The FL is kind of frustrating in this one

Hold the phone, i was just trying find spoilers but your comment really caught my eye literally

Lmao same

yeah i almost dropped it cuz she pmo

I think you are reading way too much into this. But I think you missed a big factor of how she could not see how people could see her as “cute,” or give her things. She was abuse her aunt took all of her things and used her to gain wealth.The prince who she thought was her friend and loved her used her and murdered her. So it is logical based on her life experience that if someone gave her something that she might think it might be some type of bribe or fake to take advantage of her. So her thoughts are how could she appeal to the Duke who she didn’t know cared about her but is realated to her and could house her temporarily and she decided to appeal to him by using her future knowledge.

But if you want a smart merchant/ business savvy FL
read I’ll Be the Matriarch in This Life
The Villainess Reverses the Hourglass
I’ll Save this Damn Family
First Night with the Duke

As human beings, people always never get away with the word 'expectation'. She knew going to Duke is bad idea but only Duke can help her run away from Royal Family cuz she's weak shapeshifter. This is why she tried to make proposals to let her stay until adulthood and she will leave afterwards.

The word you need to know is 'Trust'. She do not trust her dad enough to say the reason why she hate the capital. Like who knows, maybe her own dad instructed her aunt to abuse her IN HER MIND.

And yes, to become a merchant is to be a smart person. However, can you become smart person in an environment of where you got abused and manipulated CONSTANTLY by her aunt and the fake kinda fiance? Her books that she read may don't have the words 'cute'.

Does this manhwa plots are so around the BUSH that you doesn't understand every actions they imply? Maybe that the reason author always made MC's brother called MC as 'BUSHy tail'.

I did not forget about any of that at all, tho? I took all of it into account and concluded that she is simply dumb as a rock. Because no, she hadn't everything taken away from her, she was shown to read whatever she pleased in her flashbacks. Compain to the author if you wish to understand it differently. The story showed her reading and make points about her life by virtue of what she had been reading. So no, point invalid.
I'm not "reading too much" into it, I simply read the story and concluded my point from what I was being shown.
You are the one reading too much into it, in fact. You are reading into the scene that she was scarred and thought that whatever is cute must be something of value, nobody would simply like her. But that's not what she says, she literally just says "But how can I be cute? They mustn't know what cute means. I only know people saying cute when they get their hands on something shiny and valuable." That means, she doesn't know what cute means. She's not distrustful, believing they are nice to her, because they want something from her. She's like: "Oh, those poor souls must have gotten the meaning wrong." - which makes her seem uneducated, childish, dumb, whatever you want to call it, and ill-fitting for an avid reader and aspiring merchant.
The appeal is one thing, but it would mean for her to actually get a chance to speak to him. Which, if she doesn't expect him to give the humblest shit about her, won't be the case, because, as you might remember, she's the child who just insulted and injured a member of the royal family. What reason would he have to not immideately throw her to them, if he gave no shit about her?

Btw all of the stories you mentioned, except for the last one (which I have never seen, so I simply don't know about it), are indeed well-written and rank among my favorite stories of this kind. So yeah, they are good, but the story we are currently commenting on isn't like those.

First: What does your first sentence even mean? Care to elaborate on that?
She had to expect something from him after running away, as I mention in my post as well, because if she didn't believe he even gave 1/8 of a shit about him, she could have run away. She can literally turn into a fully functional squirrel, not really different from any other Squirrel. As a Squirrel, she knows how to hide and to procure food. She knows how to hitch-hike and could have traveled anywhere; the Duke and the Royal Family would have been none-the-wiser. She could have sought for help among the common people, found a Merchant to take her in, as someone who can read is of a high value.
So anyway, she did not run away, in fact, she ran toward the only person who knew exactly who she was, which shouldn't be something that's true for a lot of people. Had she not any "expectations", she would have had to assume he would immediately throw her out, maybe even disown her completely, to account for her transgression against the Prince. She literally gave him every reason to not take her in, but came in order to beg for him to take her in any way. He would have had no reason to even listen to her for a second if he had anything to do with what her aunt had said or if what her aunt hat told her about her father were true in the slightest.
Knowing that he did care about her, enough to simply pass off the violence against royalty without any discussion or even question needed, she should have told him right away instead of making stupid claims about how much she would be worth to him.
And the fact that the word might have not been included is quite weak as a counter argument as well.

Smart people aren't smart because they are taught. They are smart because they are smart enough to teach themselves things that others couldn't. Street smarts is what you could call it. You can't be born knowing how to read though, so she must have had teachers who taught her either way. And yet she's out here, dumb as a rock.
And I'm not saying that couldn't be the case. In fact, that is my entire point, but thanks for solidifying that she is, in fact, the personification of an IQ-Test that came back negative.

First, you already elaborate yourself. So, I assumed I don't need to?
This 'Had she not any "expectations", she would have had to assume he...'

