This is just a personal theory of where I believe might be heading from what we’ve seen so far. I believe that her father in the original story was never intending to abandon her, but to save her from the Emperor. Max was in the room with her because he was working with her father to take her to safety and maybe cause some form of revolution, which was why he was so surprised when she stabbed herself. I also believe the small sword may have been her mother’s sword and her father was handing it down to her as a reminder to be strong, but obviously it didn’t go as intended...
This is just a personal theory of where I believe might be heading from what we’ve seen so far. I believe that her father in the original story was never intending to abandon her, but to save her from the Emperor. Max was in the room with her because he was working with her father to take her to safety and maybe cause some form of revolution, which was why he was so surprised when she stabbed herself. I also believe the small sword may have been her mother’s sword and her father was handing it down to her as a reminder to be strong, but obviously it didn’t go as intended...