SEE HERE'S MY THEORY

There was a war and it was recent enough that Viktor fought in it but not so recent that anyone younger than a particular generation would not have remembered it.

Rosenberg going "You're not from our side" makes me think Heine may have been some spy or pow or refugee from the opposing side.

If Glanzreich's princes were taught by an opposing country's... something... it would def be a major scandal.

I definitely got the feeling whatever heine's past is, it's linked to the war, yeah

and that could also go a long way to explain heine's desire to move on from that - if he's really done some kind of Bad Thing but is now hoping to live differently

yet also knows that experience and those actions will always be a part of him

Exactly. I get that kind of vibe from him. And the fact that he clings to the identity of being a teacher SO FIRMLY.

It's not just "this is my role in this series", it feels morE like "this is my role in LIFE"

Like in ch 29, his pointer is taken from him and when he gets it back, the way he picks it up off the floor is done so reverently.

And this is something Kai notices. Why draw the reader's attention to such a small thing if it wasn't important.

This is why I just can't get with the whole "He's actually a demon" theory. It dilutes how hard he worked.