He's a black flag ML through and through, I hate him and his petty justifications. The author realized they wrote a POS and havr been doing everything to make him more sympathetic and likeable.
i don't think the author tried making him "likable" or anything, i think the author wrote him as a bad person who's trying to change. i also think FL shouldn't go back to ML, but i feel like the message of the story was more about how corruption and classism among the nobility and how that leads to cruelty and war. the author didn't romanticize anything and wrote the characters as they are. he was scarred and extremely traumatized, and he pushed his traumas onto FL. the author didn't try to make him sympathetic, the author only wrote about his selfish reasons. at the end of the day, i don't think the writer actually tried to write him off as a good person, but more so as someone who is trying to change and believe in love.
I would have agreed wholeheartedly with you, but the main reason I do not like the Author is what she did to Annette.
She made Annette feel guilty for what happened to Heiner, made her feel like she did not care about him at all or at least enough to ask about his past. Made everyone she met on her healing journey make feel guilty about not caring enough about her abuser to ask about his miserable life...
WHILE conveniently forgot that she wrote Annette in a jewelled prison in the capital. She was HIGHLY disrespected by EVERYONE. Her "husband" was her number 1 hater... I bet in the deleted scene, Heiner had orgasms just thinking about how miserable Annette was due to his machinations. This man was a menace to our girl, BUT OBVIOUSLY she is terrible for not asking about his past...
They should NEVER CROSS PATHS again.. Maybe after 20 years, when her wounds actually heal and she has her own family, they could see each other in a vacation spot and dramatically stare into each others eyes nod and go their separate ways
...Y'all are pleading, hoping they end up together, but I do not...
I have stepped back and viewed the relationship from different angles and I just don't see them together cause I believe people cannot realistically come back from what HE (HEINER) PUT HER THROUGH..
Don't get me wrong, I do believe in forgiveness and all but I also believe in separation. Annette is right where she belongs, in the perfect small town by the sea and her cute little cottage core home... thriving ..
Imagine if she lives by herself and meets someone new... no baggage, no trauma buddy bond.. just a man meeting a woman and dating... simple..
Heiner can remain in the capital and command the Nation as he has been doing...
They both forgive and forget and live their lives independently