
I will NEVER like the duke, unless I get some hardcore ass character development from his ass. Premise in here talking about love blooming from this bullshited ass start of manipulation and blackmail rape. I feel like its honestly rubbing me the wrong way because I have a decent amount of pride and I'm super cringing at the humiliation and pride shattering the uke has to go through. I ain't saying the art ain't sexy, but why does self defense of one's chasity end up with you falling prey to an even worse sleazy piece of shit?! That punch just now was so satisfying! ( ̄へ ̄)

Asagi and the previous dragon guardian were obviously made to be mild antagonists. They really weren't meant for us to like, especially if we want the MCs to be together forever. One thing I dislike more than anything in manga is blatant manipulation with a malicious intent behind it. Even if the manipulation is minor, it still doesnt leave a great feeling behind, but I can't argue that certain manipulations regardless of intent are plot drivers for any decent story.
As much as I want to hate the Asagi and the previous dragon guardian for pulling this kind of "my life is more important then yours" crap, I can still sympathize with them. I can step back and put myself in their situation and honestly dislike them, but also feel bad for them.
Personally, if there ever was a second half of my soul; my one and only someone special. A person who I first died to meet, then was held by, maybe I even did something like the main character where I was stubborn, but died again so I could be with them. If we stayed together for hundreds of years sharing each others minds and bodies and happiness only to be told that my soul would have to vanish and I would die. I dont think I would handle that well, regardless or not if I was at fault for neglecting duties that lead to the outcome.
I wouldn't have it in me to manipulate a person for a life to life cost, but I would be doing everything I possible could to stay with that person. I can honestly say I would be selfish. I would be a crying angry mess. I would probably say things that would break my partner's heart so much, they would probably automatically want to default to unfair methods just to not see me breakdown, even though I would stop them because its not apart of my nature.
But can any of you really say that you would be okay if your one true love was saying things like "I love you...I don't want to die." Or "Please don't leave. I never wanna be apart from you"? Or maybe even then telling you their scared, or it tears them apart to think of them being alone with out you. Even if my fated partner told me they would die with me, I wouldn't be okay because their death isn't what I want. I want them alive and happy, but I would wanna be next to them also. Just thinking about the possibility of someone else with them getting all the love that they gave me would probably bring me to tears.
If I died and had to leave I would want them to forever be happy and healthy and if that came in the form of another person, then it is what is it, but it probably wouldn't make me any less hurt. All I'm saying is I understand Asagi and this lover. I dont have to like their actions, but I am still fully of sympathy and pity for them.
( ̄へ ̄)

It really kills me when I come across children that act malicious because 9 times out of 10 it's the parents fault. Like we know what Bal and As will be like when they are older and we know what they are like now and its all due to their shitty ass parents teaching and leaving shitty ass impressions on them.
Children are sponges. They soak in whatever you give them and spill it back out. So it saddens me that they ended up with such bad role models. They're lives could have been so different. And as much as I love Grandfather Lombardy apart of this is his fault for turning a blind to how his own sons were brought up.
You are head of the family and regardless if only one of your son can take over, you have to make sure they all receive proper nurturing and education. Whatever he did or didnt do in terms of parenting left Bal and As to grow up under half baked useless parents which made them half baked and useless also.
They are definitely about to get what they deserve, but thinking about how their parents led them to this and how they are still just children makes me both sad and angry.

First, by age calculation they are about 3-5 years apart; that is not that many years. Second, people grow differently!!! She is about to turn 9. Her height is fine for her age. If the ML is 3-5 years older then that would make him 12-14. That is puberty age people. It is not crazy that he is putting on height at that age. Also do you all know that there are people no matter how old they grow they stay small and sometimes babyfaced? Like what is the problem here? Yes, mentally she is alot older then 9 and I feel like that's what is throwing yall off, especially with the ML looking a little more mature, but everything is being portrayed correctly. Chill out alittle, and let the author rock and roll~ ( ̄へ ̄)

I'm not down for the attitude the soldiers give Maxi, but I understand. The Duke was suppose to have handled that dragon campaign, but set it up so not only does Riftan and his company take on the responsibility, but also works in getting rid of his useless daughter.
He more then likely assumed Riftan and his company would die during this expedition and Lord knows what he would do to Maxi if it ever came back that Riftan had died. He probably would have pawned her off to the nearest greedy rapey noble as some sort of mistress. Of course Maxi, the poor dear doesnt know what's going on. She doesn't get the proper education for anything.
She's married, its consummated, and Riftan is just gone to slay the monster. She doesnt know enough to send him letters or travel to what ever home to start her responsibilities as wife. But the story about all of this is that no one knows what happening to anyone else.
I say all that to say, what the soldiers feel about Maxi is right for what they know. They know they and their leader were made to go on this campaign. They knew Riftan married Maxi before they left. They probably witnessed his demeanor worsen or become saddened when they had been gone for so long with maximum working effort and not a single letter had been sent from Maxi to their leader.
They damn near witnessed the death of each other as well as their leader and their was still never any word from Maxi or the Duke. Then they came home with Riftan expecting to find his uncommunicative wife at least in his temporary home and she wasn't there. They had to go all the way to the Duke's house to go get her. I can only imagine her wish washy demeanor in the very beginning also didnt speak well of her.
You can say things like, "she didn't know, and it wasn't her fault it was her fathers." And that is definitely true, but they dont know that. If I saw someone I highly respect and may even consider a friend almost die due to the selfish acts of a man and then their partner/significant other who is related to that same man never sends mail offering good wishes, or safe returns; I wouldn't think too highly of them regardless if I was suppose to or not.
I'm sure they'll come around, but I can definitely understand the current displeasure.

