lol 2nd time rereading this poor baby and poor 9th prince, his unrequited love to be used as a pawn and caught in the crossfire
the author doesn't really care about the innocent side characters which is kinda sad, like luxia's maid spy who the emperor ordered to be executed and just wanted to protect her family
that said, the story is about avenging the frustrating death of the 2nd fml and only the 2nd fml, meaning the fml and ml get their just desserts, so that's fun
i'm so glad they don't give them redemption arcs because they're literally trash
ruyan is stupid and selfish, the emperor is stupid selfish and wishy-washy idk how he would be able to lead a dynasty with that attitude