This whole thing with the flowers is so moronic. Just tear the whole thing out, plant entirely different plants there, plant a god damn tree if you have to, anything. Stop messing with these uselessly overpowered flowers and give the characters real autonomy.
I don't understand why MC just plays by the rules of the game instead of realizing that this system is the only reason why Alicia could gain the upper hand. Tear that shit down, you're the villainess and won't profit from it anyway.
The love interests including the prince feel like mere puppets now because of the whole flower bs. It only solidifies how scripted their existence is more than it already was. I really don't get why she's not upset over being tied to these dumbass game rules. She lived this life in this world like a normal person until now. Fucking wreck that shit, you know the game.
Listen, maybe I'm just hearing about too many "pfd file" news somehow, but this title made my jaw drop just a lil bit when I first read it.
GIRL I FEEL YOU LMAO I THOUGHT THIS SNAKE WAS BOUT TO DIDDY UP
Istg I bet the trickster is really just doing all this to couple them up, like there's no way around it atp
I do not understand why the Duke gets away with his attitude towards Killian. It feels like he doesn't parent his children at all. They had one dinner together, see each other at events but that's it from what the story told me.
The Duke seems hella slimey to me bc his 2nd son who's showing potential and the powerful mage commoner are a net-positive for his rep, so he plays nice with them, while all he's telling Killian is "Don't tarnish the name, boy!". It's disgusting how everyone in this story is treating a CHILD like a good-for-nothing villain.
It's in no way aknowledged by FL how Killian managed to be this much of an attention whore in the first place. She doesn't have to care, but if she just keeps wondering about how to deal with him, why not consider thinking about it and snooping around instead of this boring ass tattle strategy. Wow, record everything and go tattle; how creative, how insightful. It's even more of a letdown bc the drama with Killian is the only point of interest in the story.
Also, Lexion I find so bland as a character. He has no personality beyond be cute and be in love with FL. The only reason why he's interesting is bc his brother is trash in contrast.
He has to have a cute scene at least every chapter or so and it gets boring fast. His grown-up self seems to have a bit more umph, but the constant coddling of his toddler form was so unforgivably boring to me.
Yeah, even if the things Killian did as an adult were wrong, those things haven’t happened yet and could maybe be prevented in a more compassionate way. I’d like to remind the readers that the FL was a low-rank villainess in her first life.
She wasn’t in a position to really cry wolf about unethical love practices while she slept with a taken man. So the amount of hostility she’s showing towards him for abandoning her, feels hypocritical to me.
Like- FL goes back in time to before she was immoral = she’s become an innocent victim, meanwhile- Killian has gone back in time to before meeting either woman (point in time where he could possibly be reformed of any toxic attention seeking behaviors stemmed from possible attachment disorder brought about by unhealthy upbringing- and yes he’s still a CHILD here) but somehow = trash that doesn’t deserve to be recycled?
The hypocrisy reeks.
I think you're thinking of the wrong story. Fl in this manga was previously a regular person on earth who appeared to have a hard job. She transmigrated into this novel where the og Elena was the villainess and got in between Killian and his wife . She was never the actual Elena in the novel. She transmigrated into the novel as a former office worker on earth. She didn't go back in time
Yes, I know. It’s described in chapter 2. FL was living her life, unaware of her past life, until sleeping at the duke’s house for the first time. She had a dream about her past life as an office worker, about the novel contents (where she was the villainess), then wakes up and describes the future events of herself in the novel from “first person” perspective. Uses “I” pronoun.
Afterwards she seemed to take all of Killian’s behavior “that hadn’t happened yet” as if it was a personal insult. It doesn’t seem like she clearly distinguishes between her future self in the novel and her current self as being “entirely different people” but rather she seems to see the future version of herself as what she would have become if she didn’t know the future in advance.
The first past her, knows about the future her, which the current past her uses to navigate the future- all in all the whole isekai thing = I reincarnated into a novel that was already completed but simultaneously time traveled within the novel to its beginning or prior, and possessed someone in the process. So undeniably time travel is part of it, unless they enter the novel at a point after the plot had just completed.
