...For a supposed "elegant" lady, the Mother seems pathetic. She only ever swallows her feelings and pours them out on the FL.
The FL came to the house as a child, all they needed to do was show her some sort of familiar affection or little acknowledgment but THEY ALL ABANDONED HER..
Now, you expect her to have a normal mental state when they all forced her to depend on herself for survival...
STUPID people..
I need Annette, after this war to move to a county/village near the ocean and sell freshly baked bread which she sells out before noon cause it's so popular and tastes good.
THEN
I need her to spend her day reading and tending to her little garden and occasional walk by the sea...
AFTER, she can maybe begin to have interest in the village Chief of Police (or whoever), go on cute dates...
Then scene....
... I'm not too fond of this relationship, I do know they will end up together because it's what it is BUT I think if they want a healthy relationship, they can forgive each other and move on.
The feelings are already built on shaky ground. No matter what happens Carnephelia will always feel in debt to the ML i.e., it will never be an equal relationship because Carnephelia's guilt is too much.
That 2ML was a good option for Carnephelia, I felt he had the power to make her happy and keep her away from the spotlight..
That would suck for the 2nd ML because while people who love each other like the FL and ML might be able to love someone, that love would never quite measure up to the feelings they’d have for each other before. She would be settling for him because she doesn’t believe she’s good enough for the man she’s actually in love with.
I was getting tired of her every reaction to Helix then I remembered that in her past life, her brother, The Emperor practically forced her on Helix and used her to destroy his family.
FL is OBSESSED, even till the end, his only affection was at her end when he cried for her death (probably because he is a good person).
There was never a mention of his reciprocated love, and let's be Frank... it will take a miracle or the Author's whim to make a character fall in love with the person responsible for the destruction of not only his family but also their duchy and lineage— A Saint.