Idk if you kept reading after 47 but both Ethan and Dorothea suffered from the same thing in the first timeline: obsession. They both thought that by forcefully taking the things they wanted (For Dorothea it was the throne and Theon, for Ethan it was Dorothea) they would gain happiness. It was only after they ruined everything that they both realized they went about things the wrong way and repented. Dorothea wished she had never taken the throne and pursued Theon, and Ethan wished he had supported Dorothea's happiness at the expense of his own happiness. So you can't really say that Ethan was the evil one in their first life
that manipulated Dorothea into murdering her brother and ruining an entire empire. They were a team and they both fucked up everything together.
Dorothea knew how Ethan felt about her and decided to ignore it. It was easier for her to paint him as evil to not take accountability with how things went with him. Ethan confesses everything and Dorothy understands but doesn't reciprocate his love. Your sentence " if a simple confession was going to erase all of Dorothy’s hard work and effort and she ends up falling for him, then the story had wasted my time." doesn't ring truth. It was neither a simple confession, nor did it erase everything Dorothy was working towards, nor did she fall for him just because he told her the truth.
They are currently not on the same page in regards to their feelings for each other. But in the large scheme of things it makes sense for Dorothy and Ethan to end up together. They both messed up, ruined what they loved, repented, and decided to do things differently this time around. Ethan is only hostile to Theon still because in the first timeline all Theon did was use and hurt Dorothy as a result of his contract with the spirit of darkness. Ethan's just trying to avoid a repeat of that. In this time line, Dorothy cares about everyone getting a happy ending but herself, and all Ethan cares about is making sure Dorothy finally gets a happy life. That's their way of repenting for the past. If you think about it, they have been consistently on the same page and are a parallel of each other. So if you pin Ethan as trash you kinda have to pin Dorothy as trash too.
so im on ch 47 and i’ve read some spoilers which have made me very confused.
ethan/edan is the one who rescued dorothy and turned back time because he loves her right?
now, why on earth would dorothy fall in love with him when we’ve seen several times how ethan had enabled her evil doings by manipulating her into doing them? dorothy has repeated in her current timeline that ethan was just as corrupt and power hungry as she was and she didn’t want to be like that. if a simple confession was going to erase all of dorothy’s hard work and effort and she ends up falling for him, then the story had wasted my time.
as for theon, i read that in the previous timeline he only agreed to marry dorothy so he can be closer to ray to manage his powers. is it the same in this timeline or does he genuinely love dorothy?
i hope that the story won’t have romance if the male love interests are trash and instead focuses on dorothy’s growth as a spiritless princess and learns to forgive herself.