Take, for example, the MCs aunt. Overall she is portrayed badly, but she is shown in minor scenes to have cared / been OK in the past. Her overall fall is portrayed / supported well as she obsesses over a relationship completely unavailable to her and begins to be corrupted by the power of nobles, but at the same time, her plight is relatable in some sense. Nothing is really done by the characters around her (including the MC) to really stop the problem at its core - they leave her alone to wallow, causing her to become what she now is (at ch. 26). I appreciate this development.