I too am quite perturbed over this -- SO wrong. I want that family reconciled ASAP.
Just my thoughts on this stuff
5 continuous years of abuse,
for normal children this could possibly be fixed by showing everything was going to be alright and that they could be trusted, still some scars would remain which causes fear for others,
but for minds that know it is wrong like that, but feeling helpless because they don't have the power they would have had, being unable to do anything besides enduring it would have to have left a considerable scar on their ability to trust people, especially with how their situation is and how they are capable of understanding what's going on (though with some misunderstandings of course because after all they are only human... Or at least half lol)
But 5 years is a lot huh..
Hurts your heart, right? If this were real life, those kids would have been on the streets and suffering even more abuse. I am glad they decided to stay and endure - it's not good to be out on the streets.
So realistically speaking they are old enough to be more of like understanding but...
They are 18 when they died so they are kinda stuck between adulthood and being a kid. I mean yeah we would expect them to be more rational because of their age but with all that happened to them you will actually understand why they are like that.
Another thing to point out. They lived in a very different world. In this new world where they lived, being alive is such a complex thing to do. They are royalties but they are hated. Their father is the powerful ruler but they are living in a rundown castle. No one is explaining anything to them before but now a lot of people is saying things about them. And after being rescued they faced a lot of much more foreign things.
So a little kindness to them drives them to trust that person and just a wrong word to them will drive them to doubt and hate you.
But srsly how could they trust such a sly grin from that Duke? I would never know.