My first sentence just want to answer this : 'Now, there's a few problems with this tid bit of continuity in the long run, or rather with this bit of her motivation, because why would she assume her aunt would have tried to sell her, while her father, an oh-so-mighty duke, wasn't aware? The aunt made it seem to her as if her father had abandoned her. Why would she expect to be treated better in a house that had more reason to look down on her, if what she perceived as reality was anywhere near the truth?'

As you said, she expected the Duke would at least have ome humane behaviour to take her in even without any family affection.


Yes, she can turn into squirrel but remember, what happened in her original timeline? Famine, winter disaster and war. How can she asked for help from common people and merchant? They might as well sell her to noble people.

Care to elaborate 'which shouldn't be something that's true for a lot of people', I don't understand what you refer to as not true?

And about this 'Knowing that he did care about her....', how does the word 'care' = 'trust'? As someone who read a ton of manhwas, you wouldn't believe how many times trashy characters be like 'I cared for you but I don't trust you enough so I gonna confined you in my basement'.

To reply your last paragraph, the teacher that taught her to read could be snake kid and as you know, the snake kid is constantly manipulated her almost everyday. I wouldn't surprised if she became dumb thanks to him.

That makes no sense. It literally doesn't. You said something about expections falling through, while my paragraph is explaining why she indeed HAD to have expectations and not telling him, despite those expectations, makes no sense.
You keep saying that she had to have those expecations, as I stated, but then that means she would have told him. It doesn't make sense for him to stand up for her against the R O Y A L F A M I L Y, but not give a shit about her being abused.
No matter how much of a famine or what war is going on. You seem to know little to nothing about the world. Merchants - real merchants, not small shop owners - are the ones profiting the MOST in all of these mentioned situations. In a crisis, nobody is as rich as a merchant who brings food where there's none, weapons where they are needed and other supplies you can't currently procure inland. They also get to travel accross borders easily and have the ability to take in a child, as well as (usually) the appreciation for talent.
"which isn't true for a lot of people" - as I stated before, the father knows she exists, but that fact "isn't true" for most people, in other words: Except for a very small amount of people, nobody even knows she exists, yet she runs toward the biggest hive of those same people who DO know, which is dumb as fuck.
Telling him she was abused has, in this case, nothing to do with her "trusting" him. She already went through life with a horrible end, all she wants now is to live quietly, so she should be invested in doing all that she can in order to avoid that fate - all of her actions should be informed by that wish, as the story tries to claim as well.
If her father cares even a little about her, he would not want her to be abused, simple as that. All she wants is to be allowed to stay safe. If he couldn't assure her safety but cares even a little, he would make sure to either keep her safe at his place or find a place he supervises more thoroughly, instead of just sending her back to the person who abused her. Where the hell does that comparison even come from? It has no bearing on the plot, because she WANTS to stay. If he was any threat of "locking her up", she would want to get away from him, not stay with all her might.

First of all, I don't think it was him who had her taught, the palace would have just given her some lessons on behavior and all of that, but she could already read. Her aunt would find her reading long before Reeter became part of her life.

First of all, I did read this from beginning to latest chapters.

Expectation falling through? I don't understand this. Sound like you misunderstood yourself. As I said, :
My first sentence just want to answer this : 'Now, there's a few problems with this tid bit of continuity in the long run, or rather with this bit of her motivation, because why would she assume her aunt would have tried to sell her, while her father, an oh-so-mighty duke, wasn't aware? The aunt made it seem to her as if her father had abandoned her. Why would she expect to be treated better in a house that had more reason to look down on her, if what she perceived as reality was anywhere near the truth?' especially 'why would she expect....'

'It doesn't make sense for him to stand up for her against the R O Y A L F A M I L Y, but not give a shit about her being abused...' : Based on the plots, it does make sense.

Even IF the duke doesn't give sht about her being abused and AWARE that she got abused nd even engaged with the snake kid(royal kid), I bet he would happily accept MC's proposal as long his soldiers alive in war. (This is based on his characteristic in manhwa WITHOUT 'care for MC' ofc)

What world? Real world or this manhwa's world? If she really go to merchant family route, she still be found by Royal Family since the merchant don't have power as much as the duke which in the end, the world gonna be doomed as 1st timeline.

All I could say her reason behind going to Duke is becuz she knew she's weak and she knew that the Duke gonna be in big trouble due to 'Initial Retreat' event. That's her trump proposal. Duke would at least cared for his soldiers.

It does have to do with 'trust'. All I could say both cared for each other but doesn't trust each other to say what they want to say becuz they afraid of their respond. Read the manhwa if you're this curious. Like father, Like daughter I would say!

She is investing in doing all that but as you know, it's backfired as per usual in every manhwa MC would have.

