If both of them are in same situation faking there emotion why is helena getting protecting on so many people....queen.,prince, kight, priest and all and all... Protraying a kind heart pitiful girl.. Who is actually such a smutty bitch... Letting someone else fiance advance on u... If prince is being a piece of shit she could reject him... If not directly she could already avoid it.. But no she is enjoying all that attention while pretending to be naive.... I fucking hate her so so much
Like I said, Helena is being treated the way she is because she is being forced to act a role she's been given. The role of the kind hearted protagonist that can do no wrong, and the male leads are also fulfilling their roles, of the men who fall for the protagonist. And Helena isn't a bitch, she's just weak, she holds resentment for the people who control her life just like anyone else would, in fact even Eris is like that, the difference is that Eris is strong enough to fight against the role she's been given, and that's because she knows of a place better than here. Helena and Eris are pretty much the only people with any depth to their characters in this story.
And I don't know if you remember, but Helena is in no position to reject the prince, and this is something she has been told since she was a child, so obviously she would get it by now. Accepting the Prince's advances is something she must do because she is in no position to refuse him because of his authority, calling the prince familiarly is something she must do because the prince has insisted on it, smiling at every stupid thing he says is something she must do because she must act like a harmless woman who can't possibly pose a threat. These are all things her mother, the head maid and other people around her have been telling her since she was little "do as the prince and the queen say, you cannot refuse them", "behave like someone who knows nothing so you don't make enemies", and thus the reason why she acts the way she does.
Feel free to hate her, it's not like I can stop you obviously, but I'm just saying after all this, you must admit that you can at least understand why she does some of the things she does. If someone bullied you as bad as Eris bullied Helena and you saw that person crying one day, can you genuinely say you wouldn't have been happy or felt that they deserved it?
As much as I said I'd still hate her no matter what, I can't help but come to understand Helena's perspective a little more.
Just think about it, if you were Helena, you were forced to live your life constantly hiding your emotions and bending to the will of those above you because of your status, always maintaining a smile to show that you don't pose a threat, and then this girl who is the same age as you, yet seemingly has everything that you don't; power, influence, strength, abilities and the freedom to exercise her authority, treats you so badly simply because you cannot help that some idiot prince has taken a liking to you, wouldn't you also hate her? You can't possibly say that you wouldn't hate someone who had bullied you to such an extent, and she was in no position to consider Eris's feelings or situation because she was also going through a lot. In fact, I actually commend her for being able to let go of her hate for Eris just because she saw that she could also be vulnerable, cuz I know for a fact that if I were her I would be thinking something along the lines of "serves you right, bitch".
And if you think about it, Helena and the current Eris are more alike than they seem. They're both people who were forced to act a certain role due to the circumstances that fate has handed them. Eris is forced to act as the evil villainess who hates the woman that stole the Crown prince away from her and gets thrown away by him, and Helena is forced to act the role of the kind protagonist that is naive, loves all, never holds a grudge and always keeps a smile on, when in reality both of them are far more complex than that. The only difference is that Eris wishes to break free from that role because she shouldn't have to shoulder the burden of past actions and choices she never made, but Helena has accepted her fate, even though she too is in the situation she's in because of actions and choices she never made, after all she had no control over her family's treason and their title and noble status being stripped away from them. Not to mention there's also the fact that Eris was just recently assigned this role, but Helena was given her role at a very young age, when she had no say in the matter and no possibility of a better reality since that is the world that she was born into and the only world which she knows.
Yes, this doesn't excuse Helena's own flaws, but it has certainly made me come to sympathize with her character more than I would like to.
BUT I'M STILL ROOTING FOR ERIS ALL THE WAY THO♡(> ਊ <)♡