This feels like a twisted reflection of one of those really terrible noble lady MC stories with everyone falling for MC after she starts doing stuff, and MC goes doki-doki over a bunch of men who were either actively hostile to her in the not-so-distant past or completely neglectful.
The MLs in both cases have little agency, having their entire worlds revolve around the FL and protecting her. The ML in this case just seems to have even less chemistry with FL than usual since he's mostly acting out of guilt and unresolved trauma from having seemingly every woman his age being a manipulative sociopathic rapist (author, do you have something you want to share with the class?). Doesn't help that he's rather plain compared to the redhead knight, the prince or even FL's brunette assistant
The FL in both cases have universal male adoration (except from the villains, though not even from all the villains), and has amnesia when it comes to the mistreatment/neglect/hostility she faced from the hot ones as long as they start acting cute. FL here is just...uncannily non-human in her emotions - or her lack thereof. She's also clearly uninterested in ML considering that her actions are also out of obligation.
Other young women in both cases are either non-sexual besties for the FL/employees, hypercompetent badass plot devices, or evil schemers who suck at manipulation/social interaction and want to either ruin FL and/or get in ML's pants.
The story's main weakness for me is that the characters (not just ML and FL) don't feel like people. One instance is the princess being obsessed with getting ML, which, wouldn't it make more sense to have one of her follower noble ladies marry ML? He doesn't have much charm apart from his title - he's somewhat plain in his physical attractiveness, marital skill, eloquence, fashion sense - take your pick. Feels like either the kingdom (and its neighbours) has a critical lack of eligible men. Another is FL's red head knight shouting at ML asking why he neglected her if he was smart enough to bribe guards to locate a stolen shipment, which... what are you even on about, dude?
...well, I've seen far worse MLs redeemed ig, this one was at least apologetic from the start. The best ending I can see for this tbh is for the divorce to go through, FL to end up with either her assistant or her knight (who was there for her throughout her hardship), and ML getting some much needed therapy, maybe finding someone else he can actually trust (idk, maybe he gets with the prince or the redheaded girl from the start. Or even just give the princess a redemption arc idc), and for everything to be pinned on the older gen and just...neatly resolved that way ig.
Mixed signals are torture - please don't waffle with someone with the emotional capacity of a 7 year old
Reads a bit different post-pandemic
...although, did she also bring indoor plumbing into the jail cell?
...exhausting archmage. Cuteness doesn't make up for that flavor of literal-minded reality warper.
dunno what she's worried about lol, if she can uproot trees, she's got hurricane level strength - I doubt any chains or walls can hold her. ML's got a better chance with puppy eyes than yandere eyes with MC
Cuz MC never pretends to be a dude, right? Everyone acknowledges she's a woman and she has to face all the challenges that come with being a female soldier, and what she does isn't exactly...crossdressing, right? Isn't it more that there isn't really equipment designed specifically for women?
I mean, "Sweetie, sweetie, sweetie" is somehow worse than your generic isekai title, I don't think that word is used even once in the story? It doesn't even have any fantasy/isekai flavor whatsoever, how am I even supposed to know what kind of story I'm picking up??? Might as well call it "read the tags and description you lazy mfs"
Argh, why am I mad at a perfectly good story for such a dumb reason??? ...well, I'm glad I found it tbh. And that it's probably ending soon-ish (right? I hope there isn't some temple arc after this).
Actually it was used once but that's , "Once", and the main leads themselves didn't like the idea of calling the other sweetie but maybe it'll change near the ending since they tried that sweetie nickname in the earlier chapters where they still felt a little awkward with each other, so maybe they'll be more comfortable with the nickname now
noooo the tags don't have horror! Don't tell me half-demon boy is going to just turn out to be some misunderstood badboy!
the duke has room temperature IQ and EQ, he's hilarious lol
The MC, prince and duke's sis are all tied for my favourite character though - MC's got just enough agency without being OP (except for disguise skills?), prince is a delightful gremlin and I want to see more of the sis ruling high society with her brand of petty (๑•ㅂ•)و✧