So, I read all 90 chapters and I don't see how these two even fall in love with each other...? Like, it's both slow and rushed. They start a fake relationship and suddenly the prince is in love with her and breaks their contract. And she, out of nowhere, loves him enough to risk her life even though her no. 1 priority from waking up was to survive.
The plot from the villains is so weak, it makes the characters look dumb for not realizing it right away. So this count (with the crazy daughter) his family has a nasty reputation, it's not even a secret, he approaches the FL's dad knowing his daughter will be found guilty of trying to drown her, count asks if he'll keep things a secret if his daughter is found responsible, but the stupid father still takes him up on the contract he offers because he thinks he needs it for his daughter's sake (she'll need her family's support as crown princess, hence money). He literally just took over the business when he was accused of smuggling in poison, yet the poisons have been an ongoing issue in the story since long before. It's a very obvious set up, no one really falls for it, but that they can't deal with it themselves makes them look incompetent. In the end, they don't even solve it themselves, someone else randomly does it for them.
Finally, the crazy chic. She's implied to have killed two infants for some skin treatment using infant blood. She had a bad reputation, but I guess because she only harmed commoners, it didn't become an issue until the FL. FL also is stupid beyond belief, some crazy woman tells you she bathed in infant blood but you think it's okay to go with her in private at a party with no plan.
Then at the end there's some added plot with a prince from a fallen nation who's out for revenge. He kills imperial knights, but this is later treated humorously by the characters, and he gets away with it, playing at being friends with the leads when he literally threatened them multiple times before he falls for talk no jutsu.
As always in these stories, the commoners suffer, and they're second class citizens compared to nobles. As long as you're not a commoner, you can get away with murder ╮(￣▽￣)╭
One other thing that bugged me, crown prince didn't know the country the other prince came from (fallen kingdom) so he talks to his dad about it, and apparently his great grandfather (or grandpa?) was the one to cut ties between their nations, leading to them being wiped. Yet this crown prince is alive, around his age, and only lost position when he was a child, and not even that young, he was old enough to world a sword against adults, so how was it no one seemed to know their nation existed when it seems it fell fairly recently?
There's a lot of loose plot points that are brought up and just ignored. The beginning of the story is full of a lot of nonsense, then the middle and last part rush through what passes for a plot in this story.
It could have been okay, but the execution was terrible.
Barely 10 chapters in and FL is a dumbass without a filter, it's not even funny I just get secondhand embarrassment.
I mean, the way to live was pretty simple and she just didn't seem to think of it, it's not causing the characters to not meet, it's keeping a distance from the person who accused her of murder in the first place - just stop being friends with the og FLs, let them fight over the prince and kill each other and just stay away.
Well, I guess the author had to make her quirky AND find some way for her to bump into the prince and catch his interest, but this is basically a crack fic. I'll keep reading because I'm curious, and I have a hard time dropping a story once I've started, but I'll give up if it gets too stupid. I have a long reading list and no time to waste.