It would be toxic if he was calling her stupid or saying she deserves it etc etc.
But like he is mostly yelling about how helpless and confused he feels.
He is a man of war, and actions. If something is wrong he fights to fix it. Literally in many cases. He doesn't understand how someone could endure abuse like this and not fight back.
They are each other's character foils.
She is beaten into submission by her environment, her stutter, and her family.
She was molded by her life experiences to respond to fear with fawning or freezing.
He was the opposite, he was raised and crafted into a perfect weapon. He knows how to command troops, to have the perfect battle strategy with minimal casualties.
If there is someone being hurt he stops it, and fights the abuser.
To him freezing isn't even a thought.
But it's all she can do.
And since this is all new information for him, plus he literally witnesses his wife who just recently miscarried being whipped so hard she is SOAKED in blood...
Ofc he's going to yell, he's confused and scared and blames himself more than anything.
Him asking her why is him trying to rationalize her decision, he can't wrap his head around why anyone would Want to go back.
He doesn't understand that she felt she had no choice.
He thinks that she is telling him by going back that this is preferable to being with him.
THAT is why is he angry and yelling.
I swear to God no one likes stories with conflicts longer than a few chapters.
It's OK for stories to have long arching character driven conflicts that aren't solved easily. It makes them more human! It would be boring if every story had quick and easy resolutions with perfect communication.
Angst is good!!
I also think kids don't like to feel uncomfortable anymore. It's ok if conflict makes you uncomfortable, that's how you push through and grow!!
Also as someone who was Beaten frequently by a father.. some of y'all have NO idea what's it's like to be under someone's control. To have zero agency. Even when you escape you still end up coming back at least once.
Bc you feel as though there truly isn't another choice sometimes. That you have so little worth that there's no point in trying.
Maxi has been WHIPPED since she was EIGHT !!
She trusts NO BODY
Ofc they're going to struggle as a couple!!!
Tldr; Riftan is a flawed but good man. He is not abusive. Y'all, learn to read difficult things and idk work on media literacy.
THANK YOU. he's yelling yes but not AT her
He is still yelling though, that can be traumatising on its own. And it's all he can do all the time lol. He makes it about him again and it's cool to have a flawed character but I can't see what makes him a good lover after everything that happens in this story, poor Maxi
Hey so people are allowed to yell when they're going through intense emotions.
Its called being human and caring about people you love.
If he sat there and didn't raise his voice once this scene would fall completely flat and be devoid of character development and emotion.
"It's all he can do all the time"
Gee I wonder why the warrior since childhood who leads an army and subjugates monsters would yell all the time it's almost like that's his job
Yk what else is probably traumatizing for Maxi?
BEING WHIPPED SINCE SHE WAS EIGHT
EXACTLY !!
People take their tik Tok therapy speak way too seriously and my god.
It's healthy to yell! It shows you care! It shows you're human and capable of intense emotions.
Nothing he's said has been blaming her.
Gosh, I wish we had more readers like you here, because this fandom is full of fucking idiots who can’t handle or analyze complex stories and characters. If they can’t stand plots with heavy themes, then maybe they should stick to reading fairy tales, watching Peppa Pig, or consuming stories where everyone holds hands, communicates perfectly, and lives happily ever after by chapter 5
EXACTLY THIS LMAO
LIKE CMON YALL IF THERE WAS NO CONFLICT ITS BE WORSE THAT CHILDRENS BOOKS !?!
I don't understand either why people make such immediate judgement calls on a characters entire self within the first 20 chapters. And then hold onto that image and refuse to "forgive".
Nobody wants to push past their own levels of comfort.
"This is a bad action so he's 100% evil" is just sooo reactionary and childish truly!!
"She should just leave", ok cool there are sooo many revenge titles you could read. This never said it would be.
It's like ordering chocolate ice cream then getting mad it's chocolate not mint. Go get the mint you want and stop trying to change something that already told you what it was.
Gun to these kids head and they couldn't tell you what a character foil is or the 5 main elements of a story structure.
Bet they couldn't even fill out the chart!
Like hello what do y'all want? No rising action? No exposition ?
Just straight to climax then conclusion?
That's boring!!
Found this randomly and saw so many comments that hated the ML...
And now that I'm caught up to 35, I'm unsure why y'all dislike him??
We've not seen him enough with her yet to determine much other than cautious interest.
He's not in love with her, he just sees her as a good potential ally.
They've met by chance at almost every occasion? Except maybe one?
Unless all these comments were meant to be on a different story I hope new readers give this a chance and y'all... Maybe wait before judging?