Spoiler.
They eventually know what happened to maxi, especially, riftan.
Another spoiler
Maxi was pregnant the time when the duke kidnap maxi and had a miscarriage. After learning about this, riftan almost(i think he stormed) to the dukedom to kill the duke but was stopped by maxi(i think). The main villain here is the duke. (Also, maxi isn't the only child who is abused by fucking duke. Her sister who is, i think older than maxi, also abused and married out. The duke is the worse.)

If I rolled up to my home after coming back from some bullshit I didn't even want to go. I'm expecting to get home, see a safe domain, wash off the tired, love on my wife, eat some good food, and relax and enjoy my home. However I ride up tired, my gate is broken, soldiers I dont know talking about they here for x y and z, but they swing weapons and terrorizing my citizens, and as I'm about to handle them I find out my lovely wife was in the middle of it all. You best believe I'm pissed. What if I came back later? What would of happened to my citizens let alone my wife?
Deep down I dont think Rift is mad at her, he is just worried. Its probably a feeling he doesn't know how to express well. Plus we already know he is rough around the emotional edges, and it's not his fault that her temper, worries, and self loathing are a result of her fathers abuse. She cant help but feel the way she feels, but he doesnt know anything about her past. He is trying in his own way~

True, like if they really knew what the other felt like, they wouldn't have done what they did yk. If he knew, he wouldn't have shouted at her and treated her more gently. If she knew how he felt, she would've blushed because no one was this worried about her before, which is sad, but yeah.
I wish they tell each other what they feel so that there won't be any misunderstandings in both the mc and ml and the readers(the readers in the comments mostly say how he shouldn't have done that, but if we look at it from his side and how he's been so protective of her, I completely agree with what you said.)

They were slaves together. Two nobody's trying to make it through each day. Then bam!! Chloe is a princess, and even though he was set on going with them its probably a lot to taken in. He probably has alot going on in that little mind of his. Like even if Chloe is a princess, he still a a former slave nobody. Was it alright to come with her to her new life? Should a noble like her associate with a former slave like him?
Plus being with the knights and learning proper etiquette from from their standpoint. Probably things like, bow when you see the princess, don't make eye contact, always keep your posture straight, etc. He was also probably told something along the lines of though he may have been a friend with the princess before this, that changes because she's a noble now so don't act overly familiar. We really don't know what going on with him yet.
So I like need you all to step back and realize he is a kid too, but he is on the other side of the fence trying to figure it out. He'll get it together. Give him some time~ ( ̄へ ̄)

The wife came from a wealthy family too, but her mother died early on so she was an easy abuse target for her remarried father. However Seo Yeonjin's mom was a friend of her deceased mother and decided to save her as well as take over the wife's abusive father's company and make it her own. The wife runs that company currently.
Now when she said "woman I love" I dont know if she meant she fell in love with Seo Yeonjin's mom romantically or not. She could of just meant it as "I love this woman who gave me a second chance at everything. She is very important to me." I feel like this fits better because Seo Yeonjin's mom committed suicide due to her husband's antics when Seo was still on the young side, meaning the wife should have been around the same age. That means both the wife and the Seo lost an important person to them.
Now for this plan...um from what I understand Seo's father treated him decently not because he loved him, but because he knew Seo would make a great successor. So even though Seo is doing the most to be horrible, the father is looking at the bigger picture I guess. The plan is to make something picture perfect come crashing down. Seo and the wife marry looking like a perfect couple. They have a son. More picture perfect. Seo takes over the company. Perfect end. For Seo's Father I can only guess.
Im guessing the plan is to tarnish the Yeonjin name. Maybe come out that Seo was sexing dudes and cheating on his wife, and whatever other scandals he can pull out. Seo is mixed up with some unsavoury people so maybe he is hoping one of them will kill him when all this truth comes to light. The wife quickly collects custody of their son so that Seo's Father cant make him future heir, and now daddy dearest has to deal with the fallout of everything.
Obviously Choi isnt down with plan of Seo dying. He's already lost people he consider important to him so he tell the wife he will be the variable that lead to a different outcome.
Phew...Again this is just what I got from all the chapters read. I hope it helps some~
The character development in this is so A+. The beginning had me like, "Oh lord this finna be some bullsh*t...I should probably wait until it finishes to keep my sanity. " and went to "How many days is it again until the next chapter? Cause baby, mama need now!!" Lol I wasn't even sure how romance was gonna stem from the beginning, but you can definitely see the buds of it, and it is giving me life along with those sex scenes! ⁄(⁄ ⁄·⁄ω⁄·⁄ ⁄)⁄
YES!!! omg I’ve been waiting each week for a new chapter since chapter 45
This new chapter has JAKE cuddling SHIN too like I’m so satisfied RN
this author knows how to write a BL