Rushed ass ending ???

while i understand what they were going for, it definitely could have gone better and been more fleshed out. mielle found the empresses map(?) in her room, as well as the diary that included all of her murders. at the same time, her son was disposed of, and she knew that if maddie and yulikian made it back, they would have uncovered everything. so she decides shes going to go out on her own terms, confessing to everything and making the emperor feel betrayal. the woman is a psychopath, and maddie, realising everything was going according to her plan, gives her false hope that she might survive, only to rip it away from her, making her feel the same sort of betrayal she inflicted on the emperor, and then the empress meets a much more well-fitting end.

but it was done so BAD. all of the elements were there to make it such a better ending, probably could have been fleshed out another 5-10 chapters. 5 for the main plot with the empress confessing, maddie "betraying" her and her death, and maddie then reuniting with yulikian and astrid. another 5 for the side plot with mielle and the empress (mielle was done SO dirty), the empress and dr chet, the empress and the late emperor, and then maddie serving her time.

1) after the empress confesses and says "tell him that i did that," the next chapter should start with mielle. her finding the model of yulikians house, and the diary that revealed haildens innocence and the empress wanting to see how the emperor would react. after feeling confused and scared and battling her emotions for days, she brings the evidence to her father. at the end of the chapter, when mielle leaves the focus shifts to the emperor, him reading through the diary, feeling distraught and betrayed, then the empress walks in, bringing us to where the previous chapter left off.

2) the next chapter will start off with another flashback, but from the empresses perspective decades ago. it would start with her feeling mundane and apathetic towards the world, having a deep hatred for everyone around her but having no urge to do anything about it. it should also show the seeds right here that she doesnt care about her life, or any life in general. then she goes abroad and meets dr chet, becoming fascinated with the limits of the human body and humans in general, this also starting the beginning of her murderous urges. then, presenting the research material to the late emperor and getting his approval, getting pregnant with lambda and her seeing maddie for the first time.

2.1) it should also give a little more detail as to whether her and dr chet "loved" each other in any way, or if they only had lambda for the sake of experimenting on him. im going with her being in love with dr chet, him finally giving her the thrill she had been looking for in life, but dr chet only wanting a research subject (lambda).

3) after returning home from abroad, she gets her siblings killed. then going to the palace and her rage when meeting hailden, wanting to become crown princess but he was already happily married, so she plots to marry the brother instead and get hailden killed. hailden finds out about the ferroking project and contests the late emperor which makes him disband it, but at the same time the empress had lied to the brother that he raped her, so he gets hailden killed while keeping her hands clean.

4) all the flashbacks lead up to the empress present day, a pigeon arriving with a note that lambda has been killed and that yulikians forces had overpowered them (the message sent before all of them were taken out, obviously). by now, the previous chapters should have already sown the seeds that the empress doesnt care much for her life, so she goes to the emperor to confess to everything, so she can go out on her own terms, and because she wants to see the look of betrayal on his face. not sure WHY she killed him when nothing alluded to her secretly hating him or him getting in the way of her plans, but for whatever reason, after yulikian arrives, she briefly recounts the events of everything she did from the last three chapters, and kills him. yulikian has her apprehended, yelling at her why she did it, and she responds because she thought it was fun. shes arrested, and yulikian goes to the emperor, who mutters a very quiet apology before dying. stressed because the emperor is dead, not knowing how to feel because the man hes directed all of his anger toward was just being manipulated, and he wonders what their relationship would have been if she never entered their lives. his men tell him to go home and theyll handle the interrogation, so he does, maddie waiting outside the palace for him. he collapses into her arms, have a lovely dovey moment, and idk, maybe they spend their first night together (FINALLY).

5) the next day, yulikian hops back onto the investigation, going to the palace and looking for more evidence, where mielle comes to him and gives him the diary and his men find his fathers will, then he goes to interrogate the empress personally, where she confesses the same she did in ch 85. when asked why she didnt resist she says "a dog I left alone out of curiosity kept getting in my way." then we go back to maddie, thinking back to what her and yulikian talked about the night before/that morning, and about the empresses behavior and yulikian not knowing what to do, and so maddie begins plotting. she starts a protest/rally among the people who were not entirely in the know (its been less than 24 hours, theres probably rumors spreading but not much), she gets the crowds angry and worked up, saying the empress doesnt deserve a peaceful end for all the pain and suffering she put the people through. then she infiltrates the guards, pretending to the empress she was going to rescue her.

6) starts off in the carriage ride, the empress believing she was being rescued. she asks where theyre going, maddie says to the border of whichever country, the empress begins thinking about what she will be doing when she arrives and how shell be spending her life, and also the same thought that the brainwashing hadnt worn off and a dog is always loyal to its master. then the reveal that maddie was lying and that she didnt deserve to go out on her own terms, then the empress falling to despair and running away before meeting a brutal end. then back to maddie, yulikian finding her and asking why she did something so crazy, the typical back and forth, then idk something in between before maddie stands on trial. the courtroom is packed with all of the commoners/beggars that maddie has helped over the years, ahil tilly and daniel, the people from the pit, and all of them yelling that maddie is innocent and shes made up for whatever crimes she did in the past, and that she was also a victim. she gets her sentence, shes brought to the commoner jail, yulikian meets her and tells her about mielle going abroad, that nina misses her, and tells her how knox and astrid are doing. then he says then when she gets out, he wants to have a proper proposal and wedding.

7) maddies time in jail. her bonding with the inmates, the people that come to her for advice, and KNOX AND NINA VISITING HER. WHERE DID THEY GO. yulikian getting sidelined because of how busy/popular she is, but astrid gets to see her anyway. each of them should have a dedicated amount of time and not just 1 or 2 panels, so im going to say that takes up the entire chapter. then she gets released after 1 year, and yulikian proposes to her as soon as she gets out, she jumps into his arms, end chapter.

8) last chapter is wedding. meeting ninas parents, astrid getting his haircut, knox and nina hinting (found shambling in the desert mumbling "knox and nina side chapters knox and nina side chapters"), just maddie, yulikian and astrid being happy together. end of main series


then...knox and nina side chapters... domestic life side chapters... astrid side chapters (him getting comfortable with talking and growing up)... and maybe yulikian and maddie having a kid side chapters...