beta
Absolutely disgusting shit is happening rn. HOWEVER, I have not lost hope. I don't think this is going to end up with mc submitting and ml not redeeming himself or apologizing.
The author has been painting ml as the villain and reallyyy reinforcing the mc's thoughts about being kind to the less fortunate and so forth. The reader is being actively encouraged to side with the mc and to want him to escape. If the author was going to brush all of the things (e.g. mc trying very hard to escape + giving a whole explanation why it's necessary (thus making the reader agree with him), mc mentioning multiple times that "this is the way of the beasts" (making ml out to be the bad guy, reader doesn't root for him) off and have mc just give up, it'd not make much sense to have the reader hating the ml and mention all that stuff in the first place.
So, either ML will get a redemption arc and eventually agree with MC and become a better ruler, OR this is the type of story that wants you to hate the ML and go full dark "romance".
(=・ω・=)