For the romance perspective, Asha is not dumb yet frustrating, to say the least. You should've considered the fact that both her and ML were in a cotractual agreement in the first place. Her being unsure of her feelings and their relationship correlates to that point. She'll look stupid if she prioritized her feelings towards the ML than her commitment as the lord of Pervaz.
And also, long hair or short hair or braided hair or whatever kind of hair it is, the MC's character overall aspect will stay the same. But if you really insist on the idea that Asha should have short hair since she was a warrior, just know that "a female warrior's long hair symbolizes strength, power, and a connection to primal feminity, signifying a fierce and formidable woman who embraces both her warrior spirit and her natural beauty, while shorter or braided dtyles can represent discipline, practicality, and readiness fir combat depending on the culture and context." Searched that since you might didn't perceive that the author is influenced by historical sources rather than your preferences.
You completely missed the point I was making, but thank you for your kind input.
I do know the point that you made. That's why I've replied about some of the many things you should've considered in regards to your statement.
Your reply tells me otherwise, but you're fully entitled to your opinion. Thank you for sharing.
It wouldn’t make sense to make her more confident in that aspect when she’s never experienced any of this before and was also operating off the pretense that if anything went wrong with the contractual marriage, pervez would be doomed. She couldn’t afford to be selfish or fuck up.
Why would she be confident in when she has never once interacted with the empire and its customs until after the war was won. And did you ever consider the fact that Asha didn’t see herself the way others did.
She was constantly downplaying her achievements and would always put herself down. At one point she even said “why would the high priest want to seduce a woman like me?” which offend the ML bc he hated how she talked about herself. Just say you hate nuanced characters! We can’t always have books with perfect MCs
Though different approach, I have the same sentiments as you. OP might didn't understand what I'm pointing out or that she knows but downplays my opinion since she just really hate nuanced characters. Smh
Did I really have to point out some of the important things you've missed when criticizing the MC if I didn't really understand it? Man. Wisdom is chasing you, but you are faster.
I love the storyline from a political point of view, especially when it comes to fights and power scaling. Asha would make a great shonen protagonist.
But from a romance perspective, Asha is one of the dumbest and most frustrating protagonists I've ever seen.
It's like the author can't match Asha the warrior with Asha the love interest, so they made both half-assed. Her personality flops between being fierce and being clueless, which tbh doesn't make sense to me.
It's like the author dumbed her down for the sake of romance, which I find a disservice. Asha was constantly unsure during the story.
I wish the author had gone all out and compromised to the great warrior narrative, and gave her more confidence, and rugged appearance. I'd have loved a short haircut instead of whatever that was with the braids.
The designs of the protagonists also had too huge a gap. Carlisle was all red and gold, Asha was black and white. They didn't match.
Overall, nice story, but the execution could have been better.