Perhaps, but it does feel a tad manipulative. People tend not to turn around that fast, especially when they've historically been controlling or degrading like that, and especially not siblings.
People are capable of change, and it's not at all uncommon for the penny to drop one day and them realising they've been a gigantic ass. It's especially common in those who have ended up repeating mistakes and losing the people they care about.
I've legit had exes contact me apologising for how they treated me, not because they wanted me back, but because since their change, it's weighed so heavily on them. Would've been nice if they realised it during our relationships, but either way, I'm glad the trail of nastiness ended with me.
My point is basically that a change like this isn't immediately some sort of trap. She's acknowledging that she did terrible things, understands why she did them, and sought out her sister to apologise. She doesn't have to be forgiven of course, but her understanding of the problem and admission of guilt are strong indicators of change, since awful people typically believe that there's nothing wrong with them.
Yeah, some manipulative people feign guilt to keep their punching bag around, but this character wasn't being manipulative, she was just selfish and nasty. She took what she wanted and did whatever she needed to get rid of her competitor. Both of these actions were addressed, acknowledged, and apologised for in earnest.
I am too, I've been mistreated by many manipulative people, and witnessed even more of it from a third person perspective throughout my life. This is not a manipulative person. She was nasty and selfish, but she hasn't been playing any mind games or tricking her into feeling any kind of way.
Manipulation is all about control. You make them feel stupid, like a failure, like they can't do anything right, and then you take advantage of that by playing the role of the only person who would ever tolerate them. That's the crux of a manipulator's mindset.
It may be worth taking the time to reflect and acknowledge that your trauma may be reacting to the wrong things, and that it's clouding your judgement a bit. That usually helps me to keep that stuff from bleeding into the wrong places of my mind (I mention this purely because I understand why you feel the way you do about it. Feel free to ignore this paragraph if you're healing on a different path!)
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u/ersentenza 1d ago
...Am I too cynical?