
is it me or did the art change? they were prettier before

Do you not know of the art curse? The majority of readers (for specifically online korean manhwa) only ever make it to the ~4th chapter before dropping it. The rate become abysmal after 20th chapter.
Depending on the publisher and popularity of a work, the artist is require to spend less and less time per chapter to maintain financial viability. These drops in quality happen periodically and in almost every story. The worse case is if its deemed necessary to completely dropped or canceled.
This especially the case in works that were adapted from light novels, as the artist has very little personal connection to the work.
The exception are self published or passion projects of the artist, but those are kinda getting rarer as time goes on.
If you ever wondered why so many ending are rush and always seem to end exactly around the 100th chapter mark, this is likely the reason. They are on the chopping block/major art decreases and want to finish the story with an ending. Many season end and hiatus also very suspiciously end around these major quotas/release schedules.
what’s this people are saying about esdra turning out to be an asshole and abandoning her? can someone who read the novel elaborate and explain how it happened
from what I know esdra discovers that Adelaide isn't really Cesar's sister, not a noble (i think because of his crazy sister), and he basically does a 180, turning cold towards her, abandoning her, like his feelings for her never existed. just like Cesar said to Adelaide before she met esdra, it was something similar to: "he wouldn't even look at you (be interested in you) if you weren't a noble". sorry if it's a bit confusing, but this is only what I remember from the novel
Where did you read the novel? Can I ask for the link?