Wait what? Riftan abuses her? Toxic relationship? Wdym? Doesn't he love her so deeply that he doesn't want any troubles reach her? I mean that's what I can see so far but there's too much communication gap which pmo
The way Riftan treats Maxi throughout the story, ESPECIALLY in the novel (after re-reading it), is abusive. Emotional, verbal, and sexual abuse — beginning with the marital rape on their wedding night.
[SPOILERS]
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In Book 2, Riftan repeatedly shuts Maxi out and uses emotional withdrawal almost as a punishment because she left him for three years. What makes this worse is that Maxi didn’t leave out of selfishness or because she stopped caring about him; she left because she was trying to protect him from her father’s actions to ruin Riftan's livelihood as well as strip him of his knighthood. After spending a significant portion of Book 2 stonewalling Maxi, Riftan then isolates her with him for an entire week, where he repeatedly forces her into sex despite Maxi expressing distress and verbally urging him to stop. His intentions do not erase the harm caused by his actions.
So yes, Riftan is abusive, and the frustrating part is that the story rarely holds him accountable for that abuse. Instead, it repeatedly frames his behavior through the lens of him being wounded, traumatized, or misguided, which shifts the focus toward sympathizing with him rather than rightfully addressing how his actions affect and further traumatize Maxi. That’s why I find the argument that Riftan receives significant character development ridiculous to accept. Any growth he does comes extremely late in the story, after a long pattern of emotional avoidance, refusal to communicate, and rejecting opportunities to actually repair their relationship. Compared to the amount of time he spends hurting Maxi and refusing to confront his own behavior, his development feels minimal, insignificant, and insufficient.
Geez so this shit is about to happen soon. Sigh~~~
(￣ε(#￣)Σ
So, semi-spoilers, but in Book 2 we’re introduced to a new character named
Annette (I think that’s her name, but I honestly can’t remember), and I really hope the manhwa does her justice because she was one of the very few characters who actually made Maxi question her relationship with Riftan.
She immediately noticed the way Riftan treated Maxi, openly criticized his behavior, and questioned why Maxi tolerated being treated that way. Honestly, she was a breath of fresh air because she brought up issues that the story itself seemed reluctant to address for basically all of Book 1. It’s a shame, though, because instead of fully exploring that conflict, the author seemed more interested in portraying Riftan as a wounded, "misunderstood" waif who was"abandoned" by his wife whom he doesn’t even treat like a wife, rather than holding him accountable for how his borderline abusive actions have affected Maxi and their entire relationship. We never really get to see Maxi confront him about their toxic dynamic, which makes me wonder what the hell the point of introducing a character who challenges Maxi perspective was in the first place.