@Liquidlax Absolutely yeah. Feelings have always been secondary in marriage until very recent times. Marriage of love is a really modern thing, which isn't to say that it's necessarily a bad thing. And even then, in richer families/more traditional families, it's not all about feelings. I didn't consider the possibility that the crown was behind it, but I absolutely agree that it's definitely a possibility. And the mage actions would make even more sense if the King was the one behind.
With this being said, I don't think that the King would have agreed to the man picked up here if the reason was to make strong children, since he's definitely not a warrior and is more of a wimp. So even if your explanation completely makes sense, I don't really think that's the case here and that's why I think the parents are probably the one behind.
@MurphySlaw I actually agree with you on this, and I might have expressed myself poorly so I apologize if that's the case. I completely agree that if it wasn't a manga, it would literally be harassment, especially the part where he wipes her body without her consent with his eyes blindfolded (as if it was enough to make it okay, he's literally touching her body without her consent which is 100% not okay), which is why I said that most of his comportment can actually be explained by the comedic purpose of the manga. It's a manga so we pass it off as comedy, but in real life it would be creepy, I agree. I think it's important to differenciate between what's acceptable for comedy purposes and what's acceptable in real life. If I had to take a non sexual example : in a lot of mangas parents punch their 8 years old child on the head strong enough to leave a big bump on their head because they did a small mistake, and we all understand that it's a joke, it's comedy. Nobody would take that as an excuse to punch an actual 8 years old, and everyone knows how wrong it would be to punch sunch a young infant. It also applies in couples : "Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai!", when Yuuta hits Rikka repeatedly because she's acting like an idiot, nobody take that as a justification of domestic violence. I think the same applies here, his "creepy" behavior isn't really creepy when you take into account that this is a romcom and that all of it is just done with the intent to make an audience laugh.
I also think that when he took everything on his shoulder, it actually left quite a bit of an impression on Karen as we can see in the last chapter, and I don't think she's completely oblivious to her own feelings. I think she's considering him as a potential partner more than she did before. But I also don't think any of the two characters are really at fault for the stagnating relationship. Because if you put yourself in her shoes it's quite hard to take a 16 years old boy who confessed to you, his actual boss, on the first day he met you. She's probably seeing him as messing around and I think her point of view isn't really faulty. The age gap makes it hard for the relationship to progress without someone making a really serious move.
The part where I think you might have misunderstood what I meant is where I said he should act more seriously. By that I didn't mean he should push further with more actions. I agree that further than this would be creepy. I think it's more of a general attitude, and more about the words and the speech than the acts. I think he should really take the time to be honest with his feelings, without messing around. Take her separately, maybe on a diner or something, and tell her his feelings in a more serious way. Though I realize how anticlimatic it would be and it would kill the comedy. I also think it's time for him to pull instead of pushing. She clearly felt jealous when she thought he might be going out with another girl, or during the chapter when he went to buy an ero book and she thought he had a date. I think at this point he needs to make her realize too that she might lose something if she doesn't pursue the relationship with him and give it a more serious thought.
Hope that can clarify what I meant by my last post.