
Baffles me how people rooted for eclis all this time when there were signs that he was a little freak and it's telling that their dynamic was the worst out of the 5 routes excluding the brothers

I'm not hating. I understood him. I like him, but I think she needs someone who she can trust. That's why he's not ml worthy.
And I know what she did with eclis is wrong. But I understand her situation. Just like I understand vinter's.
Aaannd, one of the two is in the risk of death if things go wrong. So I can pardon her a little for trying to survive, but morally what she did was very wrong
Hating is a strong word is put into my wording. I never said I hated him. I just said he's not ml worthy. Atleast not for her. She's been through enough shit in both lives.

Ah! I'm sorry ┗( T﹏T )┛ i was talking about MC hating vinter . She's keeping the grudge so I said that .
I mean , everything you said is actually right .
how I'm judging the male leads is actually not by the standard of MLs but as humans around MC. Doesn't matter if they get romantic feelings or not they are still humans and deserves to be treated right (because it turns out that world and people are very much real)
I just feel bad that mc justifies things because of her reasons but refuse to understand others for their reasons, it's not about being forgiving ,but understanding people around her .
Crown prince literally physically hurt her but he gets a pardon
But winter didn't, not as a ML ,but another character around her
(even emily got away with her past)
Even In stories slavery doesn't fit right will me(like literally girls ,you never gave them Options !!poor mentally ill MLs), I don't need to say more
And i dont want to defend her brothers(we can find something but i'll pass)
Mc got her reasons so do others (most of them were brainwashed....even eclis did that shit because he was brainwashed , that's why I don't hate him too much ,he's the most pitiful character according to me (though he was on war and shit ,killed many so its a bit uncomfortable,just as much that i feel for every killing machine knight/tyrant empror ML)
I don't hate MC but i dont like her too much (I saw people praising MC for calling eclis a dog . She's not saying that because he killed(Its a tiny %) , she's saying that cus he didn't play in her hands and didn't gave her the 100% she expected, I can't finest it at all )
My feelings are mixed in so I could be wrong on few things.but rn this is what i think is right

I don't think MC justifies things, but I may have not notice. Also, I think thinking about them in human way, makes things more worse. No one is worth anything if you think of it that way.
Callisto. prince sent to battles. So, killed many people. He gifted his brother an assassin's head on his birthday party. He hurt fl because he thought he was jumped by another assassin. (The things he did for her also skyrockets, Saving her ass many times)
Vinter. 'Tested' her, with his apprentices at stake, traumatizing fl. Sure he didn't think the cult would kill his apprentices, but sending children to be captured by cultists to test a girl? (Business relationship. Tried to be more, but he tested her. So back to business relationship)
Eclis. Prince of a ruined nation, that was auctioned as a slave. Got obsessed by her, even though he knew she was using her, did the one thing he wasn't supposed to, so that she'll have to run away from home, and he'll run away with her so that she'll have to rely on him. He has seen the way how things are in ekhart mansion, but still chose to do this so that she'll be isolated from everyone.
(Wanted to be lovers, turned abusive)
Penelope. Used the story flow to buy eclis ahead of time as a safeguard, and try to make an ending with him, so that she won't die. It went terribly wrong, as now they are people, and not characters where we can know how they think and act.
Even the side characters are not worthy of anything.
They all were her bullies. Even her 'family' in both lives.
So thinking of them as humans would be a terrible idea. This is fantasy and historical. Many things won't stand by the moral standards now.

Haha, no need to thank me. I read the novel years ago, and I loved it, so I think I got weirdly defensive(?)
I acknowledge their faults, but the experience I got from reading it was so precious. It's the first novel I was able to fully read. It has a high place in my heart. I even bought the manhwa as book (first volume) because I'm obsessed
You have to be a sadist to continue writing characters like Dan nothing can excuse his lack of balls anymore except that the author clearly hates him