It’s not really a red flag. He was never taught kindness or how to care or love. He was taught through fear and betrayal. He’s the absolute perfect gentleman. He checks every single box. Not a single thing he does is less than flawless. He isn’t obligated to help out in this situation and so he doesn’t. He’s written this way because he’s lived this way. Actually she is the one who is weird for the era. It’s like she’s a modern woman but this isn’t an isekai. He has a lot of character development to go through when he learns life isn’t ONLY betrayal and pain. She will always remain a hapless and helpless damsel.
i mean, to the mc it still makes him a red flag. red flags are just behaviours or personality traits that alerts people to how a person might treat them. it doesnt really matter his background or the reasons why he has those red flags.
even it if its understandable for the era and his past, it doesnt erase that any of his negative traits. i can tell from all ur comments tho you are weirdly defensive of him and critical of mc so fyi this isnt an attack on his character... the author wrote him this way for a reason. everyone in the comments is just making an observation about him the author likely intended
I’m not really defensive of him per se but if you’re going to read a historically influenced fiction, you should understand most “immoral” things you see were absolutely the norm back then imo. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with an Edwardian era gentleman being everything that an Edwardian era gentleman is or a Victorian era maidservant being exactly what a Victorian era maidservant is. If that’s the era that the fiction is set in then to judge it by a modern lens is unfair. I would say the same about any character from any time period or universe. I just don’t like seeing a character be bashed for doing something that everyone else was doing in that era. It might be a red flag by today’s standards but back then, he could have a child bride and cheat on his wife and he could duel people for literally any reason including no reason and if he wanted to beat his servants halfway to death, he absolutely could and that would have been normal. My issue is just with people forgetting that this is historically influenced and get all uppity about how this shouldn’t be tolerated.
i think youre having a hard time telling the difference between actual historical records and literal josei romance fiction loosely based on history
btw in your other comment you criticised the author for the mcs personality not being period appropriate but that really should have hinted to you this isnt meant to be all that historically accurate. its kind of a contradiction to act like criticism against the ml falls through bc you think his personality is 'perfectly normal' for this era, then criticise the mc for being too different for this time period. but you do you
not to mention, nobody said anything about not tolerating it. people just commented stuff likee 'wow hes showing his true colors' and noted he doesnt have that good of a personality. its an observation, not condemning him. so yes, you are kind of defensive him considering he wasnt attacked?
Saw it coming, there were teeny red flags earlier. Now his mask is slipping off.