Conspiracy theory:
Jeannette turns evil (or is evil without realizing) and Ezekiel liked Athanasia in the original novel too. In the original meeting between Ezekiel and Athy he not only blushed but his eyes twinkled, so my guess is he didn't want to marry Jeanette but because of his father, had to do so. Maybe Jeannette got jealous that her fiancé and her 'dad' liked Athy so she won over the dad and Athy, while doing so plotting with her aunt to frame Athy. Cause then she'd have her dad and Ezekiel to her self.
But I don't know I'm only confident about the Ezekiel part teheh
Ohhh! You have a point there... Like the part when Athy tried to recall her past life where Claude would call out for Jeanette and the part when Ezekiel met Athy for the first time (might be love at the first sight) could be signs that along the way Jeanette would be jealous of Athy for being able to gain love from the people she wanted the most (Claude, Ezekiel, etc)...
But I don't know... But there could be a huge change in the story since Claude's brother somehow want to reveal his identity to Jeanette in the previous chapters, knowing that he cares for Jeanette but doubting at the moment if what he plan do in using Jeanette be worth it to obtain what he wants.
So yah... hahaha... Theories ° ° ° ( ° ^ °;) ° ° °
I don't know... Maybe the cause that he is shallow towards Athy could be done by Claude's brother? ( ̄∇ ̄")
But the bigger question is why did Claude believe Mr. White that Jeanette is his daughter in the previous life?... I mean we clearly know that Athy's mom died just to give birth to Athy... ┑( ̄Д  ̄)┍
Because her mom was his former fiancé/lover I'm not really sure which.
Either that or her Jeanette's black magic was already influencing him.
Or maybe it's cause she has the same colour eyes that distinguish the Royal family from others. Remember, Jeanette wears contacts to prevent other people from knowing that she's a part of the Royal family, but maybe she had taken them off then which is why Claude maybe already had a feeling that she was attempting to approach him and why Mr. White was asking him how he would feel about another daughter. I think that as per the manhwa, he had a feeling that they wanted to trick him, but Jeanette's powers, Athy's powers and the magical amulet that was enchanted caused him to forget about Athy and only care about Jeanette so.he couldn't do anything about his earlier suspicions.
I think I recall previous chapter about Jeanette origin... Like the part when Claude was still using black magic in order to take over the throne when his brother was ruling and Claude's brother's wife (forgot her name) was captured and Claude conducted a experiment on her... Which is why Lucas keep calling Jeanette a chimera cause Jeanette was made from dark magic... ( ̄∇ ̄")
Correct me if I'm wrong... but there was a flash back about Claude's past somewhere in those chapter hahaha ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ノ~
I like this brain storming on how the story goes (≧∀≦)/
No Claude didn't make her a chimera, she was born a chimera due to the experiments that Claude's brother did on her when she was in her mother's womb. They mention it in some chapter. Claude used the dark magic to forget Athy's dead mother and rid himself of any emotions related to her because he was devastated by her death, this in turn caused him to not care about Athy in Lovely Princess because the spell took some time to complete and he met Athy when she was 9 then. However, in this, he meets her before (aka when she is 5) the spell is completed, so the spell fails and he is now feeling the backlash which leads to him forgetting Athy.
"if you're looking for spoilers this tumblr has a bunch https://lithium-15.tumblr.com/
and if you want to know more about diana and her background and the relationshi between her and claude then check this post out https://lithium-15.tumblr.com/post/620380010886348800/spoiler-alert "
Found out from recent comment and I'm mind blown at the moment hahaha
he didn't know rurahel was like that
so he left her with the kids to protect them for being illegitimate children. this chapter proves he didn't do anything wrong, rurahel became alcoholic and abusive after he left them. he didn't visit because he could risk their safety.
i see the dad as another misunderstood caring parent.
poor duke
roselia get a fucking grip