
Once the loop starts, it continues to exist. When it started does not matter. The moment Alois went to the fountain and pulled the Duke from the past is when the time loop begins. The Duke survived because he was pulled by the fountain. When he returns to his time we can assume that he was able to get the upper hand and slaughter his (father?) who just watched him get whisked away by a bright light.
The whole point of the timeloop is how their mutual love for each other ends up saving both of them. Alois saves Theo and Theo in turn grows up to save Alois as a child.
I get that time travel sucks and yall haven’t read much with time loops but yeah. It’s definitely explained and makes sense
I don’t get how people can say that this is pseudo incest or call the duke a pedo, while there is a huge plot hole as to how they met that wasn’t from the fountain. It’s clear that the younger duke first met Alois as an adult, it wouldn’t be until the older version of him was like ok go find him is where he met the younger version of Alois. I think it’s safe to say that the younger version fell in love with Alois present imo.
The duke helped him grow up but there was no indication that they are considered as ‘parent and child’ he didn’t groom him to be his lover. He even rejected Alois advances even though he is a legal adult. Duke wanted the best for Alois even if it wasn’t with him, he even admitted that in chapter 4. I don’t want to say media literacy is dead but some of these comments… overall it was a solid read, neither bad or good.