What was the novel ending?
ALL FROM USER BOOMERANG1802:
In the novel Edith was indeed tortured during the time she was captured by Sophia and her pos brother, she was whipped really badly and had many wounds and bruises and much like the manhwa she escaped on her own while being pursued by the Duchy's men and eventually surrenders bc she can't imagine a life without Killian now. But unlike the manhwa, in the novel the Duke and Princess don't really defend her at the execution of the Rigelhoffs and Killian is the one who saves her over there and the Duke has her put in the Dungeon, which freaks out reeze/K/author and she goes to the Dungeon to "visit" Edith with the pretense of giving her hot water (bc it's winter and she's freezing) but uses the opportunity to cut her arm and throw the knife into Edith's cell, screaming bloody murder as she does so. Killian and Cedric rush in and ofc Cedric is all murderous, but then Killian feels the warmth of the knife and how cold Edith is and reasons that Reeze did this to herself... only after this does Killian notice Edith's wounds and take her back to the mansion for treatment.
After Edith's treatment and everything is cleared up, Reeze- no longer having the powers of the system on her side- finds herself falling out of favour with the people who used to adore the v ground she walked on, throwing tantrums and guilt tripping everyone around her. She and Cedric have a wayyyyy too fancy wedding, that everyone found too gaudy and lavish, and these disagreements brought about a distance between Reeze and the Duke and Duchess. After this Edith and Killian move to their territory of Ryzen leaving Reeze and Cedric to take care of the Duchy. Reeze continues her over-the-top extravagant lifestyle and depletes the treasury of the Duchy and takes over alot of the Duchess's duties further widening the divide between the parents and cedric + Reeze.
Meanwhile Edith and Killian are enjoying developing their territory of Ryzen. Linan? The accountant dude? Joins the main cp in Ryzen after a disagreement with Reeze over the finances of the Duchy. Edith becomes pregnant and icr whether it was before or after their visit to the Duchy but she gives birth to a son.
Eventually Reeze tries to find the nephew of the emperor via a slave auction as per the og novel storyline but when she can't find him she tries to fake a different kid as him. At the same time, Edith and Killian find a strange runaway kid otw to the Duchy for a visit, who turns out to be there real nephew of the emperor. So when the kid's parents arrives at the mansion with guards to arrest Reeze for deceiving royalty, Edith shows up with the real kid and everything turns out okay and Reeze escapes with her life, the only penalty being her having to become a nun.
Cedric spends a while depressed and even tries to give up his title as Duke to Killian. Killian snaps him out of it calling him out for his selfishness and saying how he and Edith were actually excited about Ryzen's prospects and the process of developing their own region. After that Killian bucks up and eventually meets a much more different (allegedly) more plain looking but much more humble and kind hearted woman who he marries. I think by the end of the novel Killian and Edith had a son and a daughter- the son being v quiet and innocent while the daughter was alot more free spirited and rowdy lol
Further: Oh yeah to add to this, in the novel the Duke and duchess just quietly fade into the bg with a sort of "yall do whatever yall want" kind of attitude, lowkey hating on Cedric and Reeze but not having enough backbone to put an end to their stupidity. Eventually their so depressed and disgusted with themselves that when Edith and Killian visit with their son they stay for longer than they had planned to give the Duke and duchess more time with their grandson to sort of heal them?
So yeah the ending was kinda unsatisfying and the only person who truly showed any regret and remorse for their actions is Killian... everyone else just got depressed all on their own and had others (including Edith who they wronged) fuss over them bc of that smh
bro thank god this wasnt the manhwa ending i would’ve been ripping my hair out if the mc got that meh ass ending after all her hard work
so from what im seeing in the comments they changed the novel ending and it’s lowkey better/simply more satisfying (for context, i “dropped” this cuz i thought the story was just too sad to continue with only weekly updates based on novel spoilers i saw early on)
anyways ima start reading again