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LADY RACHEL
Marie assists Lady Rachel several times. First with the dress. Then with baking snacks for the prince. Then later on with resolving a conflict with foreign dignitaries. Each time it happens, the Prince asks Rachel how she came up with the idea or who helped her and Rachel says she did it on her own, but the Prince already knows it was Marie. After the final time, the Prince tells Rachel that he knows Marie is the one behind her and that the thing he hates most is being lied to.
After that, Rachel develops a vendetta against Marie. First, she tries to frame Marie for stealing a holy artifact. Eventually Marie is able to clear her name and although the Prince knows that Rachel is behind it there's no proof so he has to let it go. Later on, Rachel bribes someone to lure Marie deep into the forest during a hunt where Marie gets attacked by a wolf and almost dies but is saved just in the knick of time by the Prince.
The Prince manages to find the guy who lured her and he confesses that it was all planned by Rachel. Rachel gets disowned by her familiar and imprisoned for life. The Prince really wants to kill her because she almost murdered Marie but he spares her life in the hopes that God would bless him for it by allowing him to be with Marie.
LADY ARIEL
Looks down on Marie from the very beginning, as we've seen. After Rachel starts to hate Marie, she incites Ariel by mocking her about how embarrassing it would be if the prince chose a maid over Ariel. Ariel tried to accuse Marie of disrespecting royalty when she catches Marie playing with Prince Oscar (the ignored child prince), but Prince Oscar refutes all his arguments and forces Ariel to apologize.
A few days later. Ariel and Marie cross paths in a hall. Marie tries to avoid Ariel because she's on an errand for the Prince and doesn't have time to bicker with Ariel, but Ariel sees this as a rude slight and goes to slap her. Her hand is caught by the Kielhan (the Marquise/Imperial Guard) and he warns Ariel not to touch even a hair on Marie's head. Later on that evening, the Prince also visits Ariel and gives her a warning as well. Ariel is absolutely terrified by both men and doesn't cause any more trouble.
Later on Ariel sincerely apologizes to Marie of her own volition. She's at the hunt when the Prince gets injured saving Marie from the wolf. After seeing that, Ariel withdraws her candidacy for crown princess saying that she wants to marry a man who loves her more than anything. Marie tries to persuade her to stay by insisting there's nothing going on between her in the Prince. Ariel stays resolute however and obviously knows that whether or nor Marie is in love with the Prince, the Prince is clearly in love with her. She asks Marie what she's going to do about both the Prince's and the Marquis' feelings for her.
I just discovered this story but it's amazing! Probably the only good version of this very very cliche webtoon trope that I've read.
The CEO ML is arrogant, but he isn't disrespectful, abusive, or unlikable. He treats her civilly from the start and the few times that he's rude to her its after he finds out her connection to the man who he blames for his wife's death, so his cold attitude is understandable but even then it's only him being a little rude and he still acknowledges that the MC shouldn't be blamed for the actions of her father. It's so annoying to me how in these stories, the ML treats the MC like crap until he falls in love and then starts pampering. Just because you're not in love with someone its okay to treat them like dirt!? But here, the ML treated her fine to begin with and after he falls he treats her even better. A++ on your arrogant CEO ML, webtoon.
And the MC!! Finally a strong, independent MC who actually ACTS strong and independent and doesn't crumble and become a overly soft pushover for the ML, while at the same time not making her unrealistically over capable. She's not hard or cold, she's a genuinely kind and compassionate person but she also stands her ground, has clearly defined breaking points, and always always gives as good as she gets, and hasn't needed rescuing by the ML! She doesn't get cowed by his status or money or looks, if she's capitulates it's because she genuinely cares and sympathizes with the daughter because she relates to growing up as a child missing your mother.
Also 1000 kudos for not having a bunch of pathetic 2nd MLs who are in love with the MC. All the the 2nd MLs who care about and help her are actually blood related family members and they all have love interests of their own. All of whom are awesome and amazing in their own right. I could easily see the 2nd MLs and 2nd FLs having their own comics and I LOVE that. So much female solidarity and equal friendships! We only get ONE stereotypical love rival and she is barely in it and I use the term 'rival' very loosely given the fact that absolutely no one takes her seriously.
