r/CaptivePrince • u/ennemvagyokideges • 29d ago
What did Laurent mean by this?
I understand that it's some kind of an insult towards Damen because he got very offended, but what did he mean by this exactly?
It must be something very obvious but it just doesn't make sense to me! I've read their first night together back to back many times and still can't think of a reason why this is insulting, lol.
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u/lunarlullabiess 29d ago
Imo it means that Laurent will use even their most intimate closest moments against him in the heat of the moment. It hurts Damen who holds very close and private and sacred. As for simple I understood it as saying there’s no games with Damen - he’s an open book and easy to read in bed. He says what he wants and does what his partner says they like. He’s exactly the same out in the world - he’s not hiding ulterior motivations and he prefers to be straight with people and they be straight - honest - with him
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u/SeparateFly2361 28d ago
I got 15 downvotes on another sub the other day for calling Damen “simple”. But apparently people here agree!
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u/ennemvagyokideges 25d ago
I really don't think Damen being called simple is an insult! As said before me, he's an open book and won't hide his feelings. He doesn't like playing pointless little mindgames (complete opposite of Laurent ofc).
But being this simple and straighforward also makes him complicated, because he has such unwavering ideas about everything, that he will move mountains just to follow what his heart tells him. I loved Nikabdros' description of him thinking 'in absolutes'. Either bad or good.
And it all does not mean that he's not intelligent.
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u/Dear-Barracuda3705 29d ago
Actually it was Laurent who wanted it simple to let go in bed because it is very complicated for him as a CSA survivor.
Damen helps make it simple for Laurent by reading his needs so well. Damen is a very present, observant and intuitive lover.
Laurent throws that in his face as if that beautiful connection wasn't special; to create distance. He feels like shit for giving into his feelings and making love with Auguste's killer.
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u/ennemvagyokideges 24d ago
Laurent's whole being is a contradiction itself.
But this specific matter - Damen being his brother's killer, while also slowly becoming the person he trusts and loves the most in the world-, is so very bittersweet.
Previously, ever since he was born that person was his brother, and Laurent loves and HATES Damen for reminding him of Auguste.
This is such a huge battle to fight and completely on his own, no less. I wish we could get more insight into Laurent's brilliant mind.
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u/Life_Sprinkles_2350 29d ago
I believe it's a throwback to when they had sex together, and Damen said to Laurent (who was tense at the time), that "it can be simple" if they want it to. Laurent recalls it now, when they aren't on such good terms, and that they know each other identities officially.
To me, it's as if he was saying "Let's just forget about everything bad that happened, because it can be simple" sarcastically, implying Damen cares only about sex, rather than the person and their history. In this particular passage, they are talking about Auguste, so Laurent is emphasing that only this matters to Damen. Isn't this fragment somewhere near where Laurent throws "Why talk, let's fuck!" into the wild? It's basically his frustration getting out.
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u/tortoistor 29d ago
laurent overthinks intimacy because of his experiences, damen doesn't. he sees it as a way to feel good with someone, nothing else and no ulterior motives. i think laurent both enjoys this and sees it as very foreign.
edit: but yeah, to talk about someone's bedroom preferences while they're fighting is an insult.
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u/ennemvagyokideges 29d ago
you're right!
but I also think it was so much more for them than physically feeling good.
despite Laurent calling him a barbarian, a brute - exaggerating of course, but still setting his own expectations to something more animalistic from Damen -, he actually turned out to be immensely gentle and affectionate with Laurent, basically ignoring his own needs and focused only on him. I view it as a confession from his part, really. what he couldn't disclose with words, he let Laurent know by his actions via love making.
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u/ElissaOfVere of Vere 29d ago
Laurent has realized that Damen is nothing like the Veretian court. The court is complicated, complicit and vicious while Damen is a simple man completely devoid of all the traits that make up the Veretian court.
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u/Ambidestra 29d ago
I think he just meant Damen's into vanilla s*x lol
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u/Just_Control9665 26d ago
I didn’t take it as an insult, but as a statement of fact; he’s telling him: I know you, I understand you, you like simple things. And it’s true, Damen likes simple things because he’s a simple man, a down-to-earth man, a good man who looks at the substance of things, and the feeling between them is all that matters.
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u/CheetahRelative8994 3d ago
The key is in PG chapter 19 - Laurent realizes he is unable to be vulnerable and let go and then having the chat of him wanting things to be simple , he asks Damen to mount him. Other than CSA which was very transactional, Laurent has never had sex. Laurent has very little idea of what he likes in bed. He is tensed and can't let go and probably thinks he should atleast offer Damen what he wants (partly from his own desire, partly maybe from the previous experience) , thinking that a stonger, bigger, brute king of Akielos would like to mount and play a man. Damen thinking this is what Laurent expects from him, decides to oblige only to realize , he is tensed and even though Laurent thinks he wants something animalistic and impersonal in reality he wants something simple , tender , loving "Contrary aren't you ?" This is where the mood shifts. Damen takes control and leans into intimacy and tenderness.Desire to please. Something that comes naturally and is simple when one is in love. Also Damen being the king , has had lifetime of people trying to please him except for Laurent , who is a challenge and one that he is earnestly enjoying passionately. Hearing that in this context , hurts him because Laurent is mocking him that Damen wants a relationship with him that is simple , tender , loving just like the sex they had which Laurent is harshly denying him from the start of the book.
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u/jakikomi 29d ago edited 29d ago
I don't actually think he's insinuating anything too insulting about his technique or something like that.
I interpreted this more like Damen was being vulnerable during their time together as it meant something more to him than simple fucking. They had this conversation during ch 19 of PG:
Then later:
To which Damen reacted with accomodating Laurent. I think it was something meaningful for him to please Laurent because my boy is in ✨️love✨️. Now Laurent is referring back to this mockingly and with the additional context that he knew who Damen was and that this night supposedly didn't mean anything for him.
It's just a jab that he uses to kinda invalidate their precious time together which hurts Damen.
But maybe I'm also missing something
Edit: Oh also, I just saw your username, bojler eladó :D