
What a toxic relationship they had in the past!
Now that both of them have past memories, can the emperor atone for what he did, and what'll our MC do next.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I still can't forget the scene where emperor ordered the builder's heel to be crushed. So cruel!
The weird thing is, they were both attracted to each other and still the emperor couldn't work positively around it. Why was He so psycho ?! I am more invested in the previous timeline than the present timeline. I really wanted to see more of what happened in the past.

The reason is that the emperor wasn't mentally sound. He had a rough childhood, just imagine how suffocating and traumatic life would be inside the palace. It is literally the survivor of the fittest in there. He won't be recieving any parental love and would be cooped up studying scrolls. He literally don't know how to express his emotions. The way he treats the MC is literally the same way he treats anyother object because that's what he is used to. He is unable to differentiate and treat people according ly. He is not someone we would call 'normal'. If this was in modern times he would be seeking psychological help. We can't entirely blame the emperor although his actions can never be justified.

No.. that's not it. He probably had a privileged childhood with lack of good parenting, which made him an emperor with ego larger than life that wouldn't allow him to take rejection well. But that alone did not make him the monster he was 100 yrs ago. What he didn't have was the knowledge & understanding of what it is to suffer physically & emotionally. That's why he lacked empathy. But he was different from a psychopath, because his root issue was related more to physical attribute than mental. How should I say it... he was born with a handicap? He went through life without the means to know suffering, & ended up hurting the one he loved just to keep him from running away. He only started noticing when he saw Heun falling apart & then committing suicide. In the current lifetime, he was born again with the same handicap. But his knowledge from 100 yrs ago made the difference now. Though he still have a long way to go, him accepting that knowledge & acted on it is already a very big character development, in my opinion.

I really liked the way you put it. The emperor really had no idea how it feels to be on the other side of the spectrum. And he was a bit psychotic too in nature. It definitely was a dangerous mix all together and other Innocents suffered for this.
It's a blessing that royalties are not a thing anymore. They really don't regard anything other than them worth living.
Oh ho! Look at how designer Poulan's blushing! I hope he's staring at our girl's dress.