Oiko

What ruined everything wasn’t one villain, it was a chain of misread meanings. Miguel treated the early Canaria plan as pure political logistics and never considered the personal human fallout; efficiency to him equaled correctness, and before he fell for her she was just part of leverage, not an individual. The FL herself stayed silent and endured instead of saying that her discomfort came from the environment — she believed love meant “not complaining,” so she never separated her fear of the dog, the butler, and the social circle from her feelings for the husband. The husband then misinterpreted her quiet fear as rejection of him personally, and because he never asked directly, he trusted his interpretation instead of clarifying, so he reacted from wounded ego rather than data. The king, operating on a utilitarian view of power, treated the Canaria plan like a chessboard and never accounted for how destabilizing people emotionally could destabilize the entire chessboard in return. Even Vicenzo and Alfonso, who were confident pillars of the new republic, assumed that institutional stability alone protected them, and didn’t anticipate foreign monarchy interference. In short, no one is innocent — but no one’s “evil motive” was originally what the fandom projects; they all made the same cognitive mistake: they believed their own interpretation of someone else’s intentions was true, instead of verifying.

I can’t help but feel that many of the deaths — especially Louis' — were unnecessary and even counterproductive. If Heinrich truly wanted to protect Karen from her tragic fate and ensure peace, there were far more strategic options available.

He could have eliminated only the true threat — the Crown Prince, who was the key obstacle. Killing him would have destabilized the political danger without turning the entire empire into chaos. Letting Louis Asil live could have been a turning point. Louis may not have had power, but he offered Karen emotional stability and unconditional support. His death closed off any chance of a future ally who truly cared for her.
Moreover, Verdict didn’t have real support. Once the Crown Prince was gone, ML and Karen could have slowly disarmed what remained of Verdict’s influence

Instead, ML acted out of desperation and obsession. His love for Karen blinded him to any path that didn’t involve complete isolation and destruction. But in doing so, he became the greatest threat to the very future he was trying to save.

While his choices were tragic, it’s hard not to feel for ML. Living through the same year over and over, watching Karen die each time, must have shattered something deep inside him. The weight of that endless grief, helplessness, and love twisted by time… it’s no wonder he broke. His pain was unimaginable.

There was a better path. A smarter, less violent one. But the tragedy is that no one chose it. ╮(￣▽￣)