okay so here's my understanding of the story so far (with spoilers from the novel)
Sovieshu's plan is to both acquire an heir and a perfect empress.
When he was a child, he sneaked into the previous empress's (his mother's) room and found cookies which he gave to young Navier. Navier suggested they ate it together. Soon after, the previous empress was more anxious than angry that he took the cookies because it was for a countess that was favored by the emperor at that time (this is where I gag at Sovieshu's hypocrisy. he literally hated his dad for having concubines but look at him now) Sovieshu found out the cookies were mixed with poison that caused miscarriage with a side effect of infertility. His mother asked him if he shared the cookies but he quickly replied no. He lied instinctively, feeling that it's something no one should find out.
So because there is still no child between Sovieshu and Navier, Sovieshu concludes that one of them is infertile.
At that point in time, he was very stressed with the pressure the nobles and aristocrats were putting on him for not having a child to inherit the throne. Not only that, if he didn't bear an heir soon the throne would go to his uncle's son and his bloodline would ultimately lose the reign of the monarchy. That's what scared him because he knew how brutal being a member of the royal family was. After all, he spent some of his childhood watching the previous emperor (his father) with his concubines while his mother was abandoned. So when Trashta comes in, she's like a stress relief away from everyone's prejudice as well as the seeming indifference of his wife Navier.
Mind you, Sovieshu may be an asswipe but he is not one to crave countless women in order to satisfy his ego. He'd consider it, but his pride would never let him. Even though Navier was not the perfect wife, she was the perfect empress and a child between them would've been perfect as well had it not been for that cookie. So if he could not bear a child with her, Trashta had to do (his plan sounded perfect in his own head lmao).
So Trashta is already pregnant but the child is still an offspring of a commoner so he/she cannot become a prince/princess. This is why Sovieshu kept bugging Navier to adopt Trashta's child, so that he/she will have a legitimate right to take the throne.
But because Navier would not give in to adopting the bastard child (thank goodness queen) Sovieshu diverts to a different plan: divorce Navier and make Trashta empress for a year so that the child claims a royal right. Then when that year ends, he takes Navier back and kicks Trashta out. So Sovieshu basically didn't see much value in Trashta except for her ability to get preggers and her "feminine" side that Navier didn't have. fsr he has this fetish with women who depended on him like damsels in distress. And because Navier was independent af he also had some type of inferiority complex.
Soveishu's downfall is not telling Navier of his plan. Before Trashta came along, like waaay before all the issues, Navier and Sovieshu loved and trusted each other. Idk how to describe their past relationship but if you'd ask me, Navier was not good at expressing herself and Sovieshu was the worst in understanding that trait of hers. That didn't become much of a problem until the topic of an heir was brought up. Sovieshu started worrying a lot and he basically started blaming it on Navier; saying crap like the reason they had no child was because she wasn't affectionate to him or that she was infertile all along. Regardless, Navier continued to love him silently and although at first Sovieshu did the same for her, he began to lose sight of his love for her as he focused on figuring out how to produce an heir.
Sovieshu will soon snap back to his senses though, but it'll be too late. Because by then, Navier would've fallen for Heinly already and he won't be able to do anything about it. Sovieshu was the one who pushed Navier away after all.
So not only were they colleagues (on the throne) they were childhood friends who knew each other by the back of their hands. But because of Sovieshu bitch's inferiority complex, he decided he could handle batshit on his own. He basically plotted everything and since he didn't tell Navier, he made it seem like he was in love with Trashta and hurt Navier beyong comprehension.
Another thing is that he didn't calculate how crafty and cunning Trashta could be. So shit was gonna get loose when Navier stepped down from the throne.
Soon, Sovieshu ends up mentioning his plan to Trashta (1-year empress trial). Without his knowledge, Navier was actually listening to their conversation. This makes Navier leave the palace where she bumps into Heinley in a pub. Heinley confesses that he needed a queen to stand by him in his kingdom (Heinley's home is a kingdom, not an empire) and he wanted Navier to be queen. Navier, remembering what Sovieshu told Trashta, then offers marriage and Heinly accepts but he's confused because she's still married.
Navier continues sending letters through the blue bird (Heinley's attendant) and Sovieshu takes notice of this; speculating Navier is communicating with Heinley. So he orders to kill any bird that goes near the empress's chambers. Navier sends a warning but the bird confuses it and ends up getting hurt (blood, feathers, and all). Sovieshu bitch even sends a bird stew to Navier as warning. The bird isn't dead though, because Trashta finds it and gives it to Duke Elgy (Heinley's friend and the man Trashta is borrowing money from) who then becomes the means of communication between Navier and Heinley.
