while i 100% wholeheartedly agree with you i think at the end of the day he wanted to trust his dad and that’s why he put aside that feeling in his gut that something was amiss. im pretty sure this is the type of relationship he had through his whole life with his dad where he was manipulated and broken down to the point where he was in a constant fear from him and disappointing him in case it would end up with him suffering in some sort of way - which is probs the case since his dad is so quick to kill him off anyway. while he is a big fat coward and didn’t mean for margaret to die i suppose its more realistic where he, as the heir to the southern dukes throne, would put his people first rather than margaret herself - he didn’t have a choice really. it’s very similar to the situation now where he’s trying both to prevent war and protect mag from dying
all in all i really like his development throughout the story from being manipulated, to feeling sorry for himself and drowning in guilt and then actually trying to take action so history isn’t repeating himself. i like how he is still a bit of a coward too while trying to fight against his dad because to me it seems like he IS trying his best and putting the utmost effort he can. but as much as it makes sense that the talk with mag was what made him snap out of it, i wish it showed more signs of him trying to better himself and stop making himself out to be the overall victim
I'm glad that Squal is trying to man up and face the music, but I find it hard to forgive him for his cowardice/inaction tbh. Like, generally being a coward is fine, he doesn't have to be Superman or anything, but the issue with his cowardice and inaction is that Mag had to pay the price for it. I do feel a similar way towards how Magaret used to be too.
I wouldn't feel this way about Squal specifically if the dad straight up forced him to trick/kill Mag with that said.
Sure, Squal was lied to, but it would've been so easy to just check out what the potion was. The plan was to kidnap her, that's criminally sus by itself and not a thing you just follow up on bc daddy told you there was no other option.
I do realize they're people, they were kids with flaws and bla (and I love this manhwa for this type of depth), it's not like I hate them or whatever it's just that I'm deeply disappointed and jaded by this (our) type of culture and power structure that allows lethally unfit people to sit up top while everyone else down that ladder has to bear the weight of their incompetence. In the end it is truly the shady dad who's at fault for all of this.