it was worth the tear

hm i think some of this was answered in the manhwa itself. see the thing is when the population is unhappy with their monarch or ruler, their rage would not be easily quelled. take marie antoinette for example, she attempted to flee but was captured, tried and eventually was executed.
max didnt run away because of his genuine love for his country and thus deposed himself through suicide, also because as cornell mentioned he did not wish for bloodshed if his people were to revolt.

I also think that he did not reveal himself because he knew of Jean’s plans to overthrow the rule. If he were to tell Jean he was little pearl, Jean would’ve tried to find a way out for him no doubt. Max was resolved in his duty, and was dead set with his own plans for Joachim. I think this also explains why he was rude to Jean as he probably didn’t want to lead Jean into possibly thinking he was little pearl, however as you’ve read Jean picked up vague clues instead.

Ohhh I seeeee, damn now that’s even more tragic then it already is. Sooo they were cursed right from the start.
Thank you for clarifying!!

yep no problem !

Would you mind helping me clear up some confusion?
–who was the blind sibling?? What was that talk about the blind sibling and that pelletin??
–in the last panels, we see chantel and her lover who looks like they're being separated from each other, and then the guillotine panel, does this mean that one of them were executed??
–was lady ariel in on the act with maximin pretending to be little pearl??

1) uhm for this i’m really not so sure, so this is just my speculations. i might have to read the novel to see if there’s any extra information. i believe the blind sibling is just the sibling of the young lord of house palatine. in the church scene, you could see him holding onto max’s arm. to first time readers, it would only look like he is max’s new lover. but actually since we now know max was going blind, i believe he just called over palatine over to take care of him since he doesnt even have a lot of servants. i don’t believe he had bedded him though as that masturbation line in the last few chapters suggests so. His sight had already deteriorated by a lot by the time of the engagement, (though i might just be misinterpreting it but..) when he ran away from jean he couldnt tell which direction jean was in, and so jean easily found him. afterwords when they made love, he also fumbled around to grasp jean.

2) im so sorry i feel like ive seen it but i couldnt find it, could you specify what chapter it was? my memory is kinda bad but i think cornell did hint that chantelle and nathan were not in on the grand scheme of things.

3) Yes she had. See the overthrowing of the monarchy was meticulously planned out by max. He had seen joachim ailing ever since the academy days, hence he chose to be jean’s patron, nurture and educate him. This is shown in his letter telling jean to hone and polish himself, and “There are things one cannot avoid in history. For a new world.” since cornell had been working alongside him, lady ariel also had a play. she said a line in chapter 37, “ That is the duty entrusted to this house and me” although it could very well just be her family’s motto, i think that it is more likely that max was the one instructing her all along. in the last few chapters she says that she does regret appearing before jean and that she knows his heart belongs to someone else. so yea they were working together.