Am I the only one who doesnt like the emperor? So he knows he has a thirst for killing ppl...

You’re not supposed to feel sorry for him, though. While you don’t have to like him either, he’s not meant to showcase anything beyond strength, leadership and ruthlessness. There’s no part of the explanation they gave about his curse that was meant to bring pity from the reader.

In normal times, and I mean without the supernatural aspect, people wouldn’t want anyone who doesn’t have royal bloodline to rule over them. That kind of thinking is even truer in supernatural stories such as this. The question isn’t should you feel sorry for him, but why are his subjects not just loyal, but why do they still love him despite his affliction? He’s clearly a great ruler, for even that red haired knight to feel that way even though he’s developing feelings for the FL.

So caging himself isn’t an option. Every past emperor lost control due to their curse (his father was probably a serial rapist), yet the ML managed to find a workaround his curse so as to not cause senseless carnage. Sure, that custom with the concubines is cruel, but still very smart. Therefore why should he cage himself? As far as they’re concerned, this is the norm and no one is going to be ruling their country from behind a cage.

While it is the norm, the whole point of chapter 18 was to show that despite his curse, he’s a much more capable ruler than any of his predecessors, including his dick of a father who sent him into the battlefield at a young age just so he could die.

FRRR, like why are you killing innocent concubines?
At least go to the prison and relieve your curse on some criminals who actually deserve it!

Lol that would ruin his entire persona. The author is clearly not trying to portray him as a conventionally good person with an unfortunate curse. The point of it all was to show that he’s both ruthless and cunning as he’s using his curse to retain the control of his empire. Back then, emperors (and even Kings) didn’t have as much power as one would assume; their advisors and other nobles could control them because they had enough power to do so. However this emperor crushes any hope they would have of doing that through the cruel act of killing his concubines. He basically turned his bloodlust into a political art form. He might be a villain, but he’s a villain with depth.

Though that won’t stop him from having cute interactions with the FL.

I can see where you're coming from because I know the author wants to portray him a certain way but I still think there would be better options than to do what he does.
Since he's super strong and intelligent im sure he can control the other nations through other means rather than selecting a few innocent people and killing them. Also, if he's so fast to kill and get rid of other corrupt political heads, why doesnt he just get rid of the other people's unruly leaders? Their small nation would be to weak to fight back and the emperor would have a firmer grasp on them.

Well, a leader who kills his noble subjects (leaders of nations he conquered) because they won’t bend to him or will try to oppose him, is only going to be looked upon as a tyrant that Those people are then going to conspire to have killed.

You’re not wrong though, there are probably other methods that don’t involve killing multiple concubines, but I feel like it would only bother me if for some reason, the story was written to excuse it or to make it seem like he’s nothing but a good guy who kept making the same hard decision.

I personally appreciate variations in characters. A ML this cruel is a rare find. I appreciate that the purpose of his backstory was really there just to explain how he was brought up and how his mind works, rather than to make us sympathize with him.

But he does kill his noble subjects.
In chapter 20, the Bloody Banquet was when he went on a murdering spree on everyone present. He killed his brother and more than 2 dozen nobles.
These people already look to him as a tyrant so I dont see why he cant just kill the leaders of the smaller nations that disobey him instead of trying to control them in a roundabout way.

So, are you asking why he’s not repetitively killing anyone who gets in his way?

Honestly, I can’t pretend to have an answer for everything, but my best guess is that while they’re all his subjects, there’s a difference between traitors directly working under him (family members and nobles supposed to advise him and hep him run the country) and leaders of other nations he conquered. Those very leaders have their own subject as well and it’s those subjects who are likely to revolt if he just basically eliminates their leader.

I just keep thinking of this manwha I read once, “Ellin’s Solhwa,” where the members of the conquered nation actively schemed to kill the emperor, so by looking at it that way, I sort of understand why the emperor in this one isn’t just crushing the other nations simply because he has the power to do so.

Im asking more of why he cant kill someone with more influence instead of constantly bringing in innocent women to just kill left and right.
If he's trying to vent out his thirst for murder, kill some criminals.
If he's trying to keep the other nations on their feet, kill their leader and bring a less corrupt person to power within the nation. If a revolt arises from this I'm certain the emperor will be able to crush them instantly, after all these nations are smaller and weaker.
In the end, I understand that the author made it this way so that the FL would be able to interact with the ML more, but it doesnt stop me from disliking the emperor.

Right, well the way I look at it is there are many ways to deal with his situation. Your way is ideal in that it keeps the emperor as a good guy with an unfortunate curse, which would then change his entire character.

However, if we take into consideration the emperor whose sense of morality was probably warped since childhood, then it would make sense that he chose to deal with that situation in a way that would be less of a hassle for him, rather than in a way that is morally correct.

Anyway, I think we get each other. It’s not like we disagree (I personally don’t), but we just feel differently about the character, which is fine. It was nice discussing it with you.

Yeah, likewise :)

I remember that it's mostly the concubines that he killed it's because he sucks their blood, you know, since they were know to be healers. Unfortunately, they don't do much for the emperor so they got killed because he lost control of his bloodlust. I don't think he kills people under him without reason since in the raws even if his subjects looks like they're scared of him they can still talk to him normally. He's not some senseless demon that you're trying to make him up to be, he does his work as an emperor, he does it well it just happens he has his insatiable bloodlust. Maybe those people that he killed betrayed him, we don't really know, maybe we'll find out in the future chapters because we really just can't say why can't he do this and that when he's not even established yet and the POV isn't even his in the first place, it's the mc. We should wait rather than jumping to conclusions, we're just 24 chapters in, this is still their first arc.