Listing the positive and negative traits of Layla and Claudine to prove a point that neither of them are just their beauty or who they are to Matthias.
She spent a significant amount of her childhood helping her uncle out around the land, so she'd have skills related to farming.
One of Layla's most famous interests are animals, specifically birds. She appreciates the land around her and the living creatures living in it with her, respecting them enough to give them a proper burial during the hunting season.
She can be prideful and on rare occasion, envious of Claudine's lifestyle. While it is only implied, she may also be deeply ashamed of her social status.
Layla has been described as intelligent for a reason as she is quite studious. She is so dedicated that she dreams of attending college to earn a degree and become a professor during a male dominated time in history.
She can be stubborn, occasionally inconsiderate, and with the tendency to bottle up her pain, it sadly leaves much of her trauma to go unresolved. Layla believes that if she can just keep moving forward to her goals, it doesn't matter how hurt she gets in the process.
She is a kind and gentle teacher to her students, often encouraging them every step of the way as she guides them.
Due to the abandonment issues she developed early in life, Layla can feel that everyone is out to get her even when they aren't. (Not like a lot of the people she is surrounded by really prove that wrong.)
Contrary to popular belief, Layla IS capable of advocating for herself. I know we all love Kyle but she isn't obligated to marry him just because the alternative solution is worse. Layla's broken engagment wasn't just because of Linda Ettman, Layla just didn't love Kyle like that, and when she knew it would never work out, she broke it off.
Layla has been shown to be an artist, sketching out the landscape from the trees.
She's generally a sweet young woman with aspirations, talents, hobbies, and hopes for a successful future in a world that is rigged against her.
Claudine knows when to put her own wants aside for the future that was selected for her. It is however, a double edged sword, as it shows that Claudine is mature and knows when it's time to roll up her sleeves and get to work but it also means that she's less likely to advocate for a future that doesn't confine her to a political bargaining tool.
With that said, she's not a complete pushover, and she refuses to accept Riette's feelings for her just because he wants her. Claudine knows what she wants and she isn't willing to settle for less.
There is no doubt that she can be a mean girl in a way that is so painfully realistic. She doesn't necessarily hate Layla, but her wealthy upbringing and the lack of correction from the adults in her life allowed Claudine to grow up with the mindset that Layla doesn't have a personality of her own, rather believing that she merely exists solely as her friend.
Claudine is shown to be skilled in a variety of subjects. She's shown to be incredibly artistic with her knack for embroidery, she can play the piano and she can create beautiful bouquets of artificial flowers. We also know that she knew how to play card games, chess and games of dice ever since she was a young girl.
It might not be as deep as Layla's love for nature, but Claudine has been shown to respect the beauty of the Herdhart's green house, implying that she too, has a fondness for the beauty the earth possesses.
Claudine is mean and capable of saying some nasty shit, but she usually shows a lot of restraint in keeping her intrusive thoughts to herself. Unlike a certain someone, Claudine knows she has better things to do than to go out of her way to stalk somebody.
As for the "She cried when Matthias broke off their engagement! ๐๐๐" So what? Would YOU not cry if you were betrayed by your fiancรฉ? Claudine openly crying is a sign that she hasn't completely closed off all of her emotions, it still shows that she's human and humans naturally get upset from time to time. Newsflash: Concealing all of your emotions to look "cool" isn't as badass as it sounds, it's actually worrying as it implies that emotions were something that was taught to be feared and hidden in order to not be a "burden" on others.
She does however, place too much importance on learning from her mother's story to the point where she goes to the other end of the extreme.
She's a flawed woman with ignorant and even downright classist opinions and worldviews, but Claudine isn't one note, even when she "loses" she can still find her strength, pick herself back up, and continue on with her life away from the toxicity of her family and former in-laws.
Now... How about we talk about the traits Matthias displays while we're at it.
A man child who has to surround himself with enablers to protect his sad, pathetic little bubble.
When that bubble is burst by a twelve year old who wasn't afraid of him, he took it so personally as an eighteen year old that he went out of his way to kill birds so he could make said twelve year old cry over and over.
For a duke, he spends more time than he should bullying a girl who did nothing to him for fun. Doesn't he have an actual job to do?
His only "personality trait" that is remotely positive at all is his face card, thats really sad.
All of his hobbies involve killing/disabling other creatures who can't fight back.
Because he wasn't used to being told "no" in his life, he proceeded to sexually abuse and corner that same girl into a hostage relationship to vent out his frustrations of not getting everything he wants just because he asked.
His backstory is so pathetic that it makes Navier look like she lived Rashta's life in comparison.
He wanted to kill his own god damn son because he was jealous that Layla loved her child more than him.
He only threatened to abdicate as duke to marry Layla because he didn't have any competition, if he had a little brother then I'm sure he wouldn't have put his title on the line.
The only people who actually like him all have to larp as Layla fans because they themselves know how embarrassing it is to openly defend this man baby.
Matthias is nothing more than a hungry parasite coated in a pretty artstyle that forces his hosts to be dependent on his existence while he sucks the joy and personality out of everyone he comes across. He is by all definitions, a waste of screentime that could have gone to a story equally as beautiful as Vanji's art.
So let me ask you guys this, why hate on these two stunning women when we can should hating on this parasite who's sole purpose was to rob us of anything meaningful?
Anyways, Laydine is the best pairing in COBYB and no one can convince me otherwise.
