Yep. Did he not feed her pet bird to a turtle in front of her to inflict as much pain as possible? The whip marks? Its very romanticised but in between all this he beat tf outta her
So uhm.... I have trouble remembering, did he start hurting after her first marriage or before it???
'Coz that kinda changes thr context a bit
What context changes?
He sabotaged her first wedding to get her to go back to him. He just plain old sucks.
Yep, he's still a bitch & a jerk, that won't change because in love, violence is not the answer (most of d time, anyway)
BUT! the timing of the start of the abuse changes things a bit
If it happend before, that means their father completely broke him before he even started fixating on MC -> he's been delusional from the get go
If it happened after, that indicates that what broke him, ultimately, is the "apparent betrayal" (from his pov) of the one thing that brought light to his life + it happening right after enduring severe beating -> his abuse wasn't entirely out of delusion, but was out of intense despair & anger for being so willfully thrown away despite her promise
(Again, from his pov, which is useful to understand when trying to know where his action comes from)
It doesn't change who he is nor does it redeem him.
But it adds depth to his character, as well as gives us an explanation for why things became what they are -> & isn't that part of what makes a story fun?
He's been abusing her way before the first marriage. The main reason why in his pov it looks like Ruby betrayed her is most likely her acting in order to evade punishment much like she's done before.
Ohhh..... damn. Then he's been broken from the start
I like how you can get manipulated by this scene if you cut out the fact he hurt her and traumatized her