Yea I don't like the sudden change in Lythe's character going from being recognized by Iris, Sarah, and the arch bishop, being able to face down an aristocrat that pointedly attacks his joblessness, going toe to toe with the captain of the royal guard, and facing the blood lust of the king and dragon slayer to being the cliche frightened abused son. There was no indicator that until he was kicked out of the house that he was treated poorly and even after he was only treated with neglect by the house. Even afterwards we were only shown Lythe's determined attitude so the 180 in his character is jarring and out of place and makes me think the only reason is because the author felt the need for there to be "conflict." This can also be reinforced by even though he was introduced as a royal guard personally chose by royalty the crowd ignores it and almost immediately throws stones and trash at him. In any other situation those people would be tried for treason against the crown for assaulting and disrespecting their chosen representative. It makes even less sense because it seems like the royal family are quite respected by the citizens because the king is basically a hero and the princess is altruistic.
tl;dr sudden unexplained character change is bad