
That is what I guessed when I just now started reading. He may look like a golden retriever but Richard is insane, doesn't want to become emperor at all (the eyes give a look that he wants the overthrow the empire), and he's masochist and then backstabbed himself by randomly who was perfect for perverse dreams but also stuck to the empress role like man...Courtney babygirl....You may have a gotten your little puppy slave but damn he has to do his damn job as a emperor you cant do two

Oh she knows…
Spoilers!!!!!!!!!
We’re far from this but, something happened between them (Courtney and Richard) and Courtney didn’t have the courage to talk to Richard for a few days. So, to get Courtney to open up (he tried to get her mad so she’ll look for him) he devised some stupid ass scheme to make her believe he had found a new “master”. Involving other people (his aide, even one of her lady-in-waiting), writing smutty letters addressed to this imaginary “master”, making her believe he’s meeting up with said “master” at night and all that. Instead of looking for him, she went directly to the emperor to ask for a divorce. Just shows how much of a manchild he is/was ig. Even had to teach him how to be a good dad.
She was also pregnant at the time, and all that nonsense wasn’t good for her or the babies.
I’d say more if you’re interested. ( ̄∇ ̄")

Yup!! Here’s the link: https://tangerinearchive.com/series/in-the-doghouse/

You’re welcome everyone!!
Spoilers!!! (Again) Sorry for the bad punctuation and for the ass storytelling
That was towards the end of the novel, but I’ll talk about the next chapter/s. Courtney accepts to organize the festival, we meet Richard’s aunt (forgot her name), she doesn’t really Courtney from the get go, though she comes around and softens up to her. The festival planning goes really well and she gets complimented (so proud of her).
Here’s comes the actual “tea”. Courtney’s family come to the banquet and start making a scene (especially her brother). Richard’s nowhere to be found whilst all this was happening (sure, I’ll give him grace since he was attending some guests). He actually did show up after hearing the commotion, orders everyone to forget everything they saw/heard and heads up to the balcony with Courtney.
He asks her what’s wrong and she stays silent, but she then breaks down in tears and starts apologizing for her families behavior. I don’t really remember so don’t quote me on this, but Richard says something like he wishes she were her brother (not like blood-brother btw, he’s talking about her actual brother) so he’ll get hit like that. Again, don’t quote me on this because I have the memory of a goldfish at times, but yeah, Courtney gets all serious and asks what he’d been during during all that ish, he says he was greeting guests, Courtney asks who the girl between the people he was talking to was, he says some name and when he’s about to ask her why she wants to know, she looks like jealous.
To end it here: Richard starts being vague about the girl, says he was engaged to her in the past, doesn’t explain anything else. Knowing she’s easily manipulated by his looks, he tries to take advantage of the situation by pissing her off so she’ll get angry and treat him in a more aggressive way. Courtney obviously get pissed, but not in the way Richard wanted so he actually comes clean and tells her the girl was his cousin that he used to be engage to when they were younger (it actually wasn’t a serious engagement, the adults were just bullshitting at the time). He already got her mad like he wanted, the smut comes, Richard apologizes, Courtney accepts and says she’ll give him a punishment back home.
Richard wins this round, once again…
At the end of the novel he does mellow out and doesn’t dare to manipulate Courtney ever again.
Richard’s kids don’t really like him (I feel like they felt everything he put their mom through and that’s why they act like that).
Courtney’s respected by everyone in the castle and everyone’s always singing her praises (as they should).
There’s actually lots of smut in the side stories too.
I know I’ll get asked where I read the whole novel, I have a pdf but I don’t know how to share it. It’s also in spanish and the translation’s a bit wonky

Oh my goodness....(⊙…⊙ )
My brain has been blown away by how much of man child Richard is. And if this happened while Courtney was pregnant, damn I would've just locked him in the bedroom.
Thanks for the spoilers and enough for now lol, now I know what to expect and what a man child and crazy man Richard is. I feel for Courtney, she is a strong woman, handling her family, caring her nephew, marriage, learning new things, raising children (including richard) and taking the post of emperor while including more things
What’s funny is that in the end Courtney’s basically gonna take over both roles (empress and emperor) while Richard will be a front for the emperor role.
That man is a bum that will only work when Courtney’s involved.