Sure, she did a lot of bad things once she got into a position of power. But she never had to chance to win, either from her own doing or from people surrounding her, she was always meant to fall. The story is very much elitist where only the wealthy and powerful have the means to do bad and get away with it. Sovieshu did as much as Rashta, even worse, but he could get away with his life purely because he has the position to be protected. Had Rashta been an actual noblewoman, I doubt she would end up as miserable.
I agree with this. In a classist, elistist society, Rashta never stood a chance remaining in a position of power. Her own husband planned to discard her right from the start. She only remained because Navier never returned.
As annoying her it was, seeing her refer to herself in third person tells us how under developed her mind was. She depended on the king almost the way a child would depend on her parent, completely incapable of navigating noble society.
Seeing her crawl alone in prison didn't feel as great as I thought it would.
Not saying she was a good person, but I don't totally hate her.
When you think about it, is it any wonder that Rashta turned out that way when she was in slavery her whole life, impregnated at 15 and thought to have lost her child, believing she was doomed to be a slave and sex toy of the family's young master forever since she would never be let to officially marry or even be chosen as concubine for him? Of course, she'd jump at the chance of happiness when Sovieshu offered it.
Obviously, it is a different matter to her own conducts later on that harm many others especially when she didn't need to anymore.
But man, in a different story, Rashta would have been the hapless female lead. Too bad, she is not the protagonist nor does she have the status to avoid her fate.
I do hope this will end with bittersweet ending. For all that Yeonjo and Heeryang started feeling for each other, there is too much bad blood and power imbalance between them to have a happy ending that makes sense unless the author pulled a miracle.
Sure, Heeryang was under the order of the King to massacre Yeonjo's family, but he went and did it anyways. He exchanged the lives of one family for his own gains, and he is not regretting an ounce of it despite facing the survivor and knowing how his life unfolded later. Yeonjo still lost his family and his birthright, he still had to live as a slave and sold his body just for a chance to save his only kin. The fact that he's smart enough to concoct a near flawless assassination from little information and his own cunning, Yeonjo could have grown up into an amazing official and have a bright future. Hell, Yeonjo is a cousin to the current king. That is how high his status was. So like, yeah. Yeonjo had all the rights to exact vengeance on Heeryang.
Okay, so let's talk about Heeryang. We know that Yeonjo's rant about not being trusted is partly a ploy to keep himself next to Heeryang until the right time, but that also said so much about Heeryang. If it's not clear yet, he's not a good person. Both in his morality (duh) and as a lover to Yeonjo. One way I view his affection and obsession to Yeonjo is a trophy. He has such a complex about birthright and status, he's keeping the son from a noble family he cut down despite obvious murderous intentions just so he can both literally and metaphorically dominate the highborns. Of course, that's not the only reason he's keeping Yeonjo around, but that is just such a fascinating thing with this man.
I have a feeling that Yeonjo's familial connection to the king might come up in the future. If for some reason Heeryang and Yeonjo are still together then, I could see the king ordering Heeryang to kill Yeonjo as a test of loyalty. That would be interesting to see.