Rating: 5/10- Just fine. Enjoyed for guilty pleasure, but hard to ignore the glaring writing issues. TLDR: If you like yandere male leads, and need a story to just turn your brain off, this is for you. If you are looking for a well-written story, this is not for you.
LONG REVIEW: I like yanderes and the art style, so i think thats why this story was for me. I'll also give it credit that i wasnt bored at all, the murder "mystery" plus the prince's antics (male lead) was fun. It hit all the check boxes for a yandere story, plus the MC was cute.
But that's honestly all I really have to say.
Writing issues: The story fully relies on MC's passivity and ignorance that borders on naivety so that the author can continue to write the narrative that they want without any obstacles. Male lead imprisons MC? Is fine with it. Male lead tells the entire country that they are married without even informing him? Is fine with it. Male lead not telling MC that he slept with him and is aware that he is the father? Was mad initially, but fine with it immediately and his feelings are brushed off. Male lead continuing to assault MC? Well, MC states to his concerned friend that he could've easily overpowered him but chose not to.... Which isn't really a good excuse. You still need verbal confirmation for it to be considered full consent, as well as the fact that MC is the servant of the crown prince, who's basically the second most powerful person in the country. Regardless of the fact that MC COULD take him down, there's nothing really stopping the prince calling treason and having him beheaded. So to state it simply, MC is in a disadvantageous position, and even when he states in their sex scenes "stop" the prince continues his merry way with his assumption and the reader's assurance that if MC really wanted everything to stop, he could just take him down.
In any case, I'm here because I like yanderes, so while the dubious consent doesnt bother ME much, I'm going to continue talking about why MC's passivity bothers me a lot.
It's because the author doesnt really know how to write conflict. The MC is fine with letting the prince do what he wants, and when he does even show the mildest discomfort, the other characters or the prince hold it up against his head and say "Well think of the investigation!" but nobody in the really thinks "Well isn't the prince kind of an asshole for not immediately giving his aid and only gives it when MC finally gives him what he wants(his attention)?" When MC for once skips dinner to focus on his work, prince gets pissed and withdraws his help which leads to another murder. Everyone blames MC for prioritizing his work WHICH INVOLVES BRINGING MURDER AND RAPE VICTIMS TO JUSICE, so you'd think that at least the side characters would side with him... but everybody is upset at him.
I like yandere stories, but I don't like it when even the author portrays the main character in the wrong for not giving the yandere what he wants.
The MC has no backbone to stand on, which directly conflicts with his line of work. He's basically a lead detective that works part of the royal guard, but you're telling me he wouldn't be a guy who stands on business? Everybody continues to be like this is your problem
This leads to my next problem: the romance.
The story immediately establishes that the prince is obsessed with MC. Since they were in school. But we dont really get a reason why. MC also falls in love with the prince. But again, we dont really understand why.
As the readers, we can choose why we like the characters. You might like the prince because he's hot, and he's obsessive, and psychotic. You might like the MC because he's cute and kind and lovable stupid.
But we don't really get why they love each other.
There's not really much we see from their academy days, and the closest MC explains as to why he likes the prince is because "he's kind, attractive and unpredictable" being attracted to a person is definitely one of the first parts in being interested in someone, but that's not really supposed to be a reason why you stay with them. And to be honest, the prince isn't really kind to MC. He chooses when to give MC what he wants only after MC does whatever the prince asks. And the prince makes pretty harsh remarks on how basically MC sleeps around. Definitely not how I picture my man being "nice" to me. The only part that actually is valid point is the prince being unpredictable, but we've never had an indication that MC liked that about the prince. If anything, when the prince does stuff that shocks him he's usually uncomfortable.
Imma be honest the story's main points that it focuses on are: MC's pregnancy, murder "mystery" and who is "Daddy", and then some smut sprinkled on the way. The story's main genre is romance, but it's crazy that there is so much of the prince and MC's screen time together and yet they still never actually had in depth conversations. It just basically felt like MC begging for help and prince badgering MC to take care of himself more.
I don't think a story needs to be deep or complex to be good. A good ROMANCE story, however, needs to show the readers why the characters like each other, even if the characters themselves can't put it into words as to why they like each other; I'm sure every romance connoisseur has seen a variation of the line "I don't why I love them, I don't when I started to love them, I just do".
