What is this emotional manipulation?
“So all this time, it was my own misunderstanding?”
No. No it wasn’t. Sure, Cesar, you could have done a little more digging, and been less indirect, but that’s not your nature. The people around you already know that. It was the fault of Carnelia.
Firstly, even with all these rumors happening, although she denies them readily, she does not in any way actually bring both of the people involved to deny the claims. Then, she starts to send letters out and trusts an attendant that she knew the empress placed for Noah. Think about that for a good minute.
She. Trusts. An Attendant. Placed. By. The. Empress.
We know who the empress is, right? A cunning woman who loathes Cesar. So, what happens when Carnelia gives a letter mentioned for Noah to that attendant? He reads it. And he tries to find weaknesses against Cesar. Which, of course, is to create turmoil in his life, particularly his love life.
The fact that everyone starts laughing at Cesar when he think all of this trouble and emotional distress was just his misunderstanding, especially with Carnelia in the mix, is like adding salt to the wounds.
So, Cesar, no, it wasn’t your own fault. It was Carnelia’s, too. "What about the empress, the emperor, the servant, and whatnot?!” some might say. But those things, aside from the visit with the emperor, could all have been avoided by Carnelia if she was just a little bit more careful about both her life and Cesar’s life.
Anyways, if a manga did this, I wouldn’t really care, but I hold webtoons to higher standards.