I can't get over how the strangest thing in this fantasy story is that people throw so much good, useful stuff away in a medieval economy. Everything in that dump would be recycled! Glass bottles?? Are you kidding me?? Spears of METAL! Someone has a use for that!
Strange Grand Dukes lying in palaces distributing roses is no basis for a system of match-making. Supreme matrimonial compatibility derives from a long period of trial and dating, not from some farcical botanical ceremony.
It's been a while since the last chapter, but the disjointed story-telling and gazillion characters that you don't know whether they're new or not, whether you should *know* them or not is not helping. This isn't very good. It's just confused.
You whippersnappers who have read this series for only a couple of years don't know how good you have it, dang it. This moment has been long coming for almost two decades. This last decade has been an unending slog of a wait as everything slowed down, uphill both ways in a blizzard.
It's a...