Also, I mean this well but, whether or not she time traveled is kind of beside the point. The point of the first two comments is that Killian is a child throughout most of this story so far, yet adults around him are failing to be responsible regarding his behavior. Killian is obviously acting out. Normally an adult who cares about a child would try to find out WHY they’re acting out, instead of continuously blaming and punishing them. The root cause of the behavior should be addressed instead of simply doling out blame.
Both the father(duke) and the FL are technically adults (mentally anyway) yet neither is trying to solve the situation by guiding Killian onto the right path before he goes too far astray. FL especially, since she knows what’s going to happen in the future, shouldn’t be using that knowledge to set up a CHILD for failure and rejection. She should try and use her knowledge and understanding, as an adult who has already completed college and is a working professional, in modern day earth, to identify the issues leading Killian to behave this way and promote a healthier lifestyle for both boys as brothers. But she isn’t. Why isn’t she?
Killian has an attachment disorder it’s clear as day. Children who do not receive love from others by a certain age will become less able to love others in return, or else they will seek love in any form, often settling for attention (or even negative attention) because that’s all they know how to do. Killian also knows his younger brother is superior to him in a lot of ways, thus he sees his younger brother as a threat towards his chances to stand out, thereby receiving love/attention from others. So it’s safe to say that Killian’s abuse towards ML is a result of an inferiority complex stemming from a fear that he will not receive love/attention from the neglecting father(duke).
FL knows that any unforgivable behavior on Killian’s part has yet to occur = therefore it hasn’t happened = therefore it’s wrong to blame a child for wrongdoings that aren’t wrong yet. Despite this common sense, FL seems determined to set Killian up for failure and heartache.
Duke is not a good father as he is both neglectful of his children and quick to condemn. He makes no effort to guide his children in any particular direction and withholds praise/affection until the child has done something that can be used to increase his own status. FL lacks mental maturity for someone on their second life. She’s someone who would use knowledge of the future to ruin a child’s opportunities and future, while claiming justice in doing so, despite making NO EFFORT AT ANY POINT to explain to Killian clearly why this behavior is wrong and why.
If the FL isn’t guilty because none of her character’s wrong doings have happened yet, the by default, Killian should also not be guilty since only correctable wrongdoing of a child have occurred so far.
What bothers me the most is how the FL views Killian as trash that can’t be recycled, despite where we were in the story when she started trying to screw him over, and how she sees her own character as innocent because none of those evil deeds have happened yet, that feels like hypocrisy. I get that she’s not the same person but she’s not condemning her future story version- instead she keeps reacting as if her future story version is a victim. Two cheaters behaved immorally and one got abandoned while sleeping with a taken man, why does the FL keep acting like her future self is pitiful? Double standard.
Why does it feel like she sees Killian’s behavior in the future, which hasn’t even happened yet, as a personal offense? Killian’s total wrongdoings upon FL regaining memories of past life= bullying his little brother and being a flirt. No need to try so hard to ruin his whole life for that. My God he’s just a young teenager. Kids make mistakes even when they haven’t been raised to be starving for attention and love. Be mature and take the high road. All this effort to punish a child without any effort to teach him right from wrong. It’s messed up. I truly and honestly do believe the FL is a hypocrite.
first of all, jesus christ bro
And to add to your essay: In the end it's the author who fell in love with the narrative of having ogML be the bad guy no matter what. And somehow they messed up the narrative bad enough that it's FL and her entourage that feel like the bad guys.
There's also still doubt to be had tho. Maybe ogML will be like "hey so you guys threw a child out your house, you proud of that?", basically call them out on their bs, or FL will realize herself and see the Duke for the opportunistic asshat he is.... though I have my doubts, personally.
??? Um, bro? Your og post was also an essay? Why so mad?
Who said I'm mad?
Hmm? It was the “Jesus Christ bro” part and calling my comment an “essay”. Seemed like maybe you might have been a little miffed. If not, that’s better though. Wasn’t sure, kinda caught me off guard. Hence all the question marks. (￣∇￣")
Ignat is giving me hard Prince Zuko vibes
What’s from?
