I agree but if the FL decides to send him away I can definately empathize with her. He's definately not evil but if I were the mother of the second prince I would want a person who was actively trying to murder my son gone. Not dead, but I would have him sent away. I could never dream of raising my child with someone who tried to murder him, whatever his reason may be.
His mom and her assassin maid need to be executed though.
Yea they definitely need to go. I just am seeing a lot of readers not taking in the fact that he’s still really young and is being used and manipulated because he has no one else on his side. But his mom pisses me off so much. I also feel like the story kinda drops off? Like at first she seemed she really really smart, and I get she’s desperate now but her character feels shallow (like writing wise). It’s disappointing cause this story could’ve been a lot better.
EXACTLY!! I feel the same about the villain. The villains are supposed to be irredeemable but it's so much more interesting when the FL has to fight someone desperate AND intelligent. Villains like that usually aren't 2D. They're complex. I don't actually see them in a lot of stories. Sadly they're usually reduced to jealous spoilt catty women who want to fight for a man's affection. Like, come on there's got to be something else you can fight for.
Yea and like the reason for her sleeping with his brother is never explained properly, it’s just left up to the reader to piece together their own conclusions, which feels like lazy writing to me
The original plan was for her to sleep with the emperor, but he wasn’t having it and drank so much he passed out. So instead she made it appear they had sex. I believe she removed his clothes and hers and he woke up to all that and thought they had sex. Then she intentionally and secretly slept with the crazy brother to get pregnant. The brothers looked so much alike she hoped to have a child that looked just like the emperor……and it worked. Somebody correct me if I missed anything, but that’s what I remember.
I guess that DOES make sense and I’m gonna go with that. I must’ve missed that in the novel because I remember her yelling at the ML that his brother was the rightful emperor, but maybe I remembered wrong. I was halfheartedly reading the last few chapters of the novel
Oh! I bet you did read a line like that. It would be the perfect thing for her to yell at ML towards the end when she knows it’s all over. Something like, “your brother should have been emperor and mine is the rightful heir”. It fits.
Just because he can make his own decisions, doesn’t mean he isn’t a victim. Keep in mind this whole time, the Emperor has been cold and kept him at arm’s length. Then he sees how this other son comes along and the Emperor doesn’t hesitate to make his mom Empress, name him crown Prince and show him affection, all while pushing his family further out of power. So he’s naturally close with his mother (who raised him since before he came to the empire). Now she and her maid are telling him he needs to do this for her. Why would he confide in the people that his mom is telling him are bad people? He’s a CHILD being ruthlessly used by people he’s supposed to trust. He doesn’t WANT to do this, but he’s forced to believe he needs to. To him it’s either them or his mom. Of course he chooses his mom!