I wholeheartedly agree - rape is still rape but the technicality here is the pheromones, the heat n rut. Both r innocent - it’s not Jaheons fault he can’t control his pheromones n Muhan being doused in pheromones to trigger his first rut. Dare I say it seems like Muhan either felt defeat or reluctancy w the AAAH, paneling over to Jaheon’s face. Muhan went over to check up on Jaheon after he realized what was going on w Jaheon - not to do this.
I agree. I personally don't see this as rape via mugo. In my mind, this is like two people who are drunk and having sex. The whole consent thing is very blurred right now because neither of them is in control or fully mentally functional.
This is such an unfortunate situation for both of them. Mugo was pure, sweet, straight-laced, and genuinely liked Jaheon. He quite literally couldn’t control himself or fight against his biological constitution.
And don’t even get me started on poor Jaheon. He has had virtually no autonomy over his body in any sense. His social class and gender allow nobles to do as they please with his personhood, and because he has been sexually abused so many times, he can no longer control his hormones or pheromones. As a result, he’s constantly in a state of heat.
What Mugo did was wrong, but I don’t think you can outright call it rape because they literally cannot resist each other. Just as Jaheon opens himself up to any alpha nearby when he’s in heat, Mugo had never experienced a heat before. How can you suppress or control something you’ve never experienced?
Anyway, it’s completely understandable why Jaheon hates the current Mugo. From what we’ve seen so far, it’s clear they share a deeply traumatic past.