@radioshit They have a happy ending. Michele is only given a distorted and partial version of truth as to why Ain lied to him but he accepts him as he is and they live "happily" ever after( SPOILER: spoiler The North is no less cruel than South. Ain was born a bas**** of the original Lord Shelleg and his Southern mother who was fooled into thinking this man would marry her for he took her virginity and gave her a baby. Not realizing by logic and later by denial that she has been taken advantage of . So when she keels herself Ain is left destitute in a society which reviles and takes advantage of his bas**** status, enslaving and making him a sexual slave. Things also don't change when he was taken to South where he was enslaved by ANATOLD family before Michele was born,because original Lord Anatold didn't want to cause scandal by taking a mistress so he took a Northman as slave and his sons also abused Ain. Ain believes himself to be a monster and he intended to take Michele's family title and use his name to take up lands and infiltrate Southern region. His plan was to kill Michele after he was practically "sold" to keep the Anatold family running by Michele's second oldest brother. Both society of elites are so horrible, but Ain protects Michele by hiding most of it from him. He never discloses about the sexual abuse and slavery his own family inflicted on him or even the Northern ones because he thinks if he knew he would kill himself and he wants Michele to kill him rather than do that and they live peacefully as much as they can - I only read until the 3rd AU of novel. There are two more AUs released this year but I haven't read it yet but overall this is the vibe of the story)
@ringoat It lowkey is especially from Ian's perspective but I think the point is that he found a glimpse of happiness despite how horrifying his life has been and could have been. SPOILER:
Spoiler!
Michele reminds Ian of his dead mother in the way that how similar they were in their naivety, kindness and seeing the good despite people doing them wrong. Ian even "hated" his mother a little as a kid because not only she wasn't taking care of herself because of a man who left them( even if it means leaving his child self behind) but also "leaving" him behind when he told her the truth about how his father might have decieved her( which he did, he found Lord Shelleg and went through with injuring him fatally when he laughed about fooling his mother years later) . He saw her su*cide as her abandoning him and chosing her biological dad, AGAIN. By loving and chosing to care for Michele and protecting him from the cruel world he doesn't understand , he basically reconnects with the child who loved his mother but couldn't even admit it to himself even as a kid because how much it hurt him and her.
