@TheDragonLord
I wanna answer you, but spoilers.. But i really wanna..
To hell with it i will be as vague as i can.
Leslie will not be able to bash that crown Prince head
About Eli, I can't answer even to myself. Probably you are right. Anyway I just can't hate her. Also her ending is one of very few things I really dislike about "monster duchess".
1. The Crown Prince is an evil doppelganger or something else malevolent, and Leslie, et. al., will discover the truth & save the real prince (assuming the Crown Prince isn't some evil, life sucking entity or something that was the origin of the policy followed by Leslie's sperm donor, to which it wants to retain the power dynamics)—carry him off into the sunset, Princess Carry, because she's become a badass warrior mage thanks to her new family's training.
2. Leslie ends up with the blonde after the Crown Prince is caught conspiring to murder Leslie and all the dark truths surrounding the imperial family comes out (of which to current emperor was either totally oblivious or attempted to snuff out), and given his horror at discovering that his son acts sociopathically/is a real dick, he strips him of his title and authority for the protection of the people, assuming he doesn't die as a direct consequence of his actions by any number of factors, up to an including Leslie herself or the Duchess. Given we know so little about the Prince, it's difficult to say which case is more probable, but I find these two immediate possibilities fascenating. Of course, their are other options. These two just jump out at me. I mean, another prince might be chosen because Leslie becomes the ruler due to the Duchess, or any number of other ideas. So many ideas! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I had fun with this. :3
I do not apologize for the bait. Fufufufufu! [Goes full Kefka laugh, ambiguous yaoi femboi villain who might turn out to be a girl to troll us all, etc., I'm having too much fun…]
@TheDragonLord
Your first prediction is wow. Just wow. I would like to read novel with plot like this. Leslie with a prince in her hands.. Yeah. Sadly not gonna happen. 😕
In your 2nd prediction did you call Conrad - blonde?
@Cearb
I'm having a name brain fart at the moment, but if Conrad is the Holy Knight who is Leslie's Tutor, then yeah. =P
Also, it's a common trope from high fae literature, so it wouldn't be that big of shock for me for a plot twist like that to happen. It's something that I might write (hence, how I thought of it; also why authors like me as their editor tossing them literary gold 😅😂). Hmm…🤔 Maybe I do need to write more stories? 😅😂
Particularly, in the fantasy romance genre. But also the idea of a "doppelganger" comes straight out of high fae literature/folklore. "Changling" children. I 'm currently on volume 8 of a series where the 1st protagonist was (this one is a LEGIT spoiler for this other series, so read at your own peril! 😅😂)
in fact a doppelganger/changling child. I won't say of whom, but the fact alone was a HUGE reveal!
That series is: Fae's Captive (book 1) by Lily Archer. It's got WAY too much sex for my preferences (particularly by book 8) and it's really 2–4 books. Either way, the series revolves around the fae world and a large theme is changling children and kidnapping in order to protect high fae children who are born sickly—they replace the human child with the fae child.
Lore has it that in ANCIENT cultures, this was claimed to be a thing (probably more superstitions and fears, built on top of observation of animals and a failure to comprehend genetics—also, a means for women to protect themselves—Blame the Fae™; kinda like blame, Blame the Gods™—"I didn't cheat! The gods/fae did it!" vs "You're an abusive neglectful sperm factory whom I was forced to marry out of necessity or something, so blame society/culture/your own behavior for the situation—jackass!" Though, it was also a way to disown children, explain away "weird" behaviors, etc. "I wasn't a bad parent! That child's a changeling!" Heh. (Nose pinch.) It was, at least, supposedly, a thing. Who knows? (Shrug) Though, it definitely makes for an effective plot.
On the flip side, one would have expected their lack of dying to be a tell, or other factors. Reverse tropes are like in one of the Merlin genre films,
Merlin learns magic as a child as he is raised for a good portion of his life by Queen Mab, Queen of the Fae (film in question is the 1998 film, Merlin)—she's a bit, um… narcissistic? 😅
It's almost sad how desperate the sister is but then she start to talk about burning her sister alive then I feel only satisfaction that their family has been ruined. It would have been nice if she tried to redeem herself but oh well. I guess people who would throw a little girl in fire can't really be redeemed.