
im conflicted because the dad is horrible but he’s also a victim of the empress’s schemes (royal family members and officials murdered, being raped, power struggle for throne)
he’s never even tried to interact with his son, doesn’t help him when it mattered, and neglects him- it’s frustrating and angering but then i remember to the king, this child is a product of sexual assault and it’s just… sad. all he sees in his son is that trauma and the resentment he has for the queen trickles onto the prince

exactly! my thoughts on the king weren’t to lessen or invalidate what the prince went through or felt. the prince didn’t deserve it at all, but i wanted to point out it’s hard for me to completely hate the king knowing all this, because he sees the son as an extension of the mom rather than his own person

You put the right words on everything ! And I think it’s also the reason why I love Rishar so much. He is the only one who actually cared all along, and saw how wrong everyone treated each other and how it all fell on Étienne Can’t wait to see the downfall of the empress and how Etienne, the emperor and Rishar work together to help Etienne out of this hell and make the empire safe !
to the prince they were doing fine, but then all of a sudden jae gets all cold and storms off on him after offering him exactly what he wanted?? guess he forgot who wanted a symbiotic relationship in the first place. but i am a sucker for the fell first and fell harder trope so ╮( ̄▽ ̄)
not even sad for the angst im worried about the prince dying fast and how it’ll happen