
I think Henry did find Victor adorable and amusing. Just like one would find their pet or even lab rat. But pet owners and lab scientists almost always need a lot of pets and rats to get satisfaction and better results. Victor was just the longest lab rat and performed very well inspite of all the pain Henry inflected upon him.

That's fucking sad. That bitch Henry should've gotten a hobby outside of fucking interesting people. Victor is a lost case the moment he latched on the hope Henry promised. But if Henry wasn't a bitch and just straighten his businesses, it would have been possible for Victor to move on. Instead of Heart having feelings for Victor because the Heart organ belongs to Henry, I want to believe the majority of the body owner might have had feelings for Victor before he died. The Heart cannot store memories and the muscle memory would be too weak. I believe Head is the closest representative of the dead Henry.

I understand how heavy Karen feels that it eats her inside out to see a genuine person like Raymond go through all of that and give her everything that it destroys his whole essence. It's a gnawing guilt. She's used to doing the hard and dirty work while Raymond acts his part of the screenplay. Now that she's the one on the receiving end, she feels the rotting guilt however pointless it might be for readers. It also leaves her feeling more vulnerable and transparent because Raymond finally understands all the torture she's been experiencing that's exactly why he's taking worse measures than she ever did. If Raymond doesn't meet her halfway and they don't find a balance, they will not have a happy ending like they should. The love would be murky and mostly diluted by guilt, hate, pain, hesitation, etc.

So sad of what Yujun has become. I definitely want Jiho to heal and his life becomes better, but I don't want him near Yujun any longer. He hurt him really bad and from spoilers, he's gonna keep doing that. I want him far away. As much as Jiho doesn't deserve his life, Yujun doesn't deserve being played and hurt by Jiho. My Yujun took enough, now he needs to heal too.

I still reread this, my ultimate favorite besides Who Made Me Princess. I am patiently waiting for the epilogue. Things that amuse me in this reread.
1. The implication that mages recognize trans people - this is the only explanation why the Tarahan family kept their tradition and remained unharmed. This is aside from how they ultimately respect mages. The moment Regina said they are not witches but mages, Count Tarahan followed without question.
2. The implication of Aaron causing gay and bisexual panic all around the country. That is really a national treasure face.
3. When the empire called for nobles to stand with them before the upcoming civil war, a lot of the recipients were women. Regina was also always been a candidate for the throne, and he was able to hyphenate her maden and married names. The empire is less misogynistic than others and these were not even highlighted, just a natural part of the story.
4. What made Regina's regression, ultimately granting her wish and changing her future was Evaldina's heart—this really was a full circle of how parallel and the same side of the coin they were.
5. Nothing can beat the love Regina has for Theor. It was so strong that even in his most stubborn days, he knew it and gave her back the same love.
6. I'm so sad that Johan was not able to make his wish come true, to marry Selma. But this is debatable since the written history had distortions and could not even identify Jesse Tarahan's name or what Teeter is.

7. Oh, I'm also sad but incredibly in awe of Herman. When you think of unconditional love, this is what it should look like. I'm not excusing him and I feel bad for his parents and household, but he promised to show Evaldina what real love is and did so until she died. I wish he was able to go back to his parents and atone as well, as this is definitely a story about atonement.
If my father is dying and my wife only thought of her gains, I would've flipped and have her beheaded. Ungrateful fucking ass.