Rating: 5/10- Just fine. Enjoyed for guilty pleasure, but hard to ignore the glaring writing issues.
TLDR: If you like yandere male leads, and need a story to just turn your brain off, this is for you. If you are looking for a well-written story, this is not for you.
LONG REVIEW:
I like yanderes and the art style, so i think thats why this story was for me. I'll also give it credit that i wasnt bored at all, the murder "mystery" plus the prince's antics (male lead) was fun. It hit all the check boxes for a yandere story, plus the MC was cute.
But that's honestly all I really have to say.
Writing issues:
The story fully relies on MC's passivity and ignorance that borders on naivety so that the author can continue to write the narrative that they want without any obstacles. Male lead imprisons MC? Is fine with it. Male lead tells the entire country that they are married without even informing him? Is fine with it. Male lead not telling MC that he slept with him and is aware that he is the father? Was mad initially, but fine with it immediately and his feelings are brushed off. Male lead continuing to assault MC? Well, MC states to his concerned friend that he could've easily overpowered him but chose not to.... Which isn't really a good excuse. You still need verbal confirmation for it to be considered full consent, as well as the fact that MC is the servant of the crown prince, who's basically the second most powerful person in the country. Regardless of the fact that MC COULD take him down, there's nothing really stopping the prince calling treason and having him beheaded. So to state it simply, MC is in a disadvantageous position, and even when he states in their sex scenes "stop" the prince continues his merry way with his assumption and the reader's assurance that if MC really wanted everything to stop, he could just take him down.
In any case, I'm here because I like yanderes, so while the dubious consent doesnt bother ME much, I'm going to continue talking about why MC's passivity bothers me a lot.
It's because the author doesnt really know how to write conflict. The MC is fine with letting the prince do what he wants, and when he does even show the mildest discomfort, the other characters or the prince hold it up against his head and say "Well think of the investigation!" but nobody in the really thinks "Well isn't the prince kind of an asshole for not immediately giving his aid and only gives it when MC finally gives him what he wants(his attention)?" When MC for once skips dinner to focus on his work, prince gets pissed and withdraws his help which leads to another murder. Everyone blames MC for prioritizing his work WHICH INVOLVES BRINGING MURDER AND RAPE VICTIMS TO JUSICE, so you'd think that at least the side characters would side with him... but everybody is upset at him.
I like yandere stories, but I don't like it when even the author portrays the main character in the wrong for not giving the yandere what he wants.
The MC has no backbone to stand on, which directly conflicts with his line of work. He's basically a lead detective that works part of the royal guard, but you're telling me he wouldn't be a guy who stands on business? Everybody continues to be like this is your problem
This leads to my next problem: the romance.
The story immediately establishes that the prince is obsessed with MC. Since they were in school. But we dont really get a reason why. MC also falls in love with the prince. But again, we dont really understand why.
As the readers, we can choose why we like the characters. You might like the prince because he's hot, and he's obsessive, and psychotic. You might like the MC because he's cute and kind and lovable stupid.
But we don't really get why they love each other.
There's not really much we see from their academy days, and the closest MC explains as to why he likes the prince is because "he's kind, attractive and unpredictable" being attracted to a person is definitely one of the first parts in being interested in someone, but that's not really supposed to be a reason why you stay with them. And to be honest, the prince isn't really kind to MC. He chooses when to give MC what he wants only after MC does whatever the prince asks. And the prince makes pretty harsh remarks on how basically MC sleeps around. Definitely not how I picture my man being "nice" to me. The only part that actually is valid point is the prince being unpredictable, but we've never had an indication that MC liked that about the prince. If anything, when the prince does stuff that shocks him he's usually uncomfortable.
Imma be honest the story's main points that it focuses on are: MC's pregnancy, murder "mystery" and who is "Daddy", and then some smut sprinkled on the way. The story's main genre is romance, but it's crazy that there is so much of the prince and MC's screen time together and yet they still never actually had in depth conversations. It just basically felt like MC begging for help and prince badgering MC to take care of himself more.
I don't think a story needs to be deep or complex to be good. A good ROMANCE story, however, needs to show the readers why the characters like each other, even if the characters themselves can't put it into words as to why they like each other; I'm sure every romance connoisseur has seen a variation of the line "I don't why I love them, I don't when I started to love them, I just do".