They've had a total of 4 conversations together. All being of the political drama nature.
Even him feeding the pie to her was him getting her to drink a specific potion.
So far he is an interesting character, I like him!
I was actually surprised he wasn't boring me.
Thank you ! I totally agree with you.
She also see him as nothing but a pawn at the moment so why be mad at him ?
Because he also has his own goals and is not solely focused on her’s ?
No seriously!!! Like the comments had me believing he fell hard and was sneaking around her obsessed. Dude is just curious about her plans and trying to figure out if she can help him. Especially with his curse!!
And she doesn't give a shit about him, other than his possible usefulness.
They'll be such a bad ass couple.
I'm actually really enjoying this one.
Oooh I like how you think ! Badass couple is what I am hoping for. The stories were the ML is just a second character that help the FL or where the FL is weak are boring. Why choose when you can have both being strong characters ?
I'm sobbing rn, this is exactly what I'm glad to see.
This is growth and grief.
If y'all wanted a revenge story it was never going to be this one.
This is about the trauma of two people and their love.
They BOTH lost their baby!!
Ofc he's going to handle that differently than her!
If y'all wanted her to hit him or destroy him, that wasn't going to be this.
Idk how many of y'all have actually lost children but it will destroy a relationship, and it takes a lot to come back whole as a couple.
And with both of their backgrounds these reactions make sense for them both.
She runs away, he buried the pain and took the blame.
I hope they continue to heal and talk and see how things go.
Maybe eventually they can have another child, they'd be wonderful parents
And I say that with the highest of compliments bc myGOD I get stress cramps reading this. This author is GOOD
But also.... Not the boy man.. :*( he is just a baby.
I hope that will at least make his men and servants turn against him. A lord that throws the elderly and a CHILD over the wall bc of a runaway "bride" ???
He's not fit for it, and they won't trust him
I think Jess should end here. He's lived so long. And even though they could have some "eternal happiness" together, Jess isn't happy being a vampire. He wants to live and die.
He turned Yohan knowing he would die.
He has small regrets but he is absolutely at a good point to end his eternity here.
Like my god let him rest now yk?
Think about the couple we're talking about here. They LOVE sex and kinky shit.
Obviously they've already had the somno discussion.
Yes consent is important, which is why we can take context clues that they've had the conversation before.
And here's the thing, speaking as an adult who has done things like this with partners.
You can't ask a sleeping partner for consent,bc they're asleep. Which is why the conversation is had days in advance or just in passing conversation so when it happens it is bc there is PRIOR consent.
Also the whole point of CNC is the surprise, the anticipation and the play acting.
Consent is not something you always need to get as the stuff is happening, it's very clear that this couple has had conversations about what they like.
We've seen them do it before.
Also did y'all forget when they were in the car she said Repeatedly that she Does want to have sex? Even in the car, and even as she's sleepy.
She also was barely asleep, she was awake while bathing and getting him to eat her out and then when he dried her hair. If anything she "fell asleep" for maybe a minute.
This is NOT like they had been both asleep for hours with no foreplay before and he woke up and fucked her with zero indication that she was willing.
This is very obviously just playful kink play with a partner.
Put your thinking caps on y'all lmao
Im confused on why people cant seem to comprehend this, this is predominantly smut website so ofc its going to have kinks and shit lmao
LITERALLY
Like first of all, pay attention to context clues
Maybe Not immediately rush to pearl clutching over "rape"
And like you said, this is an ILLEGAL site. It's going to have the majority of it be smut and then bc it has no real "regulation" you're just going to have to adjust to seeing weird shit.
These are Webtoon kids lol
OH MY GOD..... I DONT BELIEVE IT.... I FOUND A SENSIBLE PERSON!! SOMEOME WHO REALLY "UNDERSTANDS" !!!
Bahaha YW I WAS SHOCKED SEEING HOW MANY WERE CALLING HIM A RAPIST LIKE HUH
RIGHT??? LIKE???
This is honestly how you know these are either kids or younger adults who don't fuck.
Like this is pretty tame in terms of kinkiness in a relationship lmao
I really loved this don't get me wrong but uhh
Why does it feel like this is ending at the beginning of a third and final arc?
Like .. there should be one more arc after this? We're just ending it here? Why?
What about everything else?
I thought there would be an arc after the Winter arc.
What about everything with her mom??
her parents are good people, they aren't evil. But they made a MASSIVE MISTAKE in how they sheltered her and talked about the dark area.
They fucked up bad