It's really not for the romance. The plot is well written. It's not some dumb smut slop like the others. Every character has depth, the plot makes sense, and the mystery and how the plot builds up makes it good.
Pretty much what yanna said. I like a lot of happy go lucky fluff stories too, but in black flag stories the character growth is a huge payoff if done well, and no matter what their final relationship status by the end it's still satisfying to how the characters wound up there.
Not everyone is mentally stable (me neither lmao), I honestly do enjoy it in fiction irl I would never participate/like it.
Don't understand why people want to read these stories with a black flag ml lol