More than half the time I don't really understand why Char is doing what she's doing. It's perhaps because the author doesn't like to make it clear what exactly happens in the original (in-series) novel, so while Char must know what she's aiming for, the readers won't have a clue. Sometimes it looks like Char is trying to plot against the empress, but nothing much comes out of it, making it look like she wasn't, after all. I'm not even sure if she wants to fight the empress or not. She's making herself a bigger target by distancing herself from the grand duke (since the empress needs her pawns to be without allies), but is that really what Char wants? What's the point if she's suffering because of it? While she has tried to actively avoid some of the empress's plots, she never returns the attack. One might say it makes sense since an empress is a horrying target to plot against, but I'm sure Char could pull off something using her novel knowledge, without leaving any traces of her own deliberate involvement.
On the other hand I don't know why she's trying to beat shounen harem manga main characters in density. Is that a worthy goal, huh?