The duke is manipulative. He is taking advantage of the fact that Blondina will be ignored and secluded from the rest of the royal family and nobles so that he will be “her happy place”. He is convinced that if she keeps getting mistreated in that palace, she would have no reasons to reject him. How cunning. However, he should have learnt that Blondina does not care to be excluded from society as long as she can survive. While she would not have any reasons to say reject him, she would not have any reasons to say yes either