It’s so funny

I think I sort of do feel bad period now you remember coma this story is Supposedly to embellish on the empress which is good period the empress hasn't done anything wrong But you have to think about Rasta situation. She was a slave. I mean like, if you were in a place where you are considered not even a human and have been sexually abused and you need escape, you would try to grasp at any rope to find a better life. However I think she was naive and not trained and not skilled and was thrown into the water with sharks and she's trying to keep her head above water and she's doing about it the only way she knows how, by doing what she's learned as a slave, trying to find any way to not go back to that life. I know she probably got too ambitious but she's being fed that she's got to be ambitious. I just feel like, if there wasn't any slavery allowed in this land, if she was given an opportunity to improve herself and the education to do it, she wouldn't have chosen this path or maybe, she wouldn't have been taken for granted and abused for so long that she's just a broken doll trying to keep herself from falling apart. As I said I'm going to sympathize with the girl who's been a slave all her life because she wasn't prepared for any of this and she had to be sneaky but you got to remember, look at everyone who's betrayed her

People aren't feeling sorry for rashta because they are dumb but because this is one of the shortcomings the story fails to ever address.
We are supposed to see Navier as a sympathetic character, the perfect and benevolent empress. But the author didn't give much though to what Navier being a good empress would mean. It would mean she would make sure slavery is abolished in her empire, it would mean she makes sure nobles don't abuse their authority or that they are allowed to be corrupt. Yet Rashta's character is direct result of the failings of the imperial family's government. And when you think about it, Rashta is an abuser girl, forced into slavery, abused, who had her kid stolen from her before the story begins. Like before meeting sovieshu she was a literal slave. Now this emperor comes out of nowhere and rescues her of course she will cling to him like a lifeline.

I think you are putting way to much in the hands of navier. Empresses commonly do not have much power, everything has to be approved by the Emperor. They mostly hold events, charity galas, are the head of fashion and the social world, they have little political power unless the emperor is behind them. Navier has showed that she does care for the people and does active philanthropy, she even left Rashta money for her to donate to the people.

I do not understand how you expect one woman, in a patriarchy, to abolish slavery. Not only the emperor had to agree, but the nobles have to agree too or it could cause a coupe. So I don’t understand how Rashta having a shitty life is because of Navier, especially because Rashta was a slave LONG before Navier became queen, they are literally close in age. Just because she’s a slave doesn’t mean she can steal someone’s husband, cling to him sure, but she could have gone another way. She could have asked Navier for ajob, an education, to be adopted into a good family, instead she wanted something that she had no qualifications or rights to have. It’s not okay to be a bad person just because you have trauma. Rashta literally has not done one decent thing in her life, she’s been envious and covetous since day one. If she was a decent human being she wouldn’t be suffering so much.

Don’t blame everything on trauma, I know plenty of people, me include, who have suffered things you can’t even imagine. Yet we never take it out on other people and do our best to survive everyday. You cannot excuse her actions, she is ready to commit murder to be “happy”. She will never be happy.

I don’t feel bad for her, she got what she wanted and realized she can’t handle it. Navier literally let her have what she wanted, she wanted to be empress, there she has it. Now she’s realizing that just because she has the title, doesn’t make her an empress. The imperial court is cutthroat and an uneducated insecure girl isn’t going to swim in this “sink or swim” scenario. She is sinking.

I don’t like her because she acts like she’s cunning, but she makes stupid emotional decisions again and again. I genuinly do not know how she survived this long. She’s literally hating Navier, and the woman did nothing to her, it makes no sense. She lives in her mind rent free. She stubs her toe, it’s Navier’s fault, the people don’t like her, it’s Navier’s fault, her soup was cold, this was definetly because the chef liked Navier more. Navier even tried to help her, leaving her money to donate and continue the philanthropy that she started, and the girl botched that by giving the money to a THEIF

I do understand where you both are coming from though, cause obviously her trauma of abuse and not trusting anyone has created a monster. I just personally (as I stated in the original post) have experience girls like Rashta before and it is not pleasant. People that use their trauma as a weapon to cause misery are so scary to be around. I literally have PTSD about girls like this because they have wrecked friend groups and peoples relationships with this behaviour, and still to this day, do not know what they did wrong.

I have an real life example but it might be TMI Lmfao

i was cheesin whole time I’m reading this

I don't think Navier is solely responsible for slavery in the empire. That is obviously mostly Sovieshu's responsibility. But she still failed as an empress by not ever being shown to get involved in the social issues present in her country.
I think you are honestly seeing everything too black and white and forgetting that most of the time things are somewhat I. The middle.
The real villain here is sovieshu.
Also Rashta isn't just abused. She was a slave. Like yes, you know plenty of people who have been abused, how many have you known that were slaves. Like Rashta wasn't just abused, her every human right was violated since she was a little kid. She doesn't even know how to read, she wasnt taught basic life skills. At the start of the novem she doesn't even understand how titles and differences between nobility and royalty work. Realistically, Rashta should be portrayed with more depth.
Again, in the story Rashta is never portrayed in a way that the reader is able to empathize with her. She is written to be seen not as a victim who survived slavery and was later traped in another abusive relationship, but as a bratty kid who unjustly steals what is rightfully Navier's. And this is one of the author's shortcomings.
She wrote the story and didn't pay attention to the fact that the narrative she tried putting in place may no hold under scrutiny.
She could have written this differently. But she didn't.
This doesn't mean this story is not good. Just that it has shortcomings.

Also it's not that in justifying Rashta's action, rather what I am saying is Rashta's character is badly written .