Why does her brother want to go back to that awful place? Why does nobody think about running away and live a normal, uneventful life? They know that the probability of their half-brother being the emperor is almost set in stone, that their father is a good for nothing that won't help them at all and that they don't have the support of people in the court that could help them to raise to the throne..... I know they know nothing about being commoners but, at least, their chances to survive are way higher than living in the court...