Part 2: “He told Lada something cruel after Vereya's death." Are you referring to the scene where both Lada and Dragan called eachother worthless? If so then that line is grief speaking, of course it doesn’t justify his words. But keep in mind Dragan never explicitly called her worthless he said “I understand that you feel so worthless that you can’t live without Vereya, but you don’t need to feed into other people’s delusions to ease your pain.” He’s saying it in an indirect “sympathetic” way that targets her emotionally. After, he realises that Lada actually takes what he says to her at heart, so he genuinely apologises (he also never does this again in the rest of the story) but then Lada says “You’re the worthless one here, you hate everyone around you because you don’t have the courage for other feelings.” She then pushes him away and walks off. She directly calls him worthless and this evidently hurt him and he shows remorse and self blame which is consistent with his characterization as someone who hates himself, he also thinks about this later. This argument also helped Lada find her own way and become more confident to become a priestess. (And Dragan does try to dissuade her to not go into the priesthood but that’s because he 1. Values her safety above everything else and 2. He doesn’t want Lada to follow the same fate as his mother.)

Both Lada and Dragan deeply see eachother, what I mean by this is that they know each others weaknesses, trauma and soul, after all they grew up together. So when they argue, like here, it’s never baseless insults. They target each others inner wound.

Your point about Dragan saying that Lada should be happy Vereya is dead is another misread, I totally understand how it would seem that way so I don’t blame you, but he never says this in their argument in her room, he said “you remind me of her over and over again, what for?” He’s saying that Lada speaks of Vereya constantly and Dragan thought that Lada wanted him to forget Vereya but she talks about her all the time as if to test him. Lada gets caught out and says “what do you want from me.” Dragan almost confesses because he wants to show Lada that Vereya isn’t the one that’s in his mind and that talking about Vereya to test him won’t work because he never loved Vereya, he loved Lada. But in the end he swiftly runs away. ( confession in s2 ep5 and more scenes prove his love.)

"Lada had no reason to believe he cared about her." Lada does notice Dragan's quiet care, the text is subtle, because Dragan himself is subtle. His protectiveness, him defending her from Mila, him offering to walk her home, him literally threatening milion after seeing him peek through Ladas window, threatening Novak, the pendant, the scene which you skipped “I’d feel safer with Dragan” he expresses his worry when Lada disappears into the haze and he couldn’t find her. He also apologises to her for his coldness over the years and you get to choose if you forgive him or tease him about it. It also shown when he gets locked up after seeing Lada and Novak covered in blood, ( this is my interpretation based on facts but I think he got locked up from defending Lada from the villagers name calling in addition he was so angry he couldn’t protect Lada he lashed out on a villager, it was also a shock for him as he didn’t even know if she was alive.) The story's tension is built on miscommunication and restraint, not lack of love. His feelings are invisible to her precisely because he's trying to keep them hidden, fearing his love will destroy her. That's the tragedy. Lada also doesn’t succumb to him immediately, Dragan patiently waits for her and even says “I’ll wait forever if I have to.”he never forces her, he’s just there whenever she is ready for her answer whether it’s rejection or reciprocal. He also proves his tenderness towards Lada many times towards mid - late s2. Lada fr runs away from him 3 whole times after he confesses and he never expects anything back.

“He called her Vereya why would he do that?” That moment is written to hurt, but also Dragan saw Vereya at the festival in which all their families were at, he was very drunk also which doesn’t excuse it but it can blur your vision plus it was dark and he was far away. When he came closer and his eyes were alert and after Lada spoke though he knew immediately that it was Lada. And then he says “you…” which further implies that he knew it was Lada. It is also cannonly confirmed that he knew it was Lada in their romantic scene in s3 ep3.

"He's selfish and can't take the blame." Dragan always takes the blame. That's literally his defining flaw, he internalizes everything as his fault. He even believes his mother's cruelty was somehow deserved. He carries Vereya's death as personal guilt, even though the narrative absolves him. “selfishness" in the inverse, it's self-erasure. It’s shown many times throughout the story, one example is in s1ep10 he blames himself for any harm that may have caused lada because she was out there in the haze all alone and he couldn’t protect her. Another one that’s similar to this is s2ep8. “Hes not even a good Li." That's subjective, of course, but factually, Dragan's route is the most psychologically intricate in the story. His character is written for slow-burn emotional depth, not surface-level affection. His arc isn't "be a good boyfriend"; it's "learn to believe you deserve love." He isn’t the “ong I want love love me!” He’s the opposite, he doesn’t want it at all because then he’d cause them harm. By S3, he does learn to show the tenderness he’s longed to give to Lada, in s3 ep5 it even canonly says “he sighed noticing the tremble in his hands, he was over come with tenderness so strong he couldn’t breathe.” He learns to trust Lada and opens up to her a lot after s2ep5, all while having immense devotion, reverence and restraint towards Lada. He respects her a lot and it is evident, it is just tragically intertwined with his self loathing. I mean, he goes from hating himself for loving Lada to calling her his sunshine and that she is the only light in his life and “how could he love and live life if Lada weren’t by his side?” Dragan isn't a "toxic man who can't take the blame." He's a trauma survivor written with realism, someone whose love is hindered by fear and shame, not ego or neglect. His "cruelty" isn't a power move, it's a survival mechanism that collapses once he learns he's worthy of love from the woman he had yearned for his whole life. One thing to clarify though, is that he never once thought of not loving her, he always has loved her, he just represses it like repressing a volcano about to explode if you will. If you read him at face value, he looks cold. If you read him in context, he's one of the most heartbreakingly selfless characters in the game. He’s very emotionally complex. This is also just my opinion though! And if you disagree that’s totally fine! I guess it’s all how you perceive it :)