@Kuyu he's a plot device. The kings in most manga are 100x worse -.- a bunch of douche baggers that need to be usurped or some drama craving bullshit like that. This king is trying to pull off something called Centralization, but pulling off centralization while you still have Dukes and Marquis households is not going to work until you strip them of so much power that they might as well just be a basic land owner -.-
The daughter is actually a great target if he's looking to get revenge on the king, though. Plus he's already basically got the entire country's economy by the balls. I'd love to see him pull a switch during the Tristovy fight, where he provides support to the faction that leads to the worst outcome for the king, yet achieves what Mauricia claims to desire, the end of the cival war.
@TheFollower most of it is for comical purposes. The other portions is just a misunderstanding... how the f are they suppose to know how difficult trench warfare is to deal with when they haven't experienced WW1&2?
The king is trying to strip the nobles of their power, Balud becoming stronger and then marrying into his family only helps with this, especially since the nobles absolutely despise him.
The Baron that may end up being invaded if Antrim falls is currently in control of a small mountain pass, easy to defend but piss poor, and desires land closer to the center of the kingdom (which would also make it safer). If he collapses the mountain pass when they begin to attack Antrim, the army will divert their military down to Cornelia, completely passing him over due to the mountains being on either side of his land. Geographically, it wouldn't make sense to clean out the pass when you have a clear shot down to Cornelia that you also plan on invading and now have no fear of any invasion from behind due to the collapsed path. As an FYI, the reason they are attacking Antrim is because it is in the perfect location to attack their flank if they were to attack the easiest location for them to invade, Cornelia.
The Duke's son died during the last war and he blames the king for that death. The fact that the king continues to accumulate more power is like a slap in the face. "I'd rather see my country fall then watch my son's murderer enjoy his life as king"
As for the other nobles, the king's Centralization is their hatred for him. Cracking down on bribery and extortion is also part of it, but also giving more power to commoners. They work for years solidifying a solid economic balance between the houses and then a commoner comes out with super popular products and the king says "Time for us to switch to capitalism!"
