essentially:
- we see medea's past. her parents are p abusive (mom doesnt care about her bday and makes her study till she breaks, dad uses her in political deals once she's smart enough to get them), the only person nice to her (and helios) is her nanny
- medea and psyche got along v well when they first met!! but once psyche got engaged to yialos shit went downhill
- yialos was the mastermind, no surprise. it's not clear, but essentially he controlled medea's mother + other people (psyche’s dad?) by giving them jewels that control what they say (and maybe how they act?). it's also through this manner that polly is controlled into being married to yialos
- medea's nanny (the only person nice to her and helios) is ordered to be killed by her father rip, since medea wasn't successfully engaged to the crown prince
- at ch16-ish, we finally get back to the present, helios and psyche-as-medea find medea-as-psyche in the forest surrounded by dead knights. except medea has been poisoned in a final struggle against one of the knight's and dies. psyche-as-medea breaks down
- IT'S VERY UNCLEAR BC THAT'S HOW CH16 ENDS BUT COMMENTS ARE SOLIDIFYING THAT MEDEA IS DEAD IM????
i really really condensed the next 8 chapters but it is such a whirlwind of love and hate and abuse and????? i love how the author draws each character and the scenes are. i cant even dESCRIBE they're SO GOOD