Spoiler
As far as I remember correctly now her abuse starts anew. Since Rosetta is to marry good, the father doesn’t want the news of Maxi’s miscarriage and the rumors of the princess and Riftan to tarnish Rosettas chances. Father even refuses to let Riftan to get her once he comes back. So Riftan has to break in with Rosettas help. That is when Riftan finally sees that his assumption of Maxi to be a spoiled princess shatters and sees that she was abused her entire life. At first he sadly blames Maxi for never telling him and Maxi blames him for not telling her that she miscarried their child. Yada Yada. They have still a long way until they are finally happy.
Oh damn, this story still has a very looong way to go. Thank you for the spoilers! I'll probably just let this marinate until the end of 2026
Perhaps you should reconsider. I've got my own set of spoilers, if you don’t mind.
(Spoilers ahead for those in the comments)
So, by the end of Book 1, Maxi is forced to leave Anatol to train as a mage. This decision is not made out of personal ambition or selfish desire, but rather it's part of a calculated plan that Princess Agnes thought of in order to protect Riftan from the political and legal consequences of his actions.
Major spoiler: After discovering the Duke brutally abusing Maxi, Riftan nearly beats him to death. While this is arguably the only genuinely redeemable action Riftan ever takes on Maxi’s behalf, it places him in danger of punishment. Maxi’s departure is meant to protect him, not herself.
As expected, Riftan is upset by this decision and unfairly lashes out at Maxi. He refuses to see Maxi off when she boards the ship and coldly tells her that if she leaves, he will not wait for her, and he'd erase her from his mind—essentially forgetting all about her. He shouts at her, tells her to "get the hell out" of his room, and Maxi ends up leaving in tears. Only after she's gone does he collapse emotionally, admitting that he lied, that he would, in fact, wait for her and that he cannot live without her. The narrative frames this breakdown as a moment of realization and supposed emotional growth. Three years later, Maxi returns.
At this point, we're led to expect some form of reckoning or at least an acknowledgment of his earlier cruelty, relief at her safe return, or even a sincere attempt at reconciliation. Instead, Riftan does the opposite. Upon their reunion, he pointedly ignores her. He avoids her, refuses conversation, and withholds any emotional engagement. This behavior is not neutral or passive; it's actively punitive. He spends the early part of Maxi’s return emotionally stonewalling her, forcing her into uncertainty and distress while never explaining himself, as "punishment" for leaving him. This prolonged emotional manipulation culminates in the infamous "banquet scene."
In retaliation, Maxi provokes Riftan by attending the banquet in a deliberately revealing dress and dancing with another man right in front of him. Her actions are immature and reactive, sure, but they are also a direct result of Riftan’s sustained avoidance and refusal to communicate. Rather than addressing the underlying conflict, Riftan responds with violence disguised as passion. He forcibly pulls Maxi away and has sex with her in a guest room. This doesn't occur once, nor in a momentary lapse of control.
He confines her with him for an entire week.
During this time, he repeatedly has rough sex with her despite her physical discomfort, emotional distress, and explicit protests.At one point, Maxi is crying and begging him to stop, yet he ignores her pleas—pretending as if he can't hear her. The scene itself doesn't read as consensual reconciliation but instead—at least from my perspective—as coercion sustained over days. When he finally stops, he smugly asks her, “Isn’t this what you wanted?”—a statement that reframes her earlier attempt to provoke communication as justification for her suffering.
What makes this sequence absolutely disgusting and egregious is that it follows directly after Riftan’s supposed realization at the end of Book 1. There's a noticeable lack of remorse, no offer of an apology for his earlier withdrawal, no accountability for his emotional punishment of Maxi upon her return, and no acknowledgment of the harm he's caused both before her departure as well as after her return. Instead, the story substitutes communication with sexual dominance and expects the reader to interpret this as romantic intimacy rather than borderline sexual abuse.
Far from demonstrating growth, this arc confirms that Riftan’s internal feelings—his guilt, fear, and obsession—never translate into meaningful behavioral change. Maxi bears the emotional consequences alone, and it pains me to witness an otherwise wonderfully written female lead be reduced to a sex object because of the ML's emotional volatility.
If you're expecting a "happy ending," after what was essentially a hellstorm of misunderstandings and miscommunication, then, honestly, it's best if you look elsewhere. At some point, Riftan finally tells Maxi that he's "proud" of her, but along with the lack of accountability or proper apology for his emotional avoidance during the entire first half of Book 2, him telling Maxi he's "proud of her" feels more like a hollow platitude than anything meaningful. Then at the end, he makes a dramatic scene by declaring a "knight's oath" to Maxi, but again, the gesture is incredibly hollow because of everything he had done to her and never once apologized for. All in all, I'd say to just drop it. It's "an ending," but I wouldn't call it a positive or even *good* ending. I think it speaks for itself when Maxi, in her own words, admits she's begun to feel more like a younger sibling than a spouse to Riftan because of his seemingly withered passion for her. So, after the festering disaster of watching them fumble and fail in their relationship, that's the best we get? The FL is left feeling like the little sister to her once obsessively horny husband. What mess this story has been, I swear.
Thanks for explaining it better than I did. I couldn’t remember much and some points still infuriate me…’:)
Oh wow-- really appreciate your patience in summarizing the rest of the novel thank you so much!
I didnt know the story could get THAT worse. I feel sorry for Maxi's character. Such a shame the author made it like that. Ig ill drop this then. But i will come back once this manhwa is completed. Ill open a few chapters from here and there
No problem. I like to keep it VERY honest because I don't fuck with topics regarding abusive dynamics towards women, and I'm honestly tired of "romance" manhwas romanticizing problematic MLs and sexualizing extremely harmful dynamics.
No problem
Spoilers? Please? Anyone?
I dont have time to read the novel. I'm too employed for it