Y'all are severely lacking empathy for Ruby. Her situation isn't as simple as open and tell Issac what her family has done to her in the past and what her brother, Caesar, continued to do to her. Just acknowledging her fear of turtles and letting Issac view her scarred body was two big and huge steps for Ruby. Y'all forget that in the beginning Issac wanted to send Ruby back home, so worked hard to get him to like her and not send her away. And then, the first time they tried to be intimate and he discovered her scars he basically went flat and she had to lie about how she received them.
As an abused person in her previous life where her confidant committed suicide, she wakes up in a new world and life and her situation hasn't gotten better. In fact, her life is much more difficult than her previous life. In the modern world, she had a chance to run away from her abusers and seek treatment to live a better life. New life -- she doesn't have that opportunity as she's basically the princess of a holy country. A illegitimate daughter and a female with no power other than what is wielded by her father, older brother, and husband. Two of which continuously ruined her first 3/4 marriages, so she didn't even have the time to get an ally. And Ruby has to choose her ally well as they have to believe her AND have the power to step up and fight her family. None of her previous marriages had that ability.
So now, we have Rbuy shipped off to a foreign country, in unfamiliar environment where her greatest asset as a person who is abused is reading the people around her and gearing her responses to whatever would lessen their abuse upon her. But we can't forget, she is also trying to change the course of the novel, so she isn't killed by her new husband. But her ways of survival are useless -- her husband and sister-in-law are indifferent to her, the household staff don't respect her, and the family friend keeps setting her up to be a liar and a plotter. Even her sister-in-law saw Ruby's self abuse and didn't report it until much much later. Even Issacs first reaction was rejection to just scars, what would he do if he knew the extent of her abuse at her family's hands. Her job is survival and while she's gotten to a point where her husband might not kill her in the near future, but is his affection enough to start a war with her former homeland over her abuse? That's why she still hides the truth from Issac due her uncertainty in him and, perhaps, to protect him from Caesar. Plus, in the what-ifs, is she has to return with Caesar then she must placate him to reduce any violence against her.
Y'all are severely lacking empathy for Ruby. Her situation isn't as simple as open and tell Issac what her family has done to her in the past and what her brother, Caesar, continued to do to her. Just acknowledging her fear of turtles and letting Issac view her scarred body was two big and huge steps for Ruby. Y'all forget that in the beginning Issac wanted to send Ruby back home, so worked hard to get him to like her and not send her away. And then, the first time they tried to be intimate and he discovered her scars he basically went flat and she had to lie about how she received them.
As an abused person in her previous life where her confidant committed suicide, she wakes up in a new world and life and her situation hasn't gotten better. In fact, her life is much more difficult than her previous life. In the modern world, she had a chance to run away from her abusers and seek treatment to live a better life. New life -- she doesn't have that opportunity as she's basically the princess of a holy country. A illegitimate daughter and a female with no power other than what is wielded by her father, older brother, and husband. Two of which continuously ruined her first 3/4 marriages, so she didn't even have the time to get an ally. And Ruby has to choose her ally well as they have to believe her AND have the power to step up and fight her family. None of her previous marriages had that ability.
So now, we have Rbuy shipped off to a foreign country, in unfamiliar environment where her greatest asset as a person who is abused is reading the people around her and gearing her responses to whatever would lessen their abuse upon her. But we can't forget, she is also trying to change the course of the novel, so she isn't killed by her new husband. But her ways of survival are useless -- her husband and sister-in-law are indifferent to her, the household staff don't respect her, and the family friend keeps setting her up to be a liar and a plotter. Even her sister-in-law saw Ruby's self abuse and didn't report it until much much later. Even Issacs first reaction was rejection to just scars, what would he do if he knew the extent of her abuse at her family's hands. Her job is survival and while she's gotten to a point where her husband might not kill her in the near future, but is his affection enough to start a war with her former homeland over her abuse? That's why she still hides the truth from Issac due her uncertainty in him and, perhaps, to protect him from Caesar. Plus, in the what-ifs, is she has to return with Caesar then she must placate him to reduce any violence against her.