Rey's an interesting piece of work. He starts to communicate and be serious and sensitive with her, and then changes the subject as soon as he gets her attention and interest. Reminds me of Lucy from Peanuts: "Come on, Charlie Brown. I'll hold the football and you kick it." When he tries, she whips it out of the way and he falls on his backside. As a kid, I though it was a stupid gag, but on growing up, I witnessed a number of people acting that way. I had a relative who would work very hard to be the super nice guy, just so he could pull the rug out from underneath someone. He was a flaming a**hole.
For all of those who really hate the Merisa: On re-reading the whole story, I noticed that she was the princess who wasn't read into anything that was going on, while her mother or step-mother was reigning as queen. As soon as the country lost the war, she was the queen and responsible for everything. Nothing like being set up as the patsy. A lot of really nice people around her, I don't think.