I'm just so amazed and how good this webtoon is given it's premise. It could have turned out SO bad and cliche and problematic, but every time the use the usual tropes they end up surprising me with how well it's done in this case. I'm not going to pretend that it's the band manga I've ever read, but it is ABSOLUTELY among the best of it's genre and type that I've read.
Everyone talking about how young and pretty the mom looks, but remember she's probably only in her mid thirties. It's normal for women to get married/start having children in their teens. So assuming the mother married the duke at that age, she'd only be about 34-36ish right now.
You know you have a point that's true typically 17-18 in better societies and lower in others...if she married around then she wouldn't be that old with 20 something children. Somehow though I think even if she married older the one thing she was blessed with his not looking her age...I mean she has such an inferiority complex and unchanged a high degree of power hunger that her looks are the only good thing about her. Ironic enough even her son that resembles her in looks an viciousness is more clever than her!
The novel for this currently has about 350 chapters and is still ongoing but....
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It's obvious that the ML is Abel. They haven't confessed, but Mia and Abel both have mutual feelings for each other. Sion is actually the 2nd ML...he fells for Mia but she absolutely NO romantic feelings for him even a little bit...in fact a lot of the time she trash talks him in her head when he pops up and ruins the romantic mood between her and Abel by being a third wheel. Also, Mia's granddaughter from the future travels back in time and ends up attending the academy with Mia; the granddaughter's name is Miabel (Mia + Abel).
I read the Japanese raws. You can find them by just copying and pasting the Japanese title into google!
You can buy ebooks of the first two volumes (I think its first 70 chapters) translated on Amazon -- just search "Tearmoon Empire" on Amazon. So far, only the first 24 chapters are fan translated and available for free: https://www.pemudatunawisata.my.id/search/label/Tearmoon?&max-results=6
Mia continues preparing for the plague. She ends up making a trade agreement with a merchant who is the father of one of her academy friends. The agreement standardizes grain and wheat prices at an amount slightly above the current market price...basically she pays more for wheat while its cheap, but will pay a lot less when/if a famine hits. Essentially she invents the concept of "insurance" this way.
After that she gets involved in a conflict between a nobleman and a tribe of indiginous people called the Lulu's who live in a sacred forest on the edge of the nobleman's territory. The empire had stationed a small army outside the forest because they believe the Lulus are hostile but the tribe will only fight if their sacred trees are harmed or if they're attacked first, so the army being there is really the biggest problem. She causes the army to withdraw under the excuse of 'protecting the princess' and ends up winning the admiration/loyalty of the strongest knight in the empire, who also happens to be the person who physically beheaded her in her last life (so she's absolutely TERRIFIED of him, even though he thinks she's a wise and cunning tactical mastermind). Mia's loyal ministers gains another member!
She protects the forest and the Lulu's by making the forest part of her personal 'princess' territory and also plans to establish a school. She's doing it entirely because there's a nobleman's son (Tiona's younger brother) who in the future develops a strain of wheat that's cold resistant and she wants to make him indebted/loyal to her so she can use his future invention. So she establishes an academy, but unlike Saint Noel's, Mia's academy will allow anyone with talent, including commoners. She did it just to insult the Rudolvons by saying they're not special or important, but of course everyone thinks she's doing it out of benevolence and wisdom and the Rudolvons LOVE the idea because they prefer being around the common people than the aristocracy. Mia's loyal ministers increase again!
After that a revolution breaks out! But it's not in Tearmoon, its in the Remno Kingdom (Abel's kingdom). Mia decides to travel to Remno to see/talk to/help Abel and Sion, Keithwood, and Tiona go with her to protect her.
CONTINUING THE VOL 2 SPOILERS.....
Sion decides to accompany Mia to Remno to protect her and Keithwood and Tiona also come along. Mia's maid, Anne, also wants to go but Mia said she has to stay because she can't ride a horse. Anne is sad and feeling useless, but then Rafina reminds Anne how when they first met Mia introduced Anne as her "closest confidant and right hand" and so there must be something only Anne can do. Anne's determination is restored and she leaves the Academy on a different mission.
