That is not what I meant by "only the author knows."
Readers can interpret the story, obviously. I already gave my interpretation above, and I think it's actually fairly close to yours: Karina might believe revenge will somehow fix the actual wound underneath, even when she doesn't really understand what the wound is herself.
The interview also supports that Karina hides feelings even from herself, so this interpretation is not coming from nowhere. But it still doesn't tell us exactly what those hidden, or not understood, feeling are. It doesn't directly say that Karina never wanted revenge, or that what she truly wants is to repair her relationship with Aurora. That is still an interpretation.
And that is my point. Someone can see the same hints and still not be convinced that Karina's revenge was only hiding some deeper wish to make up with Aurora. That doesn't automatically means they objectively misread the story.
There is also difference between what the author intended and how clearly it was communicated.
We see young Karina being warm to Aurora and giving her the toy, which was hers. Then Karina is called cold, almost everyone hates her, saying she's hard to deal with, her relationship with Aurora is basically dead, and revenge becomes the thing keeping her going. But something between those states feels missing.
Did years of bullying make her cold? Was she actually cold, cruel, or was she only formal because she was trying to be the proper future queen? Why did everyone around her see her that way? Maybe it will be explained later. Maybe this ambiguity is intentional. But right now, it still feels like a part of the setup is missing.
That doesn't mean the whole story is bad. It might still become clear later. But saying that the storytelling didn't establish something well is not the same as refusing to engage with the story.
And several people agreeing with one interpretation doesn't suddenly make it objective fact. Unless you are secretly Akiko Kanawo, telepathy is not part of critical reading. You have an interpretation, same as the rest of us.
I think you're conflating a bit of what DeathPigeon has been saying, but I'll engage anyway.
We have been shown that the reason Karina became hated by "everyone" was due to Orlando never wanting her in the first place, insulting and demeaning her over every tiny mistake she made during her Queen's Training, and starting a rumor mill around the palace & capital that swept up the nobility and turning them all against Karina.
Karina was kind to Aurora as a child because that's who Karina is. It's why her mother pleaded with Eve to "find the truth" about the 'Villainess' that the Crown wanted erased from its histories--because she couldn't believe that everything being said about Karina was the truth, because the rumors were completely unlike her daughter.
And she's not wrong. Karina was separated from her family and any form of support base, isolated in the palace once she became the princess concert to Orlando, and was on her own while she strove to learn what she needed to become Queen. And that was from the time she wasn't yet a teenager. No allies, a prince who hated her and manipulated those around her into bullying and lying to and about her.
It's pretty clear, I'd argue, that this environment is what broke Karina and made her see everyone as an enemy. She held onto the idea that she had allies, but found out she apparently didn't--the only ones who could be called such, were physically separated from her.
And once Aurora herself was older and able to actually become Orlando's fiancé,
she wanted to try and make amends for what she saw as her part in causing Karina's life to go to shit. But she has never been able to talk about her thoughts and feelings, having been insulated and coddled from early childhood because of her illness.
So, she becomes Orlando's fiancé because that liberates Karina. Only she doesn't communicate that, and Karina misinterprets it as Aurora trying to take something away, once again. Due to the abuse and the history of Aurora getting special treatment, Karina finds herself in this mindset that even her family is against her, when it's not entirely the case.
But she won't let anyone near her by that point, because she doesn't want to be hurt any more than she has. So no one can
tell her, even if they felt they could actually articulate the reality.
Like I said - we've gotten a pretty clear idea as to a lot of what's going on.
and at the foundation of it all - the story isn't being spoonfed to readers, because the actual weight of the conflict rests on it being presented as multiple perspectives from the various characters, with the discrepancies between their recountings and viewpoints revealing the "truth" that lies in the middle.
When readers don't understand that and instead say that the story makes no sense because characters are lying or acting differently than they should be, it comes across as those readers either completely missing what the author is going for, or--after that fact being explained--simply rejecting it, and deciding that it's a bad story or poor writing.
And at
that point, it gets tiresome seeing those same people show up chapter after chapter to a story they clearly hate, whinging and badmouthing what they either can't or refuse to understand and making it harder for those who
are enjoying the story to try and engage with and discuss with one another about it.
