@Smellykupo Well it is true she's grooming him in the sense she's molding him to play a specific role, however she would be seen as more a manipulator than groomer I think. Groomer usually has the connotation of someone older taking advantage of and using someone younger, usually for abusive/exploitive purposes. Yet, while Charlize is older, she's only 2 years older and her manipulation was politically based, it wasn't her intent for him to fall for her nor for anything bad to be done to him.
hon, did you think you were going to take this boy at his most vulnerable, mold him in your desired (and warped, you know this is messed up) shape and then just....walk away? No WONDER he's going to rip the world apart looking for you! XD
@Smellykupo I don't think so.
Yes, MC is poisoning our ML against the empire because she wants to use him to destroy it. But grooming would imply she is doing everything to have sex with him. Is more easy to argue if what she is doing is justified or not, than wonder if it's grooming, because that was never her intention.
For now is easier to assume she was half conscient about ML's feeling for her, but she never encourage or discouraged it. She said to him to be obsessed for her, but in a more controlling manner than a sexual one.
Also, if you check the promo, you will see that
when she tries to run away from him, she says "I didn't even know he was looking for me", implying that when she left, she thought he would forget about her, move on.
@Smellykupo I think it would be considered grooming. It's not as clearcut because she isn't intending to sexually, emotionally, or mentally abuse him. But by the technical definition of grooming she would be considered one, although her manipulations also benefit him. I think their relationship is better described as codependency.
Why does he trust and cherish her that much? I mean he’s so smart that I bet he’s figured out her intention from the start. Or, is it because Charlize came into his life when he was still young and naive(?), help his mother and even stay with him when his mother passed away? Idk lol