'If he couldn't assure her safety but cares even a little, he would make sure to either keep her safe at his place or find a place he supervises more thoroughly, instead of just sending her back to the person who abused her. Where the hell does that comparison even come from? It has no bearing on the plot, because she WANTS to stay....' : or you could continue to read this manhwa and you will understand. Im so bad at explaining spoiler.

For reading part, now I remembered as for why she knew how to read but it's not from the servants, the aunt and the snake kid.

Now there are many things I could and would be saying about your points, but frankly, I lack the time and there's also no need. I will try to fit everything I have to say in this one post to round this up.
First of all: You seem to believe I never read any further than what I had when I wrote my comment. Obviously I did, and there is literally no excuse for any of the mind boggling decisions made at the beginning. Also note that everything and anything that happens later would not factor into the decisions made at the beginning anyway. What DOES matter is solely what the characters know at that moment, which informed their actions – or should be, if anything.
Since none of the things she knows describes why she makes those decisions, going to the north i.e. is either the most dumb conclusion she could have drawn, or it was in response with the firm believe that her father cares for her enough to want to be a shield against the royal family for her. She has no reason to believe he would want to do so, if she thought he was behind the plot of marrying her off in the first place – and if she already knew his relationship with the royal family was spotty at best through "future knowledge", she doesn't mention knowing it as she starts going to the north, but even so, it would mean she thinks he would risk being in an even shittier relationship with them over a daughter he doesn't give a fuck about. That would be pure, unadulterated imbecility on her part.
That, in addition to her overall behavior, was my initial point. I concluded that she was a nitwit, not fit to be a merchant, which is important, as it is her stated goal and the premise of what she tries to work toward. In other words, we would be following a FL with an ill-advised goal. It is also frustrating, because the stupidity jumps you like a face-hugger, which is frustrating – if you can get a single brain cell to work between your ears, you KNOW those "misunderstandings" are pure bullshit that could easily be cleared up.
The entire story, with all that's happening up to and around chapter 30, is inaugurated by a level of writing that can only be described as what Roger Ebert once called an "Idiot Plot" – which is defined by a plot that is "kept in motion solely by virtue of the fact that everybody involved is an idiot". That was obvious early on and nothing that happens afterwards can redeem this; it sets the fundament of her character and the story itself, yet the author didn't want to put the legwork in for a more organic approach to bring everyone to the place they wanted them in. Instead, it's been slammed together and held in place by duct tape and chewing gum.
From the father not properly checking in on his daughter even once, despite his theoretical intelligence and political enemies, to the fact that MC commits an act that could get her literally executed – as she aTTaCkeD a Royal Prince, mind you – and thinks the one person who doesn't give a shit about her would or could protect her: Nothing makes sense at all. You have to already read into it and give them leeway, just to give the basic setting some working fundament, and yet it's still hilariously stupid. I initially tried not to be so hard on it, but the whole premise is literal dog shit; its disdain for cause and effect is so bad, it almost feels like a modern Disney product.
Add to that, the nonsense "misunderstandings" cause needless bloat. The plot of 30 chapters could have been condensed into 8 at most, the rest is just padding. And it all leads up to a story that wasn't terrible, but somehow so forgettable, I barely remember any of the things that happened later on and would have to restart again if I wanted to continue on the newest chapters. I won't.

Also, these 5 points of yours that boggled my mind:
1. "As human beings, people always never get away with the word 'expectation'." – What do you mean with "never get away with" if not "expectations falling through"? My own words – which you have quoted – have nothing to do with this and do not explain any of yours.
2. "I bet he would happily accept MC's proposal as long his soldiers alive in war" - What do you mean "I bet"? The only time soldiers matter in the beginning is solved due to MC and he still rejects her, because he thinks she's safer in the capital – where her aunt abuses her, which he doesn't know. Because in 8 fucking years, he gave not enough of a shit to properly check on his child, who's oh-so-important to him… for reasons only Detective Conan would know.
3. "What world?" - Every world, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Because that's simply how it is. Who else is going to profit; who else is going to supply? Is your argument that this story is so completely broken in all aspects, including basic world-building (which seemed okay to me), that it makes more sense for her not to take the route of an apprentice, when her choices are "death" or "success with a chance of death" either way?
4. "It does have to do with 'trust'. All I could say both cared for each other but doesn't trust each other to say what they want to say becuz they afraid of their respond. Read the manhwa if you're this curious. Like father, Like daughter I would say!" - We really ventured this far from any logical through lines, haven't we? Not only does none of this make any sense in the discussion I initially started, but it also demands I'm curious about something that I have read already and couldn't care any less about.
5. It makes no difference who taught her how to read. The Prince teaching her was your explanation, which couldn't be true. I don't care either way. Someone would have taught her, no matter who it was. If she was truly smart, she could have evolved over her 18 years of life. She didn't.

First, I never said you never read. It's just you questioned something that already laid on the plots.

