Show me the human being in the last 2000 years who didn’t manipulate anyone close to them. What matters is how you move forward after the screwup.
Dawg, this quite literally could have affected his life moving forward. This ain't about "oh, she manipulated you to go on a date". This was she quite literally caused you to nearly throw your life away, nearly get disowned by your family, sealed your career in stone, refuses to admit her feelings for him because "muh pride", ADMITS to crying when she doesn't get her way, and legit is an integral part of his business and could EASILY take her help away if so chooses to (and she temporarily did).
I'm not even trying to root for anybody, just spectating, and I'm sitting here wondering how the mangaka can spin this back to make it so I can actually see the main girl winning. Because, even if we don't have a
Hanabi situation and the childhood friend/crush is the better option, we all know the childhood friend/crush is going to lose regardless of how the plot seems.