less because she was forced to be this way by external forces, and more because that’s her natural personality. That makes her less sympathetic and gives her less room to grow out of her flaws.
The story needs to quickly either bring in the sister or show what happened in the previous life that makes the ducal family so bad. As it is right now, the FL is paranoid about nothing.