This is an amazing VN. One of the few where I bother to read the plot. But I'm more than a little worried about where it's headed. Having replayed this last episode for a lot of the possible endings, the divergence is massive. Very different people dead (and I don't mean Cass where the fact that she has a way back from the dead is more flashed in neon letters than implied), in jail, being LIs or even just being actual characters known. And that's not mentioning the very divergent position of the MC himself. I don't see how you can merge a lot of these paths without it seeming quite unbelievable, and I've seen VNs die from having to maintain very divergent paths before because the work grows exponentially. But I hope for the best.
As for those complaining of being forced to consummate the marriage - boohoo. While I'm not an NTR (of any kind) fan, this is clearly justified by the story. It would be utterly unbelievable if MC was actually allowed to reject an important political marriage, or get away with not consummating it. The kingdom obviously needs a heir at once. The fact that the author goes enough out of his way to allow us to keep Elin unsullied by (probably) making Lockhart gay and giving us several ways to obtain that goal is already bending the story a bit though it's at least possible given neither of them are ruling a kingdom so questions of a heir can be put off for a while.
I definitely wish there was a Walkthrough mod given how complex the game is, but I've read already how it's hard to do because the game is coded in his native language. Too bad, but that's how it is. URM helps a lot, but given the long term impact of some of those choices it's still pretty opaque what the consequences of your actions will be.
I actually see the discussion of Cass vs. Queen as a sign of the quality writing of this game. Because it's clear that Cass is not a one-dimensional villain, but very much the product of her circumstances (and Queen is a large, but far from the only, part of that). At the same time that does not excuse the terrible things she does anymore than a tough childhood absolves a murderer of responsibility IRL.
I do worry about the clear GoT influences in this last update. While I can roll with a dark story, GoT (the books) died because he went overboard this way and wrote himself into a corner he cannot write himself out of. A good story - fantasy or not - needs light as well as darkness. And your choices this update was from bad to catastrophically terrible. Not much light there.
