They are really ruining the reading experience....
Well said. I don't know how this could be called grooming, seriously most people just follow with the flow without really understanding the concept at all. Not every relationship in which one was a child and one was an adult when they first met turns out to be grooming or pedo. The romance can happens way later. And a child's feeling shouldn't be disregarded, they can have romantic crush as soon as 12-13, it will be fine as long as the relationship doesn't start until the child comes of age.
Grooming is different, it's insidious and no different from pedo, you'll know it when you see it.
No matter how you explain it it's still weird their age is still weird you could write a paragraph and it will still be weird their age is different is what is alarming and their thinking process which give him more advanced into the relationships so don't come as me everything here like it's okay it's not okay
there was a whole lot of thing different with dating someone older than you especially didn't someone who basically raise you and you know what let's just take the pedophilia out of what's wrong with that relationship it's a whole lot of things wrong lot but let me just list one Power: there may be a power difference between you, especially if you’re at different stages in life (for example, one of you is in high school and the other is working full time). The older person may speak for the younger person or take a bigger role in making decisions. The younger person may find it more difficult to voice their opinion, especially when it comes to their concerns about the relationship. Age isn’t the only factor affecting power. Gender, race and economic background can also play a role in relationship dynamics.
this. the massive power imbalance bc the child sees the dude as the guardian. dude might not have intentionally groomed her, but that’s inevitable. because the child can never see her guardian as an equal. he will be put in pedestal, as most guardians are. unless they dont meet at all for like 10 years (and even then irl thatd be icky), this will never work out.
its a different thing altogether if they have a large age gap but they met when both are an adult.
Please do take into consideration that at this point in time in the manga, the MC and ML are not viewing each other as romantic interests, neither are they sexually attracted to each other.
The MC is only 10 years old and is thinking of how to overcome the conflicts she will face based on the dreams she had when she was still held captive. She's NOT interested in making the ML her love interest. While the ML's age is unknown--he's out there doing his job as the guardian of the treaty and is heading back to where he came from.
In one of the chapters, the ML has offered her ways in which she could live her life after he brings her back--but she chose to stay with him because she knows in the future, she'll be a magician no matter what. Also, based on the knowledge she gained, the MC doesn't want to take the chance of being adopted by an aristocratic family as that's what happened in the novel, and unfortunately, she was brainwashed by her adoptive family. She doesn't want to go through all the trouble that the one in the novel went through. The MC isn't sticking to him because she likes him as a man, she rather take a path in which she'll not have to suffer and that she'll have a higher survival rate in.
At the end of it all, we, the readers, assume that the MC will end up with him (judging from the promo at the credit picture, but it's not 100% certain that she will be with him). Therefore, some of the readers' minds are unable to comprehend their current relationship, which is guardianship, while reading about the initial stages of their relationship--where no romantic gesture has occurred.
I'm in no way disregarding some of your opinions on age gap differences in relationships, I'm just saying that you shouldn't be placing it on their current relationship. If it had been stated when they're in or are starting a romantic relationship, then I wouldn't have said anything. It's just that their relationship is innocent but is being doctored by your own knowledge of the future events. You have the right to your opinion if you think it's weird for someone to be dating or loving someone who's way older than them.
its not the age gap, but its the power imbalance a child and guardian relationship has if it were to turn romantic. and if they were to start having a romantic relationship NOW, that wouldnt be grooming or problematic age gap or whatever. that’d be straight up pedophilia lol.
*nom* *nom* the comment section is blowing up with how they dislike how the MC ends up with the ML. Truthfully said, it's been done one too many times and I'm tired of seeing it as well (though I have to say that I like the MC's personality (as of now)). However, to call it 'grooming' is a little far-fetched (as for Pedo, it's not known yet because we're not even there yet).
The definition of grooming is a method used to build/ gain trust in order to gain access and time with the child, whether it's through coercion, abuse (sexually or physically), or making threats.
The situation does NOT show the supposed ML purposefully building trust with the MC in order to gain access to her in a romantic or sexual sense. He also does NOT try to isolate her or make her solely dependent on him, as he allows her to interact with others and has doubted her reason for trusting him as he's a stranger to her. Do remember that she has knowledge that others do not have, in this case, her knowledge leads to the MC relying on him because she is aware of the events in the future. The only thing the supposed ML told her not to do was call his name, because it would draw danger to them (this was said without the intent of purposefully scaring the MC to make her reliant on him).
In the end, although we cannot see the ML's thoughts--it's clear that their relationship is pure (as of now. There's uncertainty about the progression and change for the dynamics of their relationship further down the line). So please, don't start jumping to conclusions, there isn't even a speckle of the element of romance introduced in the story so far.