Right? Love’s not enough to sustain a relationship. Reading that he was too INTIMIDATED to spend time with her then chose to pussy out and hang out more with his female best friend instead of growing some balls and do the bare minimum was frustrating.
I do believe the princess genuinely thought he was being supportive but I think the guy deluded himself into thinking he was when really he was using her as an excuse. He got too comfortable with the marriage already being arranged and checked out on effort before it even began.
Spoiler:
I remember the novel ending with them still being engaged (for convenience's sake, on her end), but she still goes and does her own thing while he desperately tries to regain her affection. Like, HE follows HER to this other country b/c she was offered the chance to study abroad and he didn't want her to get stolen (lol) by someone else. She, meanwhile, doesn't really care.
RIGHT AHHHHHH
YEEEESSSS!!!!!
HAHAHAHA, I'm so happy she didn't give iiiiiinnnnn
My head cannon will be henceforth!
She'll find someone else HAHAHAHA
I honestly don’t really want them to get together and her be all in love with him when he consistently ignored her feelings. Like, the authors trying to be like “nooo he’s always loved her!!” but kinda hard to believe when he never put even a little bit of effort into the relationship and just took everything she did for granted.