“my mother was a brilliant woman, always accomplished and always right, who’s better to trust than her?” yes because why WOULD you want to believe the person who kept you stable in every other way but emotionally and mentally your entire life wanted anything but the best for you? or so you thought…children want stability. even though she’s EXTREMELY emotionally abusive and controlling as all hell, she did provide in other ways in terms of education, food, shelter, etc. it’s so hard with these kinds of abusers…hyper competent, clean slate, intelligent, providers…i understand why riddle has so much trouble believing anything but her way is the right way…she has everything under her belt to make him believe she WOULD want the best for him…but it completely cracks him coming to terms with the fact she was actually horrible and abusive. despite the events shown, i believe 98% of the time, her abuse is HIGHLY underhanded but those specific memories REALLY stuck in his brain of her yelling and getting physically abusive.