Meanwhile, Mia's group reaches Remno but they're attacked and Mia and Sion get separated from Tiona and Keithwood. The two of them end up travelling through Remno in disguise and learning more about the people and how they've been over taxed and that that's one of the reason the revolution is starting. While they're camping, Mia asks Sion what he'll do if he finds out that Abel and the royal family are going to fight and take down the rebel peasants. Sion replies that he'll have no choice but to stop Abel. Mia gets mad and demands if that's really his only choice and that such words should only be said by someone who has already first done all they could to prevent it. Sion is struck by this and starts to think that it's true that although he knew things weren't great he didn't say or do anything to help before. He then stares at Mia in awe thinking she must be here to try and help because its her duty as a sagely ruler. In reality Mia said those words out of anger at her own previous life experience: "If you knew things were bad in Tearmoon you could have sent me a letter or something before beheading me!!!" is what she thinks.
We get a glimpse of Abel and the royal palace. Another problem with Remno is that it's very misogynistic. Women are treated very harshly by the royal family and nobles (as we've seen with Abel's brother). A maid gets pushed over by a noble and starts to think that it might be better after all if this whole country were destroyed. But then Abel shows up and helps her up and forces the nobleman to apologize. The maid thinks that Abel has always been gentle and kind but he was also weak and timid; he definately would have helped her up in the past, but the old Abel could never have confronted the rude nobleman. She thinks it must be the influence of the Wisdom of the Empire, "the woman who took Prince Abel's kindness, and gave it TEETH". She asks him about Mia and Abel said that she's like a bright moon he can never reach. Abel is on his way to fight the rebel peasants but he's sad and says he doesn't think Mia will look at him the same if he fights his own people, but as a prince he has no choice but to stop the rebellion by force if needed. Abel leaves and the maid sends out a crow with a mysterious letter.
Back to Mia and Sion, Mia ends up getting kidnapped by the rebels who know who she is. However one of the girls wants the rebellion to be stopped, so she tells Mia a bunch of information, including that there's a leader to the rebels who has been stirring up the people and that the real reason the people turned to fighting was because the king of Remno has imprisoned the one noble who spoke out against the unfair tax increases. What the rebels want most is for that lord to be freed. Mia realizes this sounds a lot like what happened in Tearmoon in her previous timeline, where Tiona and her rebels attacked because Mia's father had executed Tiona's father for speaking out in favor of the people. Mia thinks she always found that strange; even though her father isn't a great emperor, Mia doesn't think he would execute a nobleman just for speaking out.
In the middle of the rebel girl helping her to escape Sion shows up to rescue Mia. Mia tells him the rebel girl helped her and told her a lot of good information and Sion assumes that Mia managed to win the rebel girl over and even get her to change sides and give intel and his awe for Mia goes up even more!
TO BE CONTINUED...
VOLUME 2 SPOILERS CONTINUED.........
Mia and Sion travel a bit more, but end up getting captured again, this time by one of the frontmen of the rebellion. His nickname is Firebrand, fittingly because he's very loquacious and good at convincing people and is clearly the force stirring the rebellion. He's the one who was responsible for the attack on Mia's party when they first arrived in Remno. He wanted to kill Mia because he knows Mia is close with Abel and also (due to her reputation for being wise and a problem solver) because he fears that she with her wisdom she could put an end to the rebellion. On the flip side, he wanted to win Sion over to the rebellion's cause because Sion is known for being a lover of justice and champion of the downtrodden. He's still worried about Mia getting in his way, but realizes it's too late because if he harms Mia now then he'll incur Sion's wrath. So he tries to talk both Mia and Sion into supporting his cause. Sion starts to get caught up by Firebrand's fast talking till he notices Mia smiling in a polite but uninterested way and then snaps out of it. His admiration for Mia's cleverness increases again! In reality though, Mia just wasn't paying attention at all because she was focused on the desserts.
