FL is a certified saint. The kids and her are about the only good things going for this novel and manhwa.

The art is not good (to me) but it is very evocative, very emotional. Gorgeous use of negative space, body language, silence and facial expressions despite their very unattractive (to me) appearance and art style.

Back to the ML! He hides from her and/or shuts her down then ignores her when he's overwhelmed. He refuses to talk to her though she is 99.9% of the time begging him to communicate. She is almost always the one who reaches out first.

I'll excuse the fact that he's gone through some, quite literally, insanity inducing trauma but. He. Never. Learns. To. Communicate. Despite going through literal life and death 4 WHOLE FUCKING TIMES with FL! After all that, he still refuses to confide his thoughts and feelings.

And this was after they declared they'll stay together past the one year contract. FL obviously felt like she was still an outsider despite her very literal self sacrifices for ML and his family when he shut her down in the latest drama-filled bullshit that is going down.

So, when he finally explains his feelings? I was waiting for cathartic bliss, for the tightness in my chest to go away. It did not happen. This asshole simply re-hashed an earlier explanations and half-assed apology for ignoring and hurting FL in nearly the exact same way as he did before.

Unbelievable.

Like, ML just does not learn from his mistakes. The thing is, he doesn't even try to learn from his mistakes. It's motherfucking ch. 112, bro. Jesus fucking christ on a pogo stick. Man the fuck up!

I'm so done with this. I actually dropped it back in ch 67 but I kept seeing glowing reviews and bizarrely rose-tinted accolades about this story so I was swayed, thinking maybe I was wrong. I came back. I shouldn't have.

Waste of my time. Damn.

Well, if ur looking for romance like me, you can turn back now. the romance tag here means nothing. its only drama and action xD Fl is a moron to, keeps thinking why everyone is nice to her while she is doing all these things for them. ofc theyd be nice to her lol..and there's no romance here...after 100+ ch yes they said they like each other.. few kisses to..but thers nothing even remotely romantic about it. And i have no idea why it isnt in the synopsis since that so called secret is revealed like in ch 3 lol.. But if you dont care for romance and like mystery then i guess this is for you.. But romance wise theres nothing here.

I tried reading this in one go and just couldn't. it might be genre fatigue or the lack of contrast but nothing about this series interested me. at one point, i had accidentally skipped forward five chapters from 20 to 25 and hadn't even realized because of a lack of development. the MC is not memorable, even moreso because she seemed to only ever be addressed as grand duchess. her personality traits were extremely vanilla: kind to children, afraid of the future, wants to be seen positively by everyone, etc. it felt more like she was being thrown around by the universe's events and the only direct choice she made to take control of her future was proposing to the duke in the first chapter.

after a while, it even hurt to read because every background is grey, all the character's skin lack undertones, and the only thing separating characters are hair styles. the MC looks like the duke's sister, the duke's adopted son looks like the duke, all the MC's friends have the same face, and the artist hates the color green.

it has lots of potential, but lacks in too many areas and doesn't stand out enough to keep reading.

Pretty Art. Slow Burn. Wholesome family moments. Revenge for Justice.

This is not a faithful adaptation of the novel; it is much better. I will say, however, that is not for people who prefer the pacing of the usual glut of the otome isekai genre. This story is a slow-burn. (To me, it makes total sense given the premise why it's a slow burn --- neither of the leads are in the headspace for love at the beginning).
That said, let me try to explain why I love this series so much. For one, the storytelling in the art is masterful. There are many s without dialogue that speak a thousand words. For example, when the male lead realizes that he messed up, you get to see him slowly fall into visual disarray until the conflict is resolved. Unlike some stories that rely upon paragraphs of written exposition, this webtoon definitely follows the "show, don't tell" philosophy. Also, considering the subject matter, there is a good balance of seriousness and typical "kidfic" tropes, with the light comedic undertone really putting in a lot of work to give the audience some breathing room. It's sort of hard to explain, but let's say you can be smiling gleefully and close to tears in the same chapter.

In summary, this is a fantastic read for those who are fans of the OI genre but who have sometimes wanted a little more realism or sense even in a fantastical setting. All the characters act with their own motivations (sometimes to their detriment), and the emotions captured by the art alone are just mind-blowing. You really get to see what can happen when care is taken in storytelling.

At this point, one might ask: why would I not enjoy this story? There are a couple reasons I've gleaned from reading the comments:

1. Because of this storytelling strategy and some of the mysteries involved in the main plot, this story can be frustrating for people who prefer being spoonfed explanations. It's not a mystery, per se, but you do have to pay attention to what is happening.
2. It's a slow-burn. Again, it makes total sense to me, but if you're expecting a kiss within 50 chapters, it's just not happening, and for good reason. It's neither a will they-won't they situation nor an external factors are keeping them apart situation. It's more like... they have some important conflicts to resolve with one another before they could ever become a couple. There is a looot of relationship development between chapter 1 and chapter 50 with minimal romantic progression.

3. It's too tropey. This is still a card-carrying member of its genre, so if you don't like the genre, you probably won't like this story.

4. The MC is mild-mannered. I can see how some people would find her boring, but I love her, and to me, reading through 50+ chapters, it's easy to see how the family falls in love with her too.

All in all, I can definitely see how this series can feel like a bait and switch (the prologue really makes it sound like any other trope-laden OI), but if you, like me, really enjoy reading something that takes advantage of the visual medium, I think it's definitely worth a try.

I only read this because of Selphius (stepson) and the art. The FL is so boring, and the ML just...exists. Their romance (?) is veeeeeery slow, slower than a snail. So, the only way to enjoy this is if you think of Selphius as the main character, or you would be frustrated with that ducal couple.

Rating: 6 (fine)
Time of Review: Chapter 12 (Webtoon)
Favorite Aspect: Celphius is adorable!

Twelve chapters is a little soon to be making a big review, so I'll keep it quick! The story has a wild premise that

our main character can't die from the Grand Duke's family's cursed poison blood... but only after experiencing immense pain and being knocked out. I have a feeling could lead to some very entertaining gags and tender moments, due to how it works.

Our Grand Duke seems like a stereotypical grumpy gus, the main character is suddenly full of gumption despite having non before time shenanigans. Minimal political info-dumping at the start, which I appreciate. Very typical stuff, if you enjoy those tropes there's plenty of it here!

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The art is what brought my attention to this Manhwa but now I’m very interested to find out how did her in laws became obsessed with her 👀