it's pretty simple honestly if my baby is the emperor the empress power Will sky rock,, the empress can over throw the emperor if HE becomes the emperor. if baby becomes the empress, the empress power can't sky rock though her alliance will alone will still be big after he become the empress, but the thing is nobles WANTS and will join The Prince bc for there understanding it's "MORE POWER" so ye to summarize it the empress alliance will weakened bc the big nobles are in the emperor side,, so that means the empress who wants to like ruin shit or take control will not be able to take control. bc the strong alliance will not be on her side
sorry I'm bad at explaining
Maybe it's also because Ettiene have been brainwashed by his mom. Since he was a child, the empress has been saying a bunch of coocoo and down grading stuff to him. Now, he only wants to leave the palace (the core of his suffering) and have Rishar take his place/burden.
I hate when there is an obvious answer to the conflict. why did it never occur to Ettienne he could marry Rikshar and become the empress. It is like the best of both worlds. Obv the empress would't want that but if he came out as an omega early on he would still be an asset