Nutmilk

According to most succession rules, Edmund should be emperor, not Raymond. He's the son of the deceased Crown Prince.

Succession only reaches siblings when the first in line doesn't have kids. But asshole Crown Prince had a child, Edmund.

This is a plot hole that annoys me so much in this story.

But isn’t Edmund an illegitimate child since the decreased crown prince never married plus he was a crown prince when he died and not an emperor so succession rules still follows.

But yeah I feel sorry for him too I wish the FL would be more proactive in helping and giving him some love since his own mother doesn’t even bother ┗( T﹏T )┛

Edmund came into scene as an illegitimate child of a woman who was never married to the emperor, and he came to be next in line before Ellis came back, so legitimacy is hardly an issue if they're recognized as a member of the royal family by the temple, which Ed was.

It's also relevant to mention that one of the reasons Ray decided to recognize him was because he didn't want him to be in the same position Ray was when he was a child, that is, of an illegitimate kid. Ray was an illegitimate kid, and is now emperor.

As for Crown Prince not being emperor, that's irrelevant as succession rules can skip generations. Take UK as example, if William dies before being crowned king, his son George becomes next in line, not his brother Harry.

The Sios would actually have had a strong case if they revealed that he was the Crown Prince's child, hence why I believe it's a plot hole that they decided to pass Ed as Ray's rather than plotting to overthrow Ray altogether. Lizena would have become queen regent while Ed is underage, the Sios would literally rule the empire.

Honestly I’m not all too familiar with succession laws but this topic intrigues me a lot
Plus I totally forgot Ray was also an illegitimate child ε=ε=(ノ≧∇≦)ノ

If what you say is right, I still don’t think it’s a plot hole since I believe the Sios just wanted to take the easy way out since Lizena was Ray’s 1st Love plus he had no other children at the time. So why waste money and effort trying to overthrow a stable leadership.

She probably was over confident and felt that he would take her back easily especially with the child in tow. She knows his insecurities about illegitimate children and expected him to just accept them both as compared to the FL who he didn’t love and had no children with.

They probably would have tried to overthrow him if he had a child with the FL before Edmund was revealed.

The plot hole is that we have to believe Ed has no claim, when he actually does more than Ray.

The Sios wanted power, they are not the type to take the easy route. With the amount of support they've amassed during the story, I'm sure they'd have easily overthrown Ray and put themselves on the throne, rather than borrowing power from Ray.

That they didn't do this is because they too believe Ed doesn't have a claim, hence why I think it's a plot hole.

That, and the fact that the succession order is never ever discussed.

And you know what easy fix would have for this? Making Lizena have an affair with the previous emperor rather than the Crown Prince.

i think they didn't do that because the same way raymond killed his elder brother he could have killed Edmund if that threatened his claim to the throne/his way to protect himself and elijah

If they thought Ed had a chance, they'd have accounted for it. The Sios are the assassins here, it makes no sense for them to be afraid of assassination.

In fact, I think it would make more sense for them to have attempted to kill Ray by now, as Ed was already the only heir, so it would make no difference if Ray named him Crown Prince or not.

I think we are overestimating the Sios power. At the time they revealed Ed I don't think they had the power and prestige to fight the emperor heads on. Again, this is an emperor who won the throne by slaying his blood relatives so I don't think legitimacy is the only reason they couldn't come forward. After the prince was revealed the Sios family must have gained supporters and with Lizena's cunning they could grow in power, but before that she was stuck far away in another country. Maybe they could've staged an uprising based on legitimacy, but this emperor has a solid backing from the uprising he staged himself

What i mean is that the Sios family could have needed time to grow on power to take on the current emperor

The issue is that they had Ed ever since he was born, seven years prior. If they needed time to grow on power to face Ray, they could have easily done so before Lizena was back - remember she had her baby and snuck him out to her family.

And we've seen how much power and backing from other nobles they got when they wanted to.

Which is what leads me to believe they don't see Ed as the next in line before Ray, hence making the plot hole.

but she couldn't come to the country before because she was married to that king of another nation...if it was revealed at the time she had a child out of wedlock she and the child would have been killed by that other king. i could be remembering it wrong but i remember they commenting on it around the time she revealed edmund

that would’ve been the case if his father is still alive. however, ml is now the emperor so therefore his blood will inherit the throne. then it will be edmund.

didn’t the crown prince died unhonoured ? i don’t think it will do any good to edmund.

Yes maybe that was true but in this story, Ray become Emperor after overthrow the previous emperor and killed his other siblings so even Ed is the crown prince's son it doesn't matter. Even a concubine's son can not be the first in line although he was the first son of the emperor. The empress first born son will still be the first in line even if he was not the first son of the emperor. And Ed is not even a concubine's son Lizena don't even have a concubine title. She just the mother of the first prince. AND in a situation where the empress died and the emperor remarry and have a second empress. THE deceased empress's son is still the first inline for succeeding the throne.

Same :( We all Edmund sympathizers

These look like beginner fan art. Lol I couldn't read it because I couldn't stop laughing