
Blame his so-called 'parents' for not teaching him the right way or not genuinely caring for him to have a common sense!
Yes, the past does explain his attitude and situations but it doesn't justify what he's doing. But hate what's causing it instead! The doctor! The parents! Their manipulative ways! :((
I did hate winter too but i'm still hoping for his character development and FL helps at it no?
He is getting mad at violet but violet's being manipulated too! HATE THOSE GODDAMNED SIDE CHARACTERS

it's also due to his background of being poor and his pre-conceptions of not being good enough for the princess.
He loves her but doesn't know how to express it properly due to how he was raised. He doesn't know how to really talk to people, as evidenced by how they explained his business dealings and table flipping/getting into a rage all the time. athe inability to express his emotions in a way that the society can understand is due to him coming from slavery and the parents taking advantage of him to just make money and keeping him dependant on them.
Violet isn't entirely free of faults either, and she realizes it when she thinks that they both know nothing about each other. She also has her own faulty pre-conceptions about him.
The misunderstandings on both sides are exacerbated by the greed of the families on both sides trying to take advantage of the situation for their own gain.
It's also important to note that growing up in toxic environments tends to rub off on a person even if the person isn't inherently toxic and not trying to be harmful but they grow up seeing certain behaviors as normal so they don't know any better.

*Claps*
This
Thank you.
Not saying Winter's actions should be overlooked but people really should try to see from his POV. Then again perhaps most readers are women, we tend to emphatise more on the FL instead and not from a fair non biased view. Winter maybe harsh and understandable not many would like his type (i myself as one) but he's actually easy to figure out if they look at his backgrounds, personality, environment and temper.

I think the romance genre in general is partially to blame. The ideals of what we want in a male lead or in a guy are often unrealistic so when a romance has someone who is more human and non-conformist to the sterotypical male lead in the genre it creates this rift so people find them lacking.
Honestly I really like this series. The title drew me in and it's very not so subtly pointing out the things we like to gloss over and pretend don't exist. Miscommunication is a common theme in the romance genre but this also shows the leading characters as human and that neither is blameless like a typical relationship dynamic but definitely more exaggerated. It doesn't just show the sunshine and rianbows and idealistic relationship problems that are more cute spats than actual problems.
I can get why people don't really get it though. There's a lot of reading between the lines and catching the undercurrents of the scenes to get the full story. It requires more thinking than some people want to put into reading. Kind of like the difference in people who like to read a linear story vs a story told in a non-linear manner, making the reader put the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle while reading. I like non-linear stories that make me put together the jigsaw puzzle of plot but I know that's not everyone's cup of tea. ( ̄∇ ̄")

Haah yes true. I also quite love this type as well. Since i like to read smart mcs and try to figure their plans or figure out everyone's pov and beliefs as reader's pov. Its fun but certainly not for the characters who suffers than again its a fiction so i dont like it when people are too exaggerated. Although it might also be a sign of a good story if the readers feels such way towards how the writer plans the character to be.
Compared to others this is actually not that bad in the angst. Certainly it contains the notorious suicide theme but honestly, that is also a reality we have that is often eluded from the usual romance fiction. And the problems are shown bare and easily piece together unlike that webtoon where the duchess who neglected her son died. Honestly people keep on blaming the duke so much i hate it so i just need to wait for it to end to get away from the comments hahaha. I find that one even harder to read since it involves sons and the fl was even more depressing.

A phobia of women perhaps? Seeing the other comments did made me much more patient w/ him. Poor guy :(( i hope he gets better soon!

Spoiler
He was raped by Blanche’s mom, cause they wanted an heir in case he died to something I think. I’m really pissed about that and it made me a lot more sympathetic of him, and I hope he gets better. I kind of like how they showed that he DOES have ptsd from that experience and can’t even touch a girl anymore and stuff. It’s really sad honestly

Double spoiler:
It wasn't just the previous queen. It was the ML's own mother who helped the previous queen rape him as a child. There's a line somewhere in previous chapters about how he killed his own mother or something when he acsended the throne. The one woman he was supposed to trust the most put him in the most traumatizing situation of his life. THAT'S why he's scared of all women.
You can read this for free in webtoon! Please support the artist! :DD