Avatar the last airbender, a cartoon
Ah...the fire bender?
Ngl, this is fine. It's just that the characters all seem so whatever? Idk how to describe it word for word, but everyone besides the bad guys just seem so chill when they have every right not to be.
ML feels like the only one really working against the tides, when ironically enough the royal ladies with the water powers are just sitting still. And even then he just solves the situation instead of taking initiative.
They're weirdly complacent, I'm mostly annoyed with the Empress tho. Like not only does she let her trash consort get away with child abuse but also worshipping that one evil fire deity. If she has the gall to tell her daughter and act like she actually cared about her all this time, then how about she address the issue about her husband being a walking, talking, abusive piece of garbage first? Divorce, is all I can say, so what if she's lonely?
Just make ML the Emperor his quirk is and feels 100% more efficient than these oh-so sacred water powers anyway.
He was born with a built-in multi-purpose toolbelt, can fly, heal, fuck shit up, you name it but nothing outweighs being able to drench fire demons in water?
The lore is valid, but the story utilizes and shows those powers so damn little and just makes it look like a convinient yet needed gimmick to have against the big bad. Like FL made rain maybe twice and did a heart grab thing on the old timeline but that's it, pathetic. It doesn't help that ML is white knighting FL pretty hard.
Again otherwise the story is fine, I actually like it, but those points pull it down a fair bit for me.
I couldn't help myself and dug through all the spoilers I could find - this is gonna be a good ride.
pls share some spoilers
1. ML is a prince of another country, he's also the cousin to og fl/princess. Brown hair, red eyes. They meet at a festival at a later point, and their scenes are bound to be hot bc they flirt with each other a lot.
2. There's gonna be an event where a chandelier falls on MC's priest assistent guy, she jumps in to save him. OG FL makes a sus face, and the nobles only care for her while disrespecting the temple (on a regular basis as already shown). There's also poison on the chandelier, making it more than just an accident.
MC declares the temple will boycot until the culprit is found. Also, her goal is to use the princess/og FL to lower taxes, open hospitals and orphanages, since everyone dances to her tune, while the temple would basically get a beating for the audacity.
Eventually the culprit is found, but boo - it's a scapegoat by this one slimy white-haired duke or whatever his rank was. The aristocracy are pos.
3.The brother of the princess approaches MC, he wants MC to stay away from his sister.
4. MC ends up poisoned by the nobles AGAIN. During a banquet or some feast, idk the context exactly, but she noticed too late and then has to fight demons as well, because they crashed the party. She calls for everyone who can fight to help, but these bums don't move until one of the princess' fishes supports MC. During the fight a mage noble shoves/hurts a kid bc he didn't want to get hurt himself so MC also... hurts him with no regrets. Love that for her.
5. The princess possesses magic. It is heavily hinted at that whatever is keeping the fishes in the tank, it's not entirely natural. I suspect she was the one who set up the chandelier to trigger an event or smth, but that's just my opinion.
If you want more, here you go: https://www.novelupdatesforum.com/threads/emilones-temptation-labyrinth.107775/page-3
thank you so much!!
For a second I was like "Let's go, autism represent" but damn I was way off with ML lmao
Rox reminds me of Cale from Trash of the count's family ngl
Ok first I didn't vibe too much with the reveal of her identity, now I get it. The scene where they hug it out made it for me.
Also, it's so very satisfying to see these hinted at secrets be exactly what they promised to be. Nicely revealed with enough remaining goodies to look forward to more.
I particularly like how the princess' (talking about the granny who ran away from the sis-con former emperor) character was set up.
We never got to meet her but there's hints of her 1 or 2 dozen chapters back already - whenever Judith enters the palace and relates to her, wondering whether she had felt as trapped by the former Emperor as she did at that point. The Duke will prob give us a beautiful flashback of her too and I can't wait. I imagine she has an elegant, joyous vibe around her with a bit of a rebellious attitude.