Tear Jerker / The Lunacy of Duke Venomania

• Venomania planning to kill himself after slaughtering his family out of despair that he can't have Gumina in the beginning of the novel. The rest of the book takes great pains to detail what exactly would drive someone to that level of cruelty and self loathing as his memories return, and it isn't pretty.
  • Being treated like a servant in his own house due to a deformity he had no control over after being locked in a dungeon for the first few years of his life did a real number on him.
  • The fact that what pushed him over the edge—Gumina making fun of him—was really just a ploy to make it seem like she didn't care about him in order to keep his own brother from killing him out of jealousy.
• After Lukana discovers it, Venomania reads Cherubim's diary. His early entries all begin similarly:
  The jail is dark. I want to go outside.
• Despite all his crimes, many found Venomania's death, in which he struggles and fails to confess his love to Gumina in his final moments, to be very sad.
  • The fact that he dies completely and utterly alone, on top of that.
• Gumina's response to the question of whether or not she dissolved her engagement out of love for Cherubim. Namely the fact that she has no (verbal) response. She just gives a "lonely smile", seemingly either unable or unwilling to respond.
• In a small way, Venomania right after erasing his memories. He's actually a bit of a gentleman towards Lukana, actively resisting the impulses of his lust despite his great affection for her and worrying about hurting her. He only begins behaving villainously after her rejection of him sparks some of his memories back. Gives a bit of insight into the man he could have been if he hadn't been manipulated and abused on all sides.
• The eventual fate of the women that Venomania kidnapped and brainwashed into his harem. Nobles like Maylis and Gumina get along better despite their emotional trauma, Gumina even becoming a powerful political figure. But the poorer and less well off women were frequently subject to social persecution by those who didn't understand the magic involved, and the discrimination against any descendents that he had continues for several hundred years afterwards. Mikulia becomes a prostitute, Lukana and her friends end up having to travel the world, and the actions of the two Netsuma in the novel(both of whom were being controlled by outside forces) contributes to the continued persecution of their race.