Witch Hunter/WMG

Lee lied in chapter 52.
He hasn't and he knows exactly what Yue has been up to until today; he's simply bluffing and deliberately pushing Yue's Berserk Button to get him to fight all out because Lee's just that crazy because if he won against Yue in other circumstances, he would forever wonder if Yue didn't maybe just let him win and forever think that Yue was actually better than him until the end. His destroying the palace shows this war is not so much about him getting to be the Emperor than just getting revenge on and besting Yue. (I may have thought about this a bit too much.)
 * As of chapter 56...
 * The part about wondering whether or not Yue is better than him seems to be true.

Ryu Hwan is from Bairong.
So far, all characters with Korean-type names (Eun Ryu, Eun Won, Visul/Bi Seol, etc, have been from this country (with the exception of Vi Hyung Ran), with everyone else having completely different names. The clothes and architecture style seen in his flashback in volume 11 look Bairong-ish, and for that matter, the guy looks like Eun Ryu.
 * Alternately, in the same flashback, look at the magic sigil... The triangle in a circle? that's Prithvi, the Doberg family emblem. And then a little later in the same volume, Tarras also uses a similar-looking magic circle, that looks completely different from the one Tasha used in volume 1 to summon Xing. So... maybe the combination of Badass + Butt Monkey status is inherited from Tarras?

Witches gain their powers from the Witches of Higurashi/VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi.
The witches all wear elaborate clothes, summon "Supporters" (very powerful Furniture), and their expressions reminded me very much of Beato and Maria. The Witches of When They Cry probably are aware of this and are entertained, if they did not set up the whole thing from the start for kicks.