The MC is ruining it for me. She is just a victim getting seduced and gaslighted by the Emperor believing his every word. She didn't even feel disgust at his hypocrisy in the previous chapter. She couldn't stop it, sure, but she didn't even feel sad.
The MC is literally the Emperor's bitch right now. She has been corrupted to the point she has no character of her own. She saw her childhood friend die and she is smiling.
Honestly the MC is kinda incompetent. Up until she is being hard carried by the emperor. He might as well be the mc. If he didn't like her from first glance she would be dead in a ditch.