General meaning of てなお

Question

Reading 『僕の愛したジークフリーデ』 vol. 1, by Matsuyama Takeshi, I found this sentence:

国から反逆の罪で追われてなお、自らを騎士であり、国を守るのが使命だと公言している

I was trying to understand that use of なお, since the meanings I know don't relly seem to fit; I found this reply on HiNative though, stating that 離れてなお means "Even though I'm apart from you", which does fit the sentence I'm trying to understand ("Even thought she was chased for the crime of rebellion, she was declaring to be a knight and that protecting her country was her duty").

I found this answer, that points to the possible meaning of showing the act of being chased is still going on ("an adverb that indicates that an action or state is still going on"), or merely an indication that a comment will follow ("a conjunction indicating that an additional comment follows what has just been said in the preceding sentence"), and I think this kinda fit with a "While still... / Even though... still..." translation.

Can てなお being read in general as "even though"? Is the て part poiting to a particular meaning?

Answer 1

[V て-form] なお is a somewhat grammaticalized, rather formal, or literary, expression that means the same as [V て-form]-も、なお where なお more clearly works as an independent adverb in the sense of "still", or まだ. It is used to say something or someone continues to do something or be in a certain state despite an adverse event or circumstances.

The following sentences, in the descending order of formality, are all valid.

国から反逆の罪で追われてなお、〜と公言している。

国から反逆の罪で追われてもなお、〜と公言している。

国から反逆の罪で追われてもまだ、〜と公言している。

However, the following combination sounds like something is missing.

? 国から反逆の罪で追われてまだ、〜と公言している。

This て is a simple conjunctive with no adversative sense, and that's what's missing. [V て-form] なお conveys it without the help of も.