#govart

(spoiler warning and trigger warning, you want to strangle people while reading that)

I always wondered if there are people who actually knew about it or at least had a clue, and a few people come to my mind there: Govart, Nicaise, Guion, Audin and Paschal. (And, as always, feel free to let me know what you think about that, who knows, who doesn't know, and why?)

So I thought about it and I came to following conclusion:

I'm still unsure about Govart. Guion and Audin probably did know, and Paschal knew as well. Nicaise is sure about it but Laurent never told him.

And now, for everyone who is interested, I'll give you my thoughts and explanations for this opinion:

Guion: Guion knows the Regent's tastes very well... He has "sold" his own son to the Regent, not for money but for status... A son in a similar age to Laurent, who had no one left but the Regent at the time... So Guion must at least have considered the possibility that the Regent took advantage of the sitiuation.

Govart: Govart is Govart. He is involved in many things the Regent does, and I don't think he'd mind it to happen. We know what he is capable of, and I don't think he has any boundaries, even not when it comes to kids... Dispite all that there is something that speaks against it... I think he would have explicitly mentioned the abuse when he had captured Laurent and was in the cell with him, to provoke him or to hurt him or probably both. So in my first thought, I ruled Govart out because of this. The only thing that makes me suspicious there again is when Laurent says that Govart always wanted to be on the other side of the door, and now he is... (When he is in the cell with Laurent). Maybe I interpreted to much into this because I was looking for hints. Laurent also says there that this is something the Regent hasn't known about Govart, but the Regent does know what Govart would like to do to Laurent... (So please give me your opinion here!)

Audin: Audin knows the Regent's tastes, too. The way he creeps around Nicaise in the first book, and how he offered him to Damen... Disgusting! Does he admire the Regent so much or does he share his tastes... No matter what it is, it makes him a disgusting person as well and I don't see him stepping in to help Laurent, only if it would be to his advantage. And Laurent was a boy there, not ready to rule, and Audin must have known that the Regent hasn't had the intention to give his power away again.

Paschal: I'm a little unsure if I have Paschal's history in my head right. But he was the Regent's physician for a while, wasn't he? And he switched sides because of loyalty to the crown. And what the Regent did to Laurent is disloyalty and a reason for Paschal (and any decent person) to stop working for the Regent. And that he looks after the Regent's pets is a well known theory. I mean why else should Nicaise have trusted him enough to give him the letter out of all people...

i was reading through the wiki and saw that these were in the entries for aimeric and govart's pages respectively.

and honestly? i think that this is lowkey just personal conjecture on the part of the author of this page. or at the very least, this is not at all the vibe i got from reading that scene. i am also aware that damen is not always the most reliable narrator and capri in general relies a lot on reading in between the lines, but here's my problem with it.

this is the conversation in question:

the only people we ever see or know about govart explicitly assaulting, or attempting to assault, are erasmus and damen, both of whom he believes to be akielon slaves gifted to the regent and to the crown prince that fucking hates akielos and gave him permission to rape in the ring. every other time he fucks someone, he's either literally in a brothel paying them for their services, or in the case of the stable boy from prince's gambit, has consensual sex with him under the promise of being paid.

why would laurent and jord lightheartedly joke about their own people, other veretians—servants who are literally just there to wait on them and who they have no personal beef with at all—getting raped by govart? it just doesn't make sense to me, considering what we know about both of them and how they feel about govart.

i read this as laurent telling jord to warn off any servants from attempting to curry favor with govart, who they know is the regent's man and is now the captain of the prince's guard. he also calls out aimeric in specific because it's likely he knows, or at least has his suspicions, that he's secretly working for the regent, and completely ignores all of aimeric's kowtowing in prince's gambit. he doesn't want aimeric and govart together because he doesn't want them working together. he also has no problem with the idea of letting his men gang rape aimeric and having jord watch after his betrayal is revealed, to the point where even laurent's men think he'd be fine with it too before telling him.

even if laurent doesn't know aimeric is working for the regent, or aimeric hasn't chosen a side yet (which we know isn't true, since the regent approached aimeric before laurent left arles and aimeric never makes it back from campaign), he still understands that aimeric is highly susceptible to emotional manipulation and is eager to please whoever he views as having the most power and influence.

well... that's the end of my rant... thanks to anyone who managed to read this far and is reading this now—you're a real one.

Damen: Who?

Govart: We have your boyfriend. Laurent.

Damen: Oh.

Govart: ... Oh?