The answer was to be expected. However, that didn't mean Maxim and Emmelyn didn't feel shocked and devastated when they heard Myrcella confirmed their suspicion.
Maxim must fulfill the betrothal between him and Elise Leoralei in order to protect Emmelyn from suffering further.
He must marry a woman he had never met and never loved. At that moment, the king felt like a loser who didn't even have a say on his own life. Even commoners had an easier life than him. If he thought about farmers and fishermen, their life was so simple and easy.
Why, oh why couldn't he be born into a poor family and lived an uncomplicated life?
What's the use of having the power expanded throughout the whole continent of Atlantea if he couldn't even marry the woman he loved?
He sadly realized that all his wealth, glory, and power meant nothing today.