beta
It's crazy how mental blondie is because if he wasn't an unhinged bastard, I would've felt so bad for him who is a normal guy (before we got to learn about his past) who loves Ian and is bound to get his heart broken because of stupid fate that binds MC and ML together despite blondie being there for MC for longer in this lifetime. His expression when he said "Ian, my knight" at the end of the latest chapter would've made my heart ache for him if he was a half decent character.
Then, I remember that not only did he do everything that he did in his previous life, the dude is thoroughly rotten and manipulative in this current life too. He knows that mana isn't evil, if anything it's a blessing but he knowingly perpetuates falsehoods that directly damage the guy he claims to love. Furthermore, I remember feling unsettled by his behaviour from the get-go for a different reason: it always felt like he was playing this push and pull game with Ian where he gives the affection-starved Ian just a hint of kindness and then pull back to watch him suffer. It felt like he was conditioning Ian to grow more dependent on him.
Kudos to the author because they managed to instil doubt within me as a reader from the get go and when that got confirmed by the flashback, I culdn't help but salute their good writing