Sakuyaaizen

nope... enjoy the ride. it gets juicy be patient.
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I got you. Lol, I should make this into a copy-pasta whenever I'm asked to spoil the story.

(Spoilers ahead for those in the comments)
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So, by the end of Book 1, Maxi is forced to leave Anatol to train as a mage. This decision is not made out of personal ambition or selfish desire, but rather it's part of a calculated plan that Princess Agnes thought of in order to protect Riftan from the political and legal consequences of his actions after he nearly beats Maxi's father to death. While this is arguably the only genuinely redeemable action Riftan ever takes on Maxi’s behalf, it places him in danger of punishment. Maxi’s departure is meant to protect him, *not herself.*

As expected, Riftan is upset by this decision and furiously lashes out at both Agnes and Maxi. He refuses to see Maxi off when she agrees to leave and coldly tells her that if she leaves, he would not wait for her, and he'd erase her from his mind—essentially forgetting all about her. He shouts at her, tells her to "get the hell out" of his room—but not before telling her that she isn't leaving for *his* sake, but rather for her own, despite Maxi assuring him multiple times that wasn't the case—and Maxi ends up leaving in tears. Only after she's gone does he collapse emotionally, admitting that he lied, that he would, in fact, wait for her and that he cannot live without her. The narrative frames this breakdown as a moment of realization and supposed emotional growth. Three years later, Maxi returns.

At this point, we're led to expect some form of reckoning or at least an acknowledgment of his earlier cruelty, relief at her safe return, or even a sincere attempt at reconciliation. Instead, Riftan does the opposite. Upon their reunion, he pointedly ignores her. He avoids her, refuses conversation, and withholds any emotional engagement. This behavior is not neutral or passive; it's actively punitive. He spends the early part of Maxi’s return emotionally stonewalling her, forcing her into uncertainty and distress while never explaining himself, as "punishment" for leaving him. This prolonged emotional manipulation culminates in the infamous "banquet scene."

In retaliation, Maxi provokes Riftan by attending the banquet in a deliberately revealing dress and dancing with another man right in front of him. Her actions are immature and reactive, sure, but they are also a direct result of Riftan’s sustained avoidance and refusal to communicate. Rather than addressing the underlying conflict, Riftan responds with violence disguised as passion. He forcibly pulls Maxi away and has sex with her in a guest room. This doesn't occur once, nor in a momentary lapse of control.

He confines her with him for an entire week.

During this time, he repeatedly has rough sex with her despite her physical discomfort, emotional distress, and explicit protests.At one point, Maxi is crying and begging him to stop, yet he ignores her pleas—pretending as if he can't hear her. The scene itself doesn't read as consensual reconciliation but instead—at least from my perspective—as coercion sustained over days of emotional avoidance. When he finally stops, he smugly asks her, “Isn’t this what you wanted?”—a statement that reframes her earlier attempt to provoke communication as justification for her suffering.

What makes this sequence absolutely disgusting and egregious is that it follows directly after Riftan’s supposed realization at the end of Book 1. There's a noticeable lack of remorse, no offer of an apology for his earlier withdrawal, no accountability for his emotional punishment of Maxi upon her return, and no acknowledgment of the harm he's caused both before her departure as well as after her return. Instead, the story substitutes communication with sexual dominance and expects the reader to interpret this as romantic intimacy rather than borderline sexual abuse.

Far from demonstrating growth, this arc confirms that Riftan’s internal feelings—his guilt, fear, and obsession—never translate into meaningful behavioral change. Maxi bears the emotional consequences alone, and it pains me to witness an otherwise wonderfully written female lead be reduced to a sex object because of the ML's emotional volatility.

If you're expecting a "happy ending," after what was essentially a hellstorm of misunderstandings and miscommunication, then, honestly, it's best if you look elsewhere. At some point, Riftan finally tells Maxi that he's "proud" of her, but along with the lack of accountability or proper apology for his emotional avoidance during the entire first half of Book 2, him telling Maxi he's "proud of her" feels more like a hollow platitude than anything meaningful. Then at the end, he makes a dramatic scene by declaring a "knight's oath" to Maxi, but again, the gesture feels incredibly fruitless because of everything he had done to her but never once apologized for. All in all, in my honest opinion, I'd say to just drop it. It's *an ending,* but I wouldn't call it a good or even *satisfying* ending. I think it speaks for itself when Maxi, in her own words, admits she's begun to feel more like a younger sibling than a spouse to Riftan because of his seemingly withered passion for her. So, after the festering disaster of watching them fumble and fail in their relationship, that's the best we get? The FL is left feeling like the little sister to her once obsessively horny husband. What mess this story has been, I swear.

Doing the lords work.


Is there more than 2 books? Is the series continuing ? I may just pick it up and read

Nah. There are only 2 books in the main story. Other than that, there's also Riftan's POV side story, and a few other side stories inconsequential to the overall narrative.

Thanks, you saved me from wasting precious life time on this story!

Thank you so much!!!

This is so disappointing wow. I’ve been off and on with this story since it came out and I was recently getting back into it but this is officially my last straw

You will see people here attempting to convince others that Riftan eventually develops as much as Maxi has, but all of that is just heavy, desperate copium to keep people from dropping the story, at least from what I've observed. By the final volume, Riftan demonstrates the bare minimum amount of growth, but it comes far too late into Maxi's journey for it to feel meaningful and by that point, he's already hurt her so many times that his supposed development feels hollow and worthless. We don't get a genuinely cathartic apology after he spends over eighty chapters emotionally shutting Maxi out because she chose to leave for three years in an effort to protect his ungrateful ass. Instead, we're subjected to an absurdly drawn-out dub-con sex scene spanning multiple chapters, followed by Riftan pathetically begging Maxi not to leave him again, as though groveling is somehow an adequate substitute for accountability. That's what frustrates me most. The author seems to think that explaining Riftan's behavior is the same thing as addressing it. His trauma, abandonment issues, and obsession with Maxi are repeatedly used to contextualize his actions, but they're rarely challenged in any meaningful way. He never truly reckons with how inconsiderate, controlling, and possessive he's been throughout the story. Read the novel yourself to reach your own conclusion, but from my perspective, Riftan did not improve or develop at all. #－.－)

Yea I’ve noticed that a lot. I feel like Maxi carries the story, her development has been so nice to read and Riftan is just there ruining it constantly. One of the reasons I’ve been so off and on with this story

thx for the reccomendation! omw