I know some people thought Ebony was weird in this chapter, but I think it's quite normal. It's natural to want a little praise every now and again. It's like when you pick up a new hobby and end up being proficient at it. You suddenly want the people closest to you to keep watching you get better and better. It's also the best way to introduce romance to this story as those feelings can easily develop into something more. As much as she's grown, there is still remnants of her trauma so she may not be able to be an excellent person for herself, so she's depending on the Duke. It isn't such a bad thing as some may think, because she's encouraged to be better than he's ever expected
Um I feel like there's no justification for either MLs feelings. Like sure, Kang is her childhood friend but so is our ultimate best friend blondie and he ain't got no feelings. I believe Kang only started to like her cuz of the parents because there no real proof of their feelings. We don't see any interactions before Kang liked her. We just know that he likes her.
Similarly Dooyun (I think) just likes her cuz she nice. I see no reason for him to like her so much, considering she acts like literally everyone else. The author hasn't given Irae any qualities that would make her so pined after. Yeah, she pretty, but not that pretty. Her personality is so meh? Like she had more personality as a child (which makes Kang's feelings a little more believable) but as an adult she seems kinda dull.
I'm not saying her character is bad but it doesn't merit all the attention she gets. Moreover, Dooyun has a textbook character too. I've never met someone that is so "perfect" to the point he's that popular. All their interactions seem stiff.
And again, Irae doesn't seem to really like either of them as a romantic partner, but the author isn't bothered to show her feelings grow so it seems like a slapped on sticker that says "wow I'm embarrassed that Dooyun is interested in me, wow I think I like him"
No offence, but literally any one of the side characters have more depth and personality than the protagonists. The red haired girl? Would love to see more of her (but her feelings seems made up again, just for the sake of adding drama). The guy with brown hair and rosy cheeks? Seems quite bubbly and fun. I can name so many more.
The reason this is such and issue is because there's no need for a second ml. With all these issues, there's no reason so many ppl would like Irae and Kang's feelings are barely qualified. It seems like they just wanted more drama so they added a love triangle. This story, with more developed characters could simply work off the struggles of an age gap. Everything is so superficial that I don't really care who she ends up with.
Lol long ass complaint but yh, in conclusion, make the characters more interesting
they dont even have to be more interesting characters per say, but better fleshed out ones? definately could have used better character interaction and chemistry because as you said, the sole driving force seems to be drama and liking irae unfortunately. Although i enjoyed it to an extent lol, it definitely could have been a lot better
There's way to many issues for me to enjoy this. She suddenly likes the mother even though she killed her?? The Emperor's an immortal dragon so we should sympathise with him?? The mls have zero chemistry with her, I think only velton would make sense. This reminds me of the abandoned empress
I’m pretty sure the dragon forgave the knight who killed her when she realized that the knight had seen her as a friend as well and felt sorry for killing her when they all visited the dragon’s grave. Since the knight was supposed to kill all the dragons she had to kill her, but regretted it afterwards and created a grave in her honor. After seeing the knight cry and apologize (in front of the grave) she forgave her. Idk about the male leads though, we’ll just have to wait and see lol