Like, genuinely, what is this? First off, why the hell is he gray, second off why is his problem being pushed to the side??? They told us he’s sick in a way that can’t really be fixed because of what was implied that was done to him (forcefully marked) and now he’s somehow someway going to be pushed as the antagonist for what??? It’s so insanely colorist that idk how to feel. We’re in 2026 man, and I am so over dark skin = bad, savage, fetish, or wtv else. It’s not good writing and it re-enforces bigotry.
She said the queen was her aunt and her aunt betrothed her neice to her son?? The baby would come out looking physically messed up right??? Why was that detail glossed over??
It depends on how often the family was inbreeding in the past. It usually takes multiple generations for problems to show up unless both partners carry a genetic defect that can be passed on. As for why it's included so often, it's because it was commonplace to marry a family member until Charles Darwin was reminded of his family while looking at his wilting inbred garden. For context, Darwin was married to his cousin, and they had 10 children. Three of them never made it to adulthood, and another three were sterile.
Incest is mostly used for first degree relatives, meaning brother and sister, father and daughter, grandfather and granddaughter.
But inbreeding over several generations is no good, that was also common knowledge in the past.
The problem is royal families often thought of themselves as special and chosen by god and nobody outside their family was good enough, so they married inside the family to preserve their special bloodline. What could go wrong, if you were chosen by god?
Yep and to piggyback off of what you said, The Hapsburg monarchy family were strong believers in keeping their blood pure so they married each other and never any outsiders. For them, it was the same as Darwin, cousins married cousins. Nieces married Uncles and nephews married aunts and so on. The Hapsburg Jaw/Chin started coming about in later generations. With each generation, the deformity of the jaw/chin got worst. King Charles II (not the current King of England of course) was the last of his generation. He had the reading level of a 4 year old and his jaw/chin hung so far out that he couldn’t even chew his food properly. He couldn’t walk straight and he drooled. He married a few times and tried to have children but it wouldn’t work. When he died so did that family.
What you described was the Spanish Habsburg line, they had a lot of enemies, so it was difficult to find proper marriage partners outside their family and intermarriage got worse and worse.
The Austrian Habsburg line, on the other hand, thrived and their princesses were sought after as marriage partners in all European monarchies, because they survived giving birth to a dozen children, while princesses of other families were too fragile for this many pregnancies.
The Austrian Habsburg family reigned in Austria until the abolishment of monarchy at the end of World War I and their Descendants are still around, just without their titles and privileges.
If my partner told me "hey do you wanna move to this foreign country where you don't speak the language, have any idea what the society/culture is, or have any family?" I'd for SURE be angry and then get even angrier if they got mad at me about it after assuming I would just go along with anything. Thank god this is all fictional 'cause I would go off










Didn’t he already confess his love to her? Why is she acting oblivious to his feelings? She KNOWS the other girl is her. (At least she should know, no??) Did I miss a chapter or something? Did he take back his feelings? Or has she denied them so much she genuinely forgot??
Technically he implied it, & I believe he sort of brushed it off due to embarrassment (also wanting to do it a “better way”). But he never denied it. I guess they decided to put it aside to keep the friendship going. So, really the only thing that’s keeping her from him is:
1. Her thinking he’s reciprocating another woman’s crush (who’s young and beautiful) 2. Their status; she is a noble with no name or money, and he is the wealthiest, land and money wise.
Miss Pendleton does like Mr. Dalton—that much is obvious from the dialogue she thinks about—but like how the his sister mentioned in chapter 71, she’s too humble to the point she belittles herself & is insecure about the attention she receives, especially romantically
Oooooh okay, ‘cause I thought it was weird to have the most socially aware character not be…socially aware? It made me feel like they were tryna dumb her down for the plot
HAHAHA. I believe there was a chapter where she catches a hint of Mr Daltons flirt towards her, so she’s definitely not oblivious or socially inept. Unfortunately it’s all just realistic fear from the rumors, torment, and abandonment from her father that she feels invalidated to receive his love in any way besides platonically—because she still wants him around; she’s beautifully and realistically written. Which can make us (normal people) feeling frustrated with her realistic ideology in a fictional universe