SPOILERS - FIRST QUEEN IS CRAZY AF.

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The first queen is a crazy racist bitch. I mean REALLY racist.
She's not even a separatist or just a purist (look I get it, if you are a small group. I dont blame you not wanting your community to "die out" or be "mixed out"...its natural wanting to preserve) . But, she is a supremacist that is mentally unstable.
She sees Petran people as "inferior" and their blood "dirty" compared to the nobility which are a different ethnic group. She a "pure-blood" cultist.
It's not that the King has a child by a different woman that bothers her its that he has had a non pure-blood child is what angers her. And that child is now the sole heir.

She even wonders "how can he love a child with that dirty blood?" and thinks to herself such "the dirty blood must be erased from the royal family."
She tries to hook him up with her maids just in hope a "pure blood" child is born.
-(*flashforward her schemes will lead to her exile and banishment.)

This is the main reason Berta does not want to hand her son over. She knows he wont be safe. Even the nobles pushing to have the custody transferred do not have good intentions.
The Queen Mother warns the King about Marguerite's true nature but the King (although he knows deep down) tries to deny it and acts defensive. Stating that the Dowager Queen is only taking Berta's side due to Berta's father donating large sums of money. (which is partly true).

The problem is the 1st queen is not alone, there are many within the imperial house and among the nobles who share her view.
In fact some of the attendants/maid even openly insult berta as an "illegitimate" queen and disrespect her due to her ethnic background.

The servants of the 1st queen dare act haughty towards Berta to her face. It's quite shameless. Especially, when you realise she is not even a concubine (still a respectful position within a royal house) but a QUEEN.

The king then had the nerve to act dumbfounded and shocked (lol!) during an inspection visit to the south of the country, when one of his men were caught betraying Berta by purposely ignoring her when she was about to fall off her horse and was in a life threatening situation.



If it weren't for the guards of the lord's house they were staying at (the lord is a sorta relative of Berta's - he is the brother of her stepmother - the third wife of her father ) rescuing her, she could of been seriously hurt or even died.
Even the Petrians were disgusted and shocked at how someone who's rank is not even that high - a chamberlain. Has the audacity to disrespect and harm their queen.
And they wanted to kill the guy on the spot, the chamberlain still has the nerve to give Berta the stink eye and talk back at her. While lying on the ground being held down by Petrians. But Berta manages restrain the guards thirsty for blood.


The king also said to Berta "why didn't you tell me how rude/disrespectful he was to you? I would of dealt with this sooner before something like this happened!"
And Berta being indifferent (as if she is use to the mistreatment and lack of respect she receives at the Palace) says:
"If I had told you that the Chamberlain has been rude to me and asked you to fire him. Would you have agreed and done it then?"

He paused and didn't say anything knowing the truth is he probably wouldn't have and most likely ignored her request. He begins to feel guilty of his previous attitude towards her.
In many ways, his indifferent attitude towards her and indulging marguerite is what has given the nobles and servants/guards the confidence to openly mistreat and disrespect Berta the way they do. He is partly to blame for not bothering to protect her let alone showing her the respect she deserved.
She had to reduce herself pitifully in degrading her own ethnicity in order to plead/beg the King not to hand over her son to the psycho queen.
Because her "dirty blood" son would not be safe with the Queen who has no intention in raising the boy well let alone as a rightful heir.


**Yeah I really love the petrian people and how they respect and love Berta. Those boys got your back queen! And Berta cares greatly for her people and their welfare.
Its the main reason she stays at the Palace and tolerates the crap there.


However, its like Johanna stated before, when one of the twin guards, Henri (he later gets beaten up like a bitch by the petrians lol) was insulting berta in the open while they were at the Palace. "The royal palace is not the same as the outside. Insulting the daughter of the great Kasha lord is considered a great crime and a dangerous thing to do."

In other words, even if the King is complacent and laissez faire to how his wife and mother of his son is treated/revered by the inbred nobles and palace courtiers. The petrian people and especially the elites within their society will not be. They react more proactively and angrily than the King when they saw how disrespected their beloved Berta is by the "nobles".


This is the problem with the King. He isn't a bad person. Just too passive and pretends to blind because he has complacently ignored what has always been around him.
He KNOWS Marguerite isn't the innocent soul she feigns to be but due to his attachment towards her and guilt he feels for them not having children that were healthy. He pretends to believe otherwise.


This is why Berta, to protect herself builds an emotional wall with the King. She is not cold to him but not "too friendly". She knows why they married and not does expect anything from him. Nor does she ask for anything.