Also, yall...her name's Ercia. Not Erica.
+ (my rant got cut off so cont.) Doesnt mean Ercia is dumb, she's very obviously just less intelligent than Lauren, which isnt a sin and shouldnt be a reason for how their grandfather treated her. Ntm that Ercia was still being manipulated by someone like their ex-fiance too.
5. "Ercia had every right to-" Partially yes and partially no. I sympathize with her and understand her perspective and yes she had very legitimate reasons to despise her family. But does that justify what she did in the end? Especially to Laurencia? No. It does not. "Her sister neglected her." She quite literally did not. Her parents and her grandfather are at fault especially given the whole "Ercia is ill" schtick they came up with and stuck to. Laurencia having a life outside Ercia doesnt mean she neglected Ercia. Meanwhile Ercia had manipulated and abused Laurencia at the end out of jealousy. That's why she's a villain. She's a well-written villain too. Yall cant just absolve her all of a sudden just because she's finally seeing the light. Stop pushing false narratives just because you cant fathom that characters can be three-dimensional.
6. "Well, Ercia can imitate Laurencia so that must mean Laurenci isnt that smart." That's not how this sht works. Ercia is able to imitate Laurencia's mannerisms with the advantage of also having the same face and build as her. But she has not ever imitated Laurencia's intelligence or decision-making skills. The only reason she succeeded previously is bc she had the advantage of Lauren's love and the backing of powerful figures. She didn't do all that all on her own with her own power and abilities.
Also just saw the novel spoilers and it makes as much sense as pigs flying. Especially since the manhwa seems to be going a very different direction. Ntm that there has been no (as in ZERO) indication of Ercia actually being some genius given that she couldnt act beyond being used by her sister's fiance and a bunch of other powerful people, and considering that she wasnt even able to consider the repercussions of her actions. She acted like a very perfect third rate villainess. It seemed like the author just wanted to whitewash ercia at the expense of the MC despite not actually narrating or showing how exactly ercia is smarter. It's always better to show not tell. So far, if they'll follow the novel's route, it's pretty damn nonsensical bc ercia hasnt shown any instance of "genius" and laurencia was very much namedropped all the time.
Also postscript bc some people seem to be skewing both the novel and the manhwa. I think it's been clear that the manhwa's going a very different route than the novel. Which isnt anything new. There's a lot manhwas out there that dont follow the novel's narratives which in this case works bc the novel plot twist makes zero sense and just feels like something placed there for shock value. But if it does somehow magically turn towards that route then it's somehow just more nonsensical given that for an alleged genius, ercia sure acted like some third rate villainess and it doesnt work narrative-wise since her alleged genius wasnt exhibited anywhere at all.
I feel like people who aren't able to properly read something without skewing to the extremes shouldnt be reading this or giving their two cents about this bc why am i seeing people saying that laurencia's basically undeserving of the heir position just bc ercia isnt as shallow as it seemed. Like two things can be true at once. Just bc ercia has actual legitimate reason for despising her family doesnt mean laurencia was undeserving and is somehow now less than ercia.
I've seen a lot of quite shallow assertions in the comments.
1. "Laurencia has the typical male experience, while Ercia has the typical female experience." Wrong and untrue. Laurencia having a "typical male experience" would imply that she got ahead despite her mediocrity which is usually the case for nobility male vs female siblings bc the male sibling has the advantage of gender in a patriarchal society. Laurencia is not male nor is she mediocre.
2. "Laurencia is undeserving of her position as heir bc Ercia is just as smart as her." Time and time again, this is proven false. Laurencia is SMARTER and she's more cunning and she's also extremely intelligent. That's why her people rely on her a lot and that's why she was made heir.
3. "Then why was Ercia able to best her in their past life." Laurencia is is very intelligent but she's also very naive when it comes to family especially when it comes to Ercia bc she loves her even after what Ercia did to her pre-regression, she still loves Ercia. And you know what they say; "love is blind". Her love for Ercia quite literally cast a veil over her eyes and prevented her from seeing her sister's "true nature". Ntm that she's love-starved and was basically lovebombed and manipulated by her ex-fiance alongside Ercia. Laurencia is incredibly weak to the people she loves but that doesnt mean she's dumber than Ercia.
4. "Laurencia being smarter than Ercia is only a biased perspective from unreliable narrator Laurencia." It's not. In the first place, multiple scenes with her grandfather recognizing her immense talent comes from a perspective without Laurencia. As in, she wasn't present when her grandfather was belittling Ercia just bc Laurencia was more talented. While Lauren was reading advanced books, Ercia was going at life with the pace of a typical child. Lauren is indeed a genius, and continued being a genius as she reached adulthood. But yknow how most geniuses are. A lot of geniuses arent known for their exceptional social skills