[@NorthernKraken] Obviously it's just my perspective. Not trying to influence anyone's mind per say. I guess like I said, even from an outsiders perspective it felt like it focused on odd elements to me. But it's fair to say you don't have to be so overblown with it. Hopefully others are bound to share their feelings on it. Though in fiction, villains you can love to hate are the most popular recognizable figures in stories. Like consider Disney, or maybe horror stories, and many of their failed attempts to remake them by making a more sympathetic/grey villain. I'll admit the prompt almost seems to beg for going a little more over the top, where yours is quite subtle in comparison to everyone else's. If you think that's fair to say. Not even calling it a good or bad thing. (Personally thought it worked for the story it tried to tell. And just to note that whether stories followed the rules or how strongly it connected to the prompt didn't effect my personal ratings enough to be significant.) Guess it's just a difference of opinion how well it falls into the category. 

And no story is perfect. But I hope you'll join another contest/write another story sometime. :3