So, the author is fucking with us, now that Yeon is finally getting out of that stupid hole, we get some garbage flashbacks to explain how the former emperor is total garbage (which we already knew) and how the first prince struggled as a child. He should have had these at ch 10 instead, before the lair of demon story so we didn't get this story cockblock.
Also, the author should have done the black border things like everyone else does to indicate this is a flashbacks so people don't get confused.