I hope he doesn't just ignore all these flags until it's too late...
It seems like the author is trying to give us "small hints" as to what's actually going on, so that when it's all revealed we can look back and go "oh so that's why it was like that." The problem is that these "small hints" aren't small enough for the main character to keep ignoring like this without taking action, so if he just gets shit on by the real plotter for not talking to the matriarch about his doubts or whatever then it will just feel incredibly frustrating.