I'm saying this with all the respect in the world, even if you apologize, you are not entitled to forgiveness. A person may regret what they did a million times, but the fact is they still did something that hurt someone else deeply, forgiveness is a privilege, not a right.
This is one of the few FL that I actually like particularly because she is a don't forgive don't forget type of person. And let's not forget that she remembers her past life, so that's just an added burden to whatever she is feeling now.
Forgiveness is a tall order when the very thing that shaped her insecurity and identity stems from a moment when the Emperor knew it would hurt her by hearing what he said. A child heard her father say she was better off dead. Yes he regretted it eventually but MC is not required to make him feel better by forgiving him for the hurt she went through ALL HER FORMATIVE YEARS.
To be fair, she might have forgiven him if she she hadn't met her real dad and fam. I think it's thanks to their treatment of her that she realized that she deserved better. And if not forgiving the Emperor was her way of a better life for herself, so be it.
GUYS, what I'm saying isn't she SHOULD have forgiven him. wjjfjwd I don't know how to explain this. Look the dad said something bad, and he knew she was behind the door. I'm saying why is she SEPARATING these two matters and having a fight TWICE. She had almost forgiven him towards the end and even wanted to stay in the palace, but then she realized he knew and threw another tantrum. If she hadn't forgiven him from the start I wouldn't say anything, because the main point was him saying those words. But she kept using him and his privileges as the king towards the end, to the point of being manipulative even!! Then managed to find a shitty excuse to never talk to him again. If she was oh so hurt that she couldn't forgive him she shouldn't have done it from the start, epecially after EVERYTHING he did. It doesn't make ANY sense. Your dad says something very hurtful, he apologises and tries to atone by everything he has in his power, you forgive him, you realize he knew you were there when saying those words, you don't forgive him
.
(It suddenly posted on itself I'm sorry) Look the words were directed towards Philomel and the emperor for sure wouldn't be scared to say them in her face. Now what I'm saying is WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIM KNOWING SHE WAS THERE OR NOT after everything is said and done?!?!? It just feels so uneasy and dumb
I say dumb because it's almost like she has a selective brain and turns it off for certain people. SHE recognizes the fact that not everything in the book may be correct when thinking about Nassar or how Elencia's middle name changed, but then can't proceed to extend the same point to the emperor as well, and for the better half of the novel thinks that he'll SOMEDAY kill him.
I don't know what else to say but if you've read Villains are destined to die (slight spoilers ahead) the MC in that novel also doesn't forgive her family (both from past and present life) and says it in their face (which is why I love her so much) it takes her five years away from the house and BECOMING PREGNANT to want to talk to them again, and she never ever had anything else in mind. She didn't think "meh they're kind enough now I'm gonna stay and have fun here" and then change her mind. THAT is what's bothering me here with Philomel.
I genuinely have nothing more to say. I'm trying to convince myself by thinking Philomel's a flawed character and shouldn't always make the right choice but it's not helping. I can understand all the doings of all the other characters but her thought process is just so...
I guess it's coz context matters? It's one thing to say something nasty in the heat of the moment but it's another when you say something coz you really truly meant it. She forgave him at first because she believed he was being ornery and hurtful because of what happened to his wife. Then she realizes later on he meant every word. Everything changes from there. She suddenly learns that the treatment she received all this time was NOT from misguided prejudice of the entire estate. It rested on the fact that her 'father' truly wanted her to suffer. The former could be excused as negligence but the latter was due to pure malice.
I'm not sure I'm explaining it well but I can understand her suddenly backpedaling and changing her mind. At first, MC was ready to forgive him because she gave him the benefit of the doubt that he was hurt and didn't mean what he said. Then she realizes that, nope. He meant every word. He wasn't ignorant of what was happening to her in that estate. People hated her just for being there and he didn't really care.
What I'm more stuck in is the easy acceptance of the real daughter. All this time, nobody was the wiser. MC, in their eyes, was the real daughter and treated her like shit anyway. Then, in comes blondie and they treat like a princess. What the fuck was up with that??? I guess it was easy to be forgiving coz she looked like her mother? But holy moly. MC deserved better (٥↼_↼)
Just my two cents.
I completely agree!!!! she shouldn't have forgiven him from the start!!! but forgiving him first and USING him OH MY GAWD I CAN'T STRESS HOW MUCH THIS PART BOTHERS ME
when he wanted to give her state properties she was literally playing a mind game because she knew that he would give them to her either way so she just said no to not appear greedy (this is actually what she thinks) and when put together along with her other similar acts, it literally makes her look like a hypocrite. At one point Philomel herself says that maybe I AM as villainess as the one in the book and I was like... gurl what
Idk some things she did/does makes her not appear a sincere character, almost like an unreliable narrator and I don't rellay enjoy these type of characters. I stayed becuase of her real dad who's a A LOT more interesting and well-written than all the others in this novel imo
this contains slight spoilers from the novel so beware
I'm sorry but I really need to say this, it bothers me SO MUCH that she never forgives the king (her adopted dad I forgot his name) in the end, just because she found out that he knew she was listening when he said those hurtful words. Like the man apologized a thousand times, gave her properties from the royal family, let her do whatever she wanted in the palace even though she wasn't a princess anymore, never treated her any different even after his real daughter came, and actually wanted to tell her the fact that he'd heard her footsteps – and knew she was right behind the door but said those words anyway – quite a few times but someone always interrupted him... It was a shitty move I know, he should not have done that to a CHILD.
BUT HE APOLOGIZED SO MANY TIMES HE EVEN WANTED TO KILL HIMSELF IT JUST FEELS SO UNFAIR???? like she almost came to terms with it in the middle of the novel but then the moment she found out that he KNEW it was like "nu-uh I can't forgive you no more don't talk to me ever again" IT'S SO XJSKXKQOOXOQOXQ even Penelope still talks to her family gurl compared to her YOUR DAD WAS AN ANGEL UGH
I get it protagonists shouldn't always make the right choice but the reasoning behind it sounds so dumb to me, like you had already forgave him, what difference does it make if he knew or didn't?? AND HE APOLOGIZED, HE ATONED AS MUCH AS HE COULD like if he hid it with bad intentions I'd understand but bruh... he just wanted to have you by his side... and she doesn't even talk to him in letters... That was so frustrating to read Istg