'What DOES matter is solely what the characters know at that moment, which informed their actions – or should be, if anything.
Since none of the things she knows describes why she makes those decisions, going to the north' : And she know about past events and she decided use it as a gamble to stay in the duke. When I said past events, it's 1st timeline events. In chapter 3, she said something to answer this paragraph of yours.

Are you sure you really read this? This is about a squirrel girl died and go back to past, means she have 1st timeline memories. Or you just want to talk about 1st timeline only? Im so confused.

I concluded that she was a nitwit, not fit to be a merchant, which is important : Gonna ignore this whole ass paragraph. We're all know that logic of manhwa and logic of reality is different.

1. It's does. All I could say is difference of comprehensive skill. So, I say no more in this.
2. That's becuz he cared about her. This is why I said 'Even **IF**' and (This is based on his characteristic in manhwa WITHOUT 'care for MC' ofc)’ This bracket still in the '**IF**'. He would accept and let her stay **IF** he really doesn't give a sht about her being abused cuz that's his **characteristic**. Do I need to use this '**' to emphasize? If you're still don't understand, just read story and if you don't, I say no more in this matter.
3. Seeing you're even pulling 'Roger' guy, Im now understand the way you and I read stories is different. So, I say no more in this matter.
4. As I stated, It's totally does if you READ the story. You considered it as not becuz you don't and not plan to read it ever. And I don't plan to say more in this matter too.
5. It's only revealed why in later chapters. So.....Ok.

Woohoo! Shortest reply I ever done for this argument! And Yes, let's stop here. "Dont spoon-fed those lazy ass people" said by Master Oogway. All I could say, you should read a manhwa fully before spout something cuz the answers that you're looking for are so obvious VISUALLY in MANHWA. I say my piece and I won't reply anything of this matter further.

To sum up ALL of your arguments, from back to front:
You constantly bring up future chapters and pretend you know it all because you have, but after constantly bringing up that I should read them, you now say you never said I didn't read them, in response to me saying that you seem to think I did not. More importantly... at the end of this very post, so say, again, I somehow didn't read it. Are you that thick?
You say something incomprehensible on the topic of "expectations" - incomprehensible, because I was trying to draw a concluding meaning from it, but you say that was wrong and now you pretend that your mind is so much more delighted than mine, so I'm too dull to comprehend it. In other words, you just said something you can't explain yourself anymore and you don't want to admit it.
You constantly say something about knowledge in future chapters, things that "explain". Now I tell you there isn't anything, suddenly you go back to what she knows about the future from before she regressed. None of that explains anything, because in that future, she had never even MET her father, let alone talked to him, she only ever got one letter in which he gave her a name and her question of wanting to stay with him came back ripped up. Was that truly him? Likely not, but who knows. She sure doesn't and especially not at the beginning, because that was her set up before going up north.
Your whole argument became invalid, the moment you wrote the words "Webtoon logic" and "I didn't even read", because you are arguing against something you haven't read on an argument about something that doesn't have to make sense in your eyes anyway. That explains a lot about your attitude of just throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks, but then don't argue with anyone. Your points are gibberish. You don't even care if it makes sense - which is fine, for you, but don't pin that on anyone else who expects the thing they are reading to make a modicum of sense. For people like those and for my own sanity, I pointed out my frustration, not for someone like you, who's going to explain everything away by "Webtoon-Magic".
For example: Your weird response to my comment about merchants and how they obviously rule in a war. You pretend we "read differently" - and I might be inclined to agree here - but what you are saying is that you just don't give a shit. Again, why argue if you don't care about any consitency anyway? In that case, you should know you are wrong, you are simply content with it. If a story takes something that has logical sense, in a world which is still very close to ours, we will expect things to be the way we know. We will expect the grass is green - if it isn't, the story will have to point it out, unless we can see it and are told it is grass we are seeing, so we will know when someone references grass as purple. Merchants rule in war, if not, explain how they don't. They don't do that.
Reading something in the future might clear up the father's motives for YOU, maybe even for HER at some point, but they didn't matter back when she first set out to go. She NEEDS him to care, otherwise he won't help her, but she somehow thinks that telling she's being abused isn't going to make him care for her. Who cares if she is "worth" something, if he has to take on the Royal Family? That logic is completely screwed. We KNOW he does it because he cares a lot about her, but she fucking doesn't.
In 5. It's again, this "Well, it's all revealed in future chapters" after establishing I read them you are totally "not saying I never read them" - and no, it's not in later chapters. It doesn't have anything to do with the beginning and if it had, we would have had to be shown from the outset, in order for us to understand her reasoning in this. She shows all of it and there's nothing later on that RetCons her decision-making either.
I'm literally talking to a wall here. Yes, let's just stop. But I did have to point out all the stupid in your last post. Damn, there's a lot for it being so short in comparison.