Maybe everyone's schemer and manipulator, sure. But this is not how you do it, because the author is not doing the heavy lifting to make us care about any of this. Why should be care that Karina and Reshtoka are using each other if we have seen very little about their relationship? Why should be care that Aurora seems to be lying to everyone if we've seen almost nothing about her relationship with her sister?
A story isn't just about showing stuff. It's gotta make us care about it. That's where this story falls flat.
It's almost funny how the only relationship with barely any development is Eve and her girlfriend, even though that's the one relationship that doesn't have any active role in the story. Like, what the hell is the author even doing?
What are you talking about?
what do you mean we've seen almost nothing about Aurora's relationship with her sister?
We've gotten multiple chapters with instances laying that groundwork already. It's been from Karina's perspective, and thus influenced by her bias and her interpretations of what the events meant and portrayed, but it's all there in the chapters given to us.
Aurora and Karina were close as children, but Aurora was sickly, and was thus prioritized by their parents. Their parents, for
their part, loved both of their children, but because Karina was so deferential and sought to please everyone, was always sidelined--and because she actively sought to not make waves, she never voiced her displeasure or the hurt she felt, and so her parents never perceived the build-up of grievances.
We have multiple incidents by way of flashbacks that show the dynamic between Karina and Aurora. We have the scene with the stuffed animal (both the "initial gifting" in chapter 1, and the more recent scene at the northern castle in chapter 4); we have a moment where we see how Aurora loved having Karina read her stories in chapter 3 (3.2 here on MD).
And we have the descriptions of both of them as children from their mother, who recounts that Aurora was reserved, one who did not voice her thoughts and feelings; and that Karina was obedient, and earnest in her desire to do as she was told and to try and live up to the expectations of those around her.
And we know that Karina held in her pain and the turmoil caused by always being sidelined or maligned, even as she tried to act and perform as she thought she was expected. Some people were genuine in their care for her, though they misinterpreted or missed the "warning signs"--her parents being the key figures in this case. Other characters were intentionally malicious, such as Orlando and the various nobility/aristocracy and the Crown itself, because she was unwanted by them from the start.
But we have Karina's view of things, warped as they are, and that includes the relationship she has with Aurora--including how it has twisted over time due to the perceived slights from Aurora and, importantly, the slights from everyone else.
Beyond that, the next chapter to be released will be the other half of the puzzle, because it will be Aurora's own retelling of the events we've seen thus far, but from her perspective. That will be what rounds out the larger picture being presented. With Aurora's recounting, all of Karina's recollections and all the flashbacks and narrations she's provided can be compared and contrasted, to find where their views and memories and sentiments are aligned and where they differ.
The issue, though, is that all of it is biased and incomplete information, depending on which character is recounting events.
Every character thus far has been shown to be working off of what
they perceive and what
they remember, and those various lenses are all at odds which creates the ongoing tension. That's one of the core facets and traits of the entire story, right down to how it's all mirrored in "The Monster Princess", and even in how Eve has misinterpreted Karina and Reshtoka's role in how events are mirroring the story.
And, it's portrayed in how Karina and Reshtoka view their relationship--how Reshtoka is genuinely in love with Karina, but how Karina is using her (and the other Wolfkin, potentially), to get back at the people who have hurt her (in reality or in her own view of events).
It's even shown in how the Crown has apparently succeeded in wiping the truth of Karina from the kingdom itself. Everyone's thoughts and feelings and judgments about Karina as "the villainess" are clearly incomplete if not outright erroneous, and the mystery from there is whether it was orchestrated to slight Karina from the outset, or whether there was actual truth to her behavior--and from there, whether Karina was doing it because she
was a villainess, or because she was acting as she thought she should, to garner favor with the Crown and the nobility.
The entire manga is built off of how the entire cast doesn't have an objective, complete view of everything. Various viewpoints and biases are at play, and the tension of the plot as it progresses is derived from the incompleteness of everything.
But the development is there, and it is
also being influenced by whomever is the lens character doing the recounting, and all of it is suspect for the reader until every character has had their say, and the pieces can be fit and contrasted to build the truth.
