The main villain isn’t the emperor and the empress dowager, but the pope. Turns out the pope manipulated the whole situation, killed the previous empress, convinced the dowager to frame her (so she wouldn’t get blamed for her death), killed herdins parents (I can tell u the reason if ur curious) and placed a black magic curse on Herdin to kill him like his parents (and ordered Blair to be murdered). The guildmaster is his (popes) illegitimate son and they’re both related to Herdin (the pope was the illegitimate son of his grandfather). In the end Herdin and Blair get back together and the baby (asiel) has memories of their previous life. If ur curious about anything else u can ask!
The main villain isn’t the emperor and the empress dowager, but the pope. Turns out the pope manipulated the whole situation, killed the previous empress, convinced the dowager to frame her (so she wouldn’t get blamed for her death), killed herdins parents (I can tell u the reason if ur curious) and placed a black magic curse on Herdin to kill him like his parents (and ordered Blair to be murdered). The guildmaster is his (popes) illegitimate son and they’re both related to Herdin (the pope was the illegitimate son of his grandfather). In the end Herdin and Blair get back together and the baby (asiel) has memories of their previous life. If ur curious about anything else u can ask!

Guys I read the whole novel, ask me if u have any questions regarding spoilers