#melio

Everyone is in love with Medea, we know that, BUT

- Eros is an asshole and is gonna die

- Helio’s love for Medea is toxic. Here, I said it. His feelings themselves aren’t really a problem, but the way he reacts to them is absolutely toxic, both for him as a person and his relationship with Medea. He never questions her, even on personal matters like the bite mark on her wrist, he’d do absolutely anything for her, once again no questions asked, he’s devoting herself fully to her and nothing else, he doesn’t even seem to have any thought in his head beside “I want to be useful to Lady Medea”, which means he basically isn’t even his own person and only exists through her... It’s no wonder Medea isn’t in love with him : she’s said so already, even thinking this might make her similar to Eros because she pretends not to know what kind of love Helio has for her just to keep the status quo and not lose one of her closest friends and most useful and loyal allies. Medea is a strong and determined person who is constantly trying to better herself and achieve a higher position because she wants to be recognised for her feats and talents, to leave a trace in history ; I cannot fathom how such a character could fall in love with a shadow, a puppet at best who barely has a will and personality of his own and who doesn’t even believe himself to deserve to stand at her side.

- Perion... isn’t actually in love with Medea. He’s curious, he’s watching her closely, but he’s always been very clear about his feelings : he is disgusted by the sins Medea has already committed and only works with her because he wants to see the changes she will bring to the Empire.

- Bertie is adorable, kind, caring, and a lot smarter and more observant than anyone else in the cast, aside from Medea, Dekis, Eros and Helio. I wouldn’t be surprised if, when Medea rises to power, Bertie became one of her closest allies. Plus, Medea has already gone berserk over Bertie getting injured for her sake. I think a relationship between them would be adorable, but ultimately very unlikely because of their differences in standing, life experiences, goals, etc.

- Psyche, finally, is one of the very few people who considers herself an equal to Medea (and rightly so !) and the only one among those few who is both in love with her (contrary to Perion) and whom Medea loves as well (contrary to Eros). Their lives have been very different, yet a lot of parallels can be drawn, and their ability to switch bodies has granted them a glimpse of the other’s life no one else could ever get, allowing them to understand each other very well despite only knowing each other for a couple of years and being close friends for just a few months. She has questioned Medea many times over her intentions, actions and morals, and in the recent chapters Medea has started to change because, as she told Psyche before, Psyche is the kind of person “who makes people want to be like her”, meaning that Medea’s change in behaviour and new tendency to put her plans into jeopardy to protect someone, even if it doesn’t benefit her, is something she likes about Psyche and wants to reproduce, even if she doesn’t fully understand it yet. Psyche herself has changed a lot since switching bodies with Medea, not only learning to read between the lines in the nobles’ conversations but also to understand someone’s intentions and plans and finding ways to counter them, thus becoming more like Medea herself. In other words, those two keep challenging each other and try to become better versions of themselves by emulating the other’s qualities, which is exactly what I believe is missing from Medea’s relationship with Helio.

I’ve seen a few comparisons between Your Throne and Beware the Villainess regarding the wlw ships, but there is a key difference : the final ship in Beware the Villainess, Melissa and Nine, has always been more balanced than the “main hetero relationship” in Your Throne, between Medea and Helio, because while Nine always admired Melissa, he was never as dependent on her as Helio is, meaning their relationship was a lot more healthy from the start and, as it developped, Nine did his best to become someone who could be an equal to Melissa in order to support her to the best of his abilities, while Helio wants to be strong enough to protect her, but hasn’t had any character development going beyond that so far (while Medea and Psyche have had a lot of character development themselves, making me think Helio isn’t gonna get significant development).

With all of this information, I have a couple of expectations for the end of the series in the romance department :

- since Psyche has been trapped by her love for Eros for a good part of the series so far and has never had a chance to be herself, I expect her to pull a Yuri from Beware the Villainess and focus on developing into her own person at the end of the series, when she has the space and freedom to do so. Considering the latest free chapters, I imagine her using her blessing to help at a hospital, maybe running an orphanage, something to make people happy as it is what makes her happiest, from what we’ve seen.

- Helio, if he gets any semblance of character development, and I expect him to, but not a lot, will get just enough to understand he’s been relying too much on Medea and will distance himself from her once the conflict is over. He’ll probably go on a journey, maybe a pilgrimage, to find himself and repent for what he did during the war.

- Medea will remain single at the end of the series. Maybe it will be hinted that she will marry a few years down the line, but not right away. She is healing from trauma, just like Helio and Psyche are, so she will need to find herself and grow into the person she wants to be before she can be in any healthy romantic relationship, regardless of the feelings of love she might hold for one of the aforementioned characters.

“stars say, child, go to sleep,

stars don’t say how to survive the darkness or the hollow void called space between my fourth and fifth ribs.” Eliel Vera - Last Night

Bonus:

Shopify has teamed up with Israeli B2B payments startup Melio to launch a new bill pay tool designed to allow U.S.-based merchant customers to manage their expenses and vendors via its platform.  It’s another step in Shopify’s plan to straddle the intersection of fintech and commerce, noted Shruti Patel, global head of merchant services partnerships and monetization at Shopify. The rationale…