My few thoughts....
Yes you brought in the main dilemma! I also realise she can't be both. Many ppl keep replying that she will have too much work. But really it's not about the work.
Once she becomes empress, she would join another House & she cannot play Head to Lombardi. As one is a Duke House & the other royalty. At no point would these Houses be the same. That is the very foundation of monarchy.
Because the good of royalty may not always spell good for nobility. This friction has always existed in monarchy. The noble Houses uphold as well as compete for influence amongst themselves for control of royalty. The Angenas having too much control right is causing problems. If it was replaced by Lombardi, royalty will be in the same situation as now.
But then again, Lombardi has joined it's fate with Perez. So who knows, it may all depend on him when he becomes king. And he adores Tia, so he might give her everything she wants.
Honestly speaking, im not too crazy about her becoming an empress. I really want her to be the Lombardi Head though. There is a level of independence there which makes Tia so very...Tia. I love her like that.
I feel that even the blond prince will start coveting Tia after some time.
Right. That’s what I said in one of my replies on this thread. She’ll have to live in the palace. The head of the house not living within the household itself is a contradiction. And who all know Perez is head over heels for Tia so he may not care much but technically empresses and concubines are confined within the palace and can only visit outside or even their homes with permission from the emperor. Again not suitable for a family head. You hit the nail on the head Tia is too fiery to simply live within the palace. It will too boring for her because obviously Perez won’t be bringing in concubines so there won’t be inner harem politics either. The matriarch position suits her more.
As for the blond prince. He already covets her. He was being handsy when they were kids too that’s why Perez showed his aura to protect Tia. And the empress has tried multiple times to play matchmaker. Politically speaking as well if he marries Tia he will be an Angenas royalty with Lombardi under their thumb for tia’s well-being. Only he’s trying to bite off more than he can chew.
At first they have this problem because once a woman got married she needs to give up her surname but in the end they used the emperor's one power to pass a law that nobody can contradict. And they made the empress still hold her surname and right to head her family. So basically they solved Tia's being the empress at the same time the Matriarch of the family.
Nobody can refute since it's the emperor's right to pass such law.
As for the workload, she did a good job in handling both of it. She had amazing secretaries ya know.
As for the residence, Tia alternately stays at the palace then Lombardi. But when she got preggy both her and Perez stayed at Lombardi as their residence and just went to the palace like its their office.
The author didn't follow the same logic in the typical monarchy-nobility stories.
Yeah I mean this is fiction so even sun can rise from the west lmao! ╮( ̄▽ ̄)╭
But srsly the heir apparent will have problems with taking the throne. There will be contests to his/her claim. In reality, royal blood rules by divine right. So the child must be fully royal. The arrangement the author has done implies that royalty & Lombardi are the same. This monarchy in reality will not rule long. It will set a precedent that any Noble House can just replace royals. Its also the reason why most royals were related to each other-- a very good eg is Eurasian royal history.
I am interested in how they deal with the conflict. She wants to be the family head but if she ends up as Perez’s partner she’ll be the empress. It’ll be impossible to manage the duties of both simultaneously. There the title of the manhwa but also Perez is so obviously the ml. And he can’t give up the throne either because that would mean Angenas get the throne and they won’t leave Lombardi intact if they do so.
I personally want her to became to family head but still get together with Perez.