I was under the impression (as a manhwa only reader) it was simply greed on the vast land owned by the Duke. I mean, how much do we know based on the spoilers here? TL1 - marries 2nd prince (whom we know was basically tempted to win MC over to have the Duke authority), gets the child/heir, then the mistreatment starts. TL2- MC marries a vassal, loses trust in the Imperial family, plots revenge. Vassal is loyal enough but not powerful enough to save himself from assassins. TL3- MC decided not to get married, delays any possible talks and be a recluse publicly, Emperor still targets her trustful maid to have MC be poisoned, and eventually still kills the maid and her sibling.
But why kill her in her first timeline? By marrying off his second son to her, he already got the vast lands under imperial family. An alive member from a powerful family as an ally is way more useful than a dead one. It's not like she was plotting for the throne. She seemed content with marrying a second prince and raising her child until the emperor killed her for no good reason. The second and third murder seems more plausible than the first murder.
The first timeline is the most logical one, because the land and title still belonged to MC even after the marriage as she has inherited it from her father. So she was making decisions and it was impossible to make her surrender the land to the royal family voluntarily. But when she had a child the royal family didn’t have to keep her alive as she was an obstacle in their plans to take over the land, and they had a rightful heir - her child - to use as a puppet until he comes of age or the land is drained of whatever they need there. I think that when MC got assassinated in other timelines it was way harder for the royal family to take over her property because of the opposition of every distant relative who might have wanted a piece of inheritance. So they either used someone like her uncle as a puppet or just eliminated anyone who was against the royals taking over that land.
Is that all? Why are all the stories like this. It's always the greed that makes the emperor do this!! I thought it would be because of some grand reason seeing as there was a scene where MC was thinking as to why the emperor was killing her.
So is it the blood of the dragon that allowed for her to regress 3 times already? It was said that the North is protected by dragons and that her family has the blood of dragons. Maybe they're so selective and protective of something that having her regress was the best course to take? Seems like a stretch but there has to be a point why all that was mentioned. I mean, blood of dragons in their family, powerful and rich Northern territory, and dragons being protectors. Foreshadowing, methinks.
I know that he isn't suitable considering the circumstances, but I'm developing a huge 2nd lead syndrome for Aldor lol. I mean: - he's loyal to FL in the past life, to the extent of dying from assassins instead of going along the emperor's wishes - they were not intimate in the past life, but that's also bec FL was uncomfortable with marriage due to her first life. Get you a man who respects your boundaries yo~ - artist already put so many moments of them e.g. him grieving FL's father and FL hugging him, FL leaning on his shoulder, etc. The only flaw is that he isn't a "suitable" shield against the emperor, which makes me sad....
I definitely agree with this. The manhwa really gave him a strong first impression. Plus, if I understood the manhwa correctly, she married him in the 2nd TL but since she heavily reacted on his one time oath, while he was loyal, it just means he wasn't loyal to her but remained loyal to the dad/the land
Alder does have some great qualities but I think of this arch as being much more about the mc's guilt than about romance. Neither have pushed a romance with the other. Not in this timeline or the last. And she talks about her decisions as fixing her mistakes, not finding happiness. Especially the scene in the carriage after getting rid of the prince, she talks of lessening her guilt for getting him killed, not about wanting to have more intimate relationship. He also seems more interested in seeing her happy than seeing her happy choosing him. I think if they are both lucky they will forge a strong trust and friendship. But both seem to have determined romance as not an option.
As you're curious about the Emperor's motive I'll gladly spoil it I've already mentioned Leopold's had the dragon blood. They were also blessed to use the power of dragon heart. But there were 2 conditions- 1. Must be the head of the Leopold family, 2. Have Leopold's blood flowing in their body. But using this power gave an ability near immortality. They live in a different time where they neither age or can die. FL's dad didn't want her to go through this loneliness, thus he didn't want to handover the title to her. Coming back to the Emperor, he is a monstrous creature. He wanted this immortality. But if he took the dragon heart directly, he couldn't have handled the magic recoil & die. That's why he wanted a child born between Leopold & Royals. He wanted to use the baby as his vessel like the countless bodies he has in his laboratory. When his body ages or gets weak, he changed skins. He even used the crown prince as a skin. But nonetheless our FL was victorious.
Was it ever mentioned how MC kept on regressing? Is it a quirk of her bloodline or some other cosmic reason yet to be hinted at?
So i want to know why did the 4th die in previous timelines ? Why didn't she marry 3rd prince if she had a good opinion of him? What is the ending of 3rd Prince as i read here there will be rebellion and royals will loose their titles, even ml