Talk:The Royal Masquerade Theory Page/@comment-44206415-20191129082910

Buckle up kiddies, because HUGE theory incoming.

I think Emery is playing a long con on everyone, while also helping out the MC in subtle ways. They’re trying too hard at playing the oblivious fool, going so far as to dress like one, and fools are most dangerous when they convince others that they’re harmless or unthreatening.

The way they're introduced at first to the MC is by stepping out of the shadows, which could imply they're a slippery character and should be paid close attention to. They test the MC with riddles, which if you guess right, they're taken aback and compliment her intelligence. (Interesting that they never bring up her obvious beauty like most of the other characters, which by Chapter 6 gets downright objectifying on Renza's part especially)

While they do run off to join Cyrus, they stay out longer than necessary because they're already aware of his affair with Theodosia and expect the MC to eventually follow them to discover this too and want to see how she'll respond. If she chooses to play head games, then they allow the MC to think she had put one over on them when she talks them into outing their engagement to Cyrus, which in turn wrecked his alliance with Theo and caused more damage to Cyrus’ rep than anything the MC did herself, even with the diamond options to mess with him. Strangely, there is no opportunity to see a reaction from Percy unless the MC chooses to rat on Emery, which suggests this entire "date" could have rigged to fail from the beginning by the both of them. Also, considering Cyrus isn't the most discreet person when it comes to his affairs, hence why it was easy for Kayden and MC to discover him with Theo, you'd think the MC would also have run into Emery coming back the other way?

Then there’s the joust. They made a show of hanging around by the lances not only to listen in on the MC’s conversation with Theo that was interrupted by Cyrus, but also to recognize Theo's weakness and exploit it to their advantage when they finally faced off. Which, in turn led to Theo publicly embarrassing herself and Cyrus in front of everyone yet again. It's not hard to see where their descendant Maxwell inherited his astuteness from, when one remembers how he was spying on Liam and the MC in Chapter 1 of TRR and proceeded to use their percieved connection to his advantage in sponsoring the MC.

Finally, there's their blind devotion to Cyrus, or so it appears. The MC on a few occasions can try to tell them that Cyrus is cheating on them, but each time they simply smile and deny it. Yet, when Theodosia confirms it to their face, there's no response at all. Conveniently, their face is hidden behind a mask which makes it impossible to gauge any reaction from them whatsoever. The same thing happens when the MC tries to tell them again that Renza is also with Cyrus, but they still remain blissfully ignorant. Could there be a reckoning coming for them in the next chapter?

I would accept if they were merely a joke character and not an eventual LI if it wasn't for the fact that the "jokes" feel so mean-spirited and in bad taste. It's like picking on the disabled kid in school. Theodosia in particular heaps tons of verbal abuse upon them, but there's no opportunity for the MC to call her out on it.