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octosis created a topic of Lily of the Valley

Unpopular opinion maybe but I don't think either Rose or Lily are supposed to be likeable, but they are understandable to me. All three main characters are products of their environments and I quite like that.

Lily, as unloved as she feels, has been incredibly sheltered and has never had to fear not having a roof over her head or had to deal with people trying to use her for power. She's unhappy and has unmet needs but she's lacking in life experience, and in combination with her status that is a recipe for selfishness. Lily is too preoccupied with her own hurt to understand the implications of her actions and the pain she might cause others. No one has really told her about these things, and the only person who genuinely loves her is a person of a lower class who is very limited in what she can say and do, but also has an image of her that she can't control. And while Lily has the power to drastically change the fate of a person of the lower class, she has no say in what happens to herself. I actually don't hate her.
(Sidenote, we also know her father has some love for her, or at least feels guilty for sending her away, based on his tears when she leaves, but Lily herself doesn't feel that way, which is understandable given the clues we've been given about her life and the fact that her father is quite literally selling her off.)

Rose is also interesting in the sense that unlike Lily, she has power but society has taught her that no one values who she really is, only what she can give them. She tells Lily that early on, and she uses that show of vulnerability as a weapon, having buried the hurt of that statement so deep she doesn't know she's still feeling it. Since the world's caused her pain, she's long given up on having genuine love, but since she has power she gaslights, gatekeeps, girlbosses her way into getting the next best thing. She's an interesting character, if nothing else.

And Anna... Interestingly, she is the only one out of the three that has actually GAINED something emotionally, which is what also makes her more capable of giving genuine love. Lily provided safety and a roof over her head, and through her Anna starts gleaning what love truly feels like. But it's still not a complete understanding, especially with her trauma around sex. But Anna cares deeply about the person who saved her and will do her best to make her happy. Unfortunately her lower class prevents her from having a real healthy relationship with Lily, she's too aware of her position and knows how much she has to lose, should anything happen.
And unfortunately, Lily is not in a position to understand her, and Anna herself is preventing Lily from doing so by thinking she must shield her from sex and keep her pure. Despite what I said about Anna being the most capable of giving, her idea of love isn't healthy either, because she's put Lily on a pedestal, like an object to worship.


At any rate, on the surface this may seem like a clichéd drama based on misunderstandings, but I actually think the setting and characters are incredibly solid so far. If you put aside the intense emotions associated with romantic and sexual love and feelings of betrayal, if you look at the bigger picture it all makes sense. Hopefully the writing stays equally interesting in the future! But yeah don't expect this to be cute, this is absolutely going to be a complete trainwreck to watch regardless of the quality of the writing, simply for the fact that the power imbalances are doing their job. It'll be cool to see if the characters get to grow and unravel the emotionally tangled messes that are their lives.