I do agree on most points that you said, but the thing is, imo, yes the useless prince is trying to be better, BUT forgiving him entirely bcs he now knows better just insults Tia that suffered bcs of him in that past timeline. See, it may have all been reversed but they are still very real pain to Tia. And no matter how many excuses and reasons the author gives for us to forgive the prince, it shouldn't erase the fact that Tia died bcs of him. IMO, them being the end game just insults all the chara development that Tia went through for HERSELF (ya know, like Sakura ending up with Sasuke [im still not over this one]). Tia should end up with someone who understands, knows and respects the strength that she has and likes her all the more for it. (Not Allendis, god forbid, he's such a nightmare).
But really, Snape isn't a good example for any sort of redeemable person. I like him as a character, but realistically, most of the things he did is not excusable. Family trouble does not excuse being a bully, much less to a child 2 decades his junior, peer pressure does not any excuse behaviour that results in terrorizing the innocents, and being a victim of bullying does not excuse begging to save only an estranged friend and not her whole family. No, not him being a spy even. And even more, comparing Snape (who is more on deep-rooted selfishness) to Ruve (who is selfish but does love the empire more) is not fair. I do agree that Ruve is just the right amount of snakey (being that he IS a prince) and that not liking him bcs of it is not fair.
Okay I keep seeing all this bs about how you can NEVER forgive the prince, he's a snake to the other princesses which proves he's still evil, even if he's nice now he's actually evil on the inside, etc. and I'm here to say NO THAT IS SO WRONG TO THINK ON SO MANY LEVELS.
1) NO, he is not the same person as he was in the first timeline. There is inherent good and bad in every human and clearly the author is slowly showing us in the second timeline that /something/ was driving him towards the bad, but that there is good in him originally. There are innocent, pure, and good children born into this world but placed into bad environments (slums, child abuse, etc) who become criminals because of external factors. However, many of them would likely be fine if they were raised in a positive environment. Also, just because the prince has wealth doesn't mean he was raised in a positive environment. If that were the case, rich or famous people like celebrities would never be depressed or suicice.
2) YES, humans can change. If they couldn't, why do we have prisons? Why shouldn't we just kill everyone who commits multiple crimes? It's because the intent for non-life sentence prisons is to reintegrate them into every day life. If even criminals with decade+ sentences can have a change of heart then this prince definitely can. Moreover, because this is a reincarnation story, this point doesn't actually apply to him, since he's now changing from an aloof child to a good human rather than a cruel king to a good human. HOWEVER, everyone seems to use this point as an argument. But it ain't valid y'all!
3) HE'S SNAKEY. Yes, I agree. But who isn't? There are snakes who are bad characters (lookin at you weed boi), but there are also snakes who are good characters (@snape who is cunning and a syltherin, diff story but gets my point across). Point is, to be the king, you need to be calculating and smart so you can protect those you care about (your citizens) and the prince does the same thing by being cunning to protect the one he cares about (tia).
4) yeah I still don't like the prince that much, but at least give him a chance y'all. He's just starting the road to redeeming himself, but if you guys are so close-minded as to not accept a webtoon character's attempt to become a better person, I'm afraid for the real world where people who want to change themselves for the better are the ones who need the most help. My friend used to volunteer every week at a prison helping the inmates earn their GED and although mildly scared at first (it was his placement so he couldn't not choose where to volunteer) by the end of the program, he was incredibly proud of the individuals he worked with. Only by being open-minded and giving second chances do we get to see the good in humanity.
But yeah, that is my rant :-) it's okay to not forgive him for the shit he did in the first timeline, but don't hold that against him now when judging whether or not he has the power to be good!!