Meanwhile, Trashta (already knowing Sovieshu's plan) feels that she cannot compare to Navier. Duke Elgy suggests she studies so that's what she does. She studies while being accompanied by Sovieshu but she keeps complaining so Sovieshu keeps comparing her to Navier which infuriates. This keeps happening; she studies, acts fake-cute af in front of Sovieshu, borrows money from Duke Elgy, and pays money to Viscount Rostechu. At some point, Trashta also hires assassins to kill the Troby couple (Navier's parents). Then Navier's brother also attempts to poison Trashta to kill her child. He ends up being exiled by Sovieshu for it. Sovieshu then uses Navier's brother's crimes as leverage to solidify the divorce.
On the day of the divorce with the High Priest present, Sovieshu embarrasses Navier and claims she tried to harm his daughter. This is when Heinley enters as Navier asks the High Priest to bless her second marriage.
Sovieshu is salty af and even locks Navier, Heinley, and Navier's fam in their house while he searches for any laws that could null Navier's second marriage. The blue bird (Heinley's attendant) then appears to take them all to the Western Kingdom (Heinly's kingdom). Sovieshu goes crazy and demands to find them.
Some time passed since Navier left and Sovieshu goes paranoid because he felt she really wasn't coming back. So he doesn't drop Trashta from the empress seat because he put a lot of effort into doing it (faking Trashta's noble background and shit) but he does question whether their daughter is his or not. He uses magic to clarify the paternity; he was scared because he made so many enemies by divorcing Navier just to have an heir so there's no way he could save his dignity as emperor if his plan backfired. If the child really wan't his, it'd also shatter his confidence that he isn't sterile because Navier was already pregnant with Heinley's child (Sovieshu and Navier are both infertile because of the cookie but Navier and Heinley did (づ￣ ³￣)づ on a magical bed which is why she got pregnant). Sovieshu prayed the child really was his because he couldn't bear to live with the possibility that he lost Navier for nothing.
The truth was that when Trashta left Allen (the Viscount's son) years ago, she was already pregnant with their second child. But because she was sleeping with Sovieshu soon after, she didn't know Allen was the baby daddy. At some point, she also gets a scar on her face so Sovieshu starts to lose interest in her cause like you know the taboo with women in high society having scars.
It's revealed that Duke Elgy had only been getting information from Trashta. He's Heinley's friend and so, by Heinley's request, he got close to Trashta and got her to borrow money from him. Everything Trashta did, he told Heinley.
So Trashta's crimes are brought to light and she's imprisoned. She also ends up killing herself in her cell.
Sovieshu rejects the bastard child and has no heir to the throne.
Heinley and Navier live happily ever after with their little twin babies :)
okay so here's my understanding of the story so far (with spoilers from the novel)
Sovieshu's plan is to both acquire an heir and a perfect empress.
When he was a child, he sneaked into the previous empress's (his mother's) room and found cookies which he gave to young Navier. Navier suggested they ate it together. Soon after, the previous empress was more anxious than angry that he took the cookies because it was for a countess that was favored by the emperor at that time (this is where I gag at Sovieshu's hypocrisy. he literally hated his dad for having concubines but look at him now) Sovieshu found out the cookies were mixed with poison that caused miscarriage with a side effect of infertility. His mother asked him if he shared the cookies but he quickly replied no. He lied instinctively, feeling that it's something no one should find out.
So because there is still no child between Sovieshu and Navier, Sovieshu concludes that one of them is infertile.
At that point in time, he was very stressed with the pressure the nobles and aristocrats were putting on him for not having a child to inherit the throne. Not only that, if he didn't bear an heir soon the throne would go to his uncle's son and his bloodline would ultimately lose the reign of the monarchy. That's what scared him because he knew how brutal being a member of the royal family was. After all, he spent some of his childhood watching the previous emperor (his father) with his concubines while his mother was abandoned. So when Trashta comes in, she's like a stress relief away from everyone's prejudice as well as the seeming indifference of his wife Navier.
Mind you, Sovieshu may be an asswipe but he is not one to crave countless women in order to satisfy his ego. He'd consider it, but his pride would never let him. Even though Navier was not the perfect wife, she was the perfect empress and a child between them would've been perfect as well had it not been for that cookie. So if he could not bear a child with her, Trashta had to do (his plan sounded perfect in his own head lmao).
So Trashta is already pregnant but the child is still an offspring of a commoner so he/she cannot become a prince/princess. This is why Sovieshu kept bugging Navier to adopt Trashta's child, so that he/she will have a legitimate right to take the throne.
But because Navier would not give in to adopting the bastard child (thank goodness queen) Sovieshu diverts to a different plan: divorce Navier and make Trashta empress for a year so that the child claims a royal right. Then when that year ends, he takes Navier back and kicks Trashta out. So Sovieshu basically didn't see much value in Trashta except for her ability to get preggers and her "feminine" side that Navier didn't have. fsr he has this fetish with women who depended on him like damsels in distress. And because Navier was independent af he also had some type of inferiority complex.
Soveishu's downfall is not telling Navier of his plan. Before Trashta came along, like waaay before all the issues, Navier and Sovieshu loved and trusted each other. Idk how to describe their past relationship but if you'd ask me, Navier was not good at expressing herself and Sovieshu was the worst in understanding that trait of hers. That didn't become much of a problem until the topic of an heir was brought up. Sovieshu started worrying a lot and he basically started blaming it on Navier; saying crap like the reason they had no child was because she wasn't affectionate to him or that she was infertile all along. Regardless, Navier continued to love him silently and although at first Sovieshu did the same for her, he began to lose sight of his love for her as he focused on figuring out how to produce an heir.
Sovieshu will soon snap back to his senses though, but it'll be too late. Because by then, Navier would've fallen for Heinly already and he won't be able to do anything about it. Sovieshu was the one who pushed Navier away after all.
So not only were they colleagues (on the throne) they were childhood friends who knew each other by the back of their hands. But because of Sovieshu bitch's inferiority complex, he decided he could handle batshit on his own. He basically plotted everything and since he didn't tell Navier, he made it seem like he was in love with Trashta and hurt Navier beyong comprehension.
Another thing is that he didn't calculate how crafty and cunning Trashta could be. So shit was gonna get loose when Navier stepped down from the throne.
Soon, Sovieshu ends up mentioning his plan to Trashta (1-year empress trial). Without his knowledge, Navier was actually listening to their conversation. This makes Navier leave the palace where she bumps into Heinley in a pub. Heinley confesses that he needed a queen to stand by him in his kingdom (Heinley's home is a kingdom, not an empire) and he wanted Navier to be queen. Navier, remembering what Sovieshu told Trashta, then offers marriage and Heinly accepts but he's confused because she's still married.
Navier continues sending letters through the blue bird (Heinley's attendant) and Sovieshu takes notice of this; speculating Navier is communicating with Heinley. So he orders to kill any bird that goes near the empress's chambers. Navier sends a warning but the bird confuses it and ends up getting hurt (blood, feathers, and all). Sovieshu bitch even sends a bird stew to Navier as warning. The bird isn't dead though, because Trashta finds it and gives it to Duke Elgy (Heinley's friend and the man Trashta is borrowing money from) who then becomes the means of communication between Navier and Heinley.
Meanwhile, Trashta (already knowing Sovieshu's plan) feels that she cannot compare to Navier. Duke Elgy suggests she studies so that's what she does. She studies while being accompanied by Sovieshu but she keeps complaining so Sovieshu keeps comparing her to Navier which infuriates. This keeps happening; she studies, acts fake-cute af in front of Sovieshu, borrows money from Duke Elgy, and pays money to Viscount Rostechu. At some point, Trashta also hires assassins to kill the Troby couple (Navier's parents). Then Navier's brother also attempts to poison Trashta to kill her child. He ends up being exiled by Sovieshu for it. Sovieshu then uses Navier's brother's crimes as leverage to solidify the divorce.
On the day of the divorce with the High Priest present, Sovieshu embarrasses Navier and claims she tried to harm his daughter. This is when Heinley enters as Navier asks the High Priest to bless her second marriage.
Sovieshu is salty af and even locks Navier, Heinley, and Navier's fam in their house while he searches for any laws that could null Navier's second marriage. The blue bird (Heinley's attendant) then appears to take them all to the Western Kingdom (Heinly's kingdom). Sovieshu goes crazy and demands to find them.
Some time passed since Navier left and Sovieshu goes paranoid because he felt she really wasn't coming back. So he doesn't drop Trashta from the empress seat because he put a lot of effort into doing it (faking Trashta's noble background and shit) but he does question whether their daughter is his or not. He uses magic to clarify the paternity; he was scared because he made so many enemies by divorcing Navier just to have an heir so there's no way he could save his dignity as emperor if his plan backfired. If the child really wan't his, it'd also shatter his confidence that he isn't sterile because Navier was already pregnant with Heinley's child (Sovieshu and Navier are both infertile because of the cookie but Navier and Heinley did (づ￣ ³￣)づ on a magical bed which is why she got pregnant). Sovieshu prayed the child really was his because he couldn't bear to live with the possibility that he lost Navier for nothing.
The truth was that when Trashta left Allen (the Viscount's son) years ago, she was already pregnant with their second child. But because she was sleeping with Sovieshu soon after, she didn't know Allen was the baby daddy. At some point, she also gets a scar on her face so Sovieshu starts to lose interest in her cause like you know the taboo with women in high society having scars.
It's revealed that Duke Elgy had only been getting information from Trashta. He's Heinley's friend and so, by Heinley's request, he got close to Trashta and got her to borrow money from him. Everything Trashta did, he told Heinley.
So Trashta's crimes are brought to light and she's imprisoned. She also ends up killing herself in her cell.
Sovieshu rejects the bastard child and has no heir to the throne.
Heinley and Navier live happily ever after with their little twin babies :)