In the end, Sion sides with the rebels and decides he'll have to fight Abel and the Remno soldiers if they decide to attack the rebel peasants. Sion and Mia ride out to the battle field where the rebel army and Abel with the royal soldiers are gathered. Mia is happy to see Abel and they have a cute exchange: "Prince Abel. I've missed you." "And I you. Alas, how I wish seeing me were the aim of your visit..." "Oh? And what other aim do you suggest for my visit?" Like Sion, Abel thinks she came to try and end the conflict, but Mia really did come just to see him XD
Sion says "Rot covers your throne, Abel Remno. Do you choose to rot with it?" and Abel replies "Rotting or not, a kingdom needs a throne. A world without order is a world in Hell, chaos breeds suffering, and the people will be its kindling. If corruption has tained the throne, then it is my duty to cleanse it, not destroy it." Sion: "I cannot allow you to trample over your people."
Sion and Abel then start to duel with each other. Mia keep screaming for them to stop, but the two princes continue determined to fight to the death. But then "did her words truly reach no one? No! Absolutely not! Though they fell on the deaf ears of the fueling princes, the bonds she'd forged would carry her voice. Whither would it go? Who was listening? Why, her faithful subjects, of course!" Tearmoon Empire's strongest knight shows up! (the one she met and earned the loyalty of with the Lulu tribe forest incident...his name is Dion). He jumps between the two princes and disarms them both, saying "Time to break it up, boys. You're making our princess cry." Also arriving are Ludwig and Anne. It turns out that after Mia left, Anne left the academy and went to Tearmoon to get Dion and Ludwig and bring them to Remno to help Mia.
Dion and Ludwig manage to stop the dueling and force both armies and the princes to listen to what Mia has to say.
TO BE CONTINUED (I TOLD YOU VOL 2 IS LOOOOONG)
VOLUME 2 SPOILERS CONTINUED.......
"Later, when Elise published her Princess Chronicles, readers would find within an excerpt quoting a soldier who had been present during this confrontation. The passage went as follows: 'When she appeared, it was as if the moon goddess herself was descending upon the battlefield'"
Mia flails for a while before (mostly from her own outloud musing about her past experience) stumbling into the revelation that the whole rebellion seems like a nefarious scheme. This is because the rebellion in Remno is way to similar to the rebellion in Tearmoon during her previous timeline for it to be just coincidence. Although people think her words have merit, one of the generals says he doesn't think that the rebel army will just lower their weapons since the king hasn't agreed to lower taxes. Mia explains that the rebels aren't demanding lower taxes, they're demanding that the chancellor who spoke out against the taxes be released from prison. Abel then reveals that the royal family never imprisoned the chancellor and this is the first he's hearing about it. They realize that whoever was trying to incite the rebellion probably kidnapped the chancellor and that in order to prevent civil war they have to find and rescue him.
As this discussion is happening between Mia, Abel, and the generals, Keithwood gets a message carried by a crow and calls Sion aside to talk. After a moment, Sion comes back and kneels down infront of Abel, begging forgiveness. Mia and Abel are shocked until Keithwood explains. Apparently Sunkland (Sion's kingdom) has an spy network called the Wind Crows. A faction of the network apparently went rogue and THEY were the ones who orchestrated the conflict happening.
As it turns out they were also the ones behind the Tearmoon rebellion in Mia's previous timeline. They tried it again in this timeline, but because of all Mia's work in trying to avoid the guillotine their attempts to sow discord in Tearmoon were foiled so they turned to Remno instead.
Abel forgives Sion and tells him that instead of wasting time apologizing with words, what they have to do now is resolve the conflict. "We were saved from ourselves, you and I both. Now we have been given a chance to do what is right with these mantles we bear. It is my belief that we should approach it with gratitude and commitment." Sion: "Commitment...to walk this precious path the Great Sage of the Empire has lit for us."
Mia also silently accepts Sion's apology on her own behalf for the original timeline, although she also acknowledges that it was also her and her father's fault as well for not being better rulers so she can't put all the blame on Sion. However she doesn want a little revenge so she tells Sion that punishment must be given for wrongdoing. Sion agrees and says he'll submit to her punishment. She tells him, "engrave this pain on your heart so that you don't forget this lesson" and kicks him with all her strength on his butt. Alas! even all of Mia's strength is very weak to the point where Sion only feels it as a light tap.
However, he thinks she kicked him lightly on purpose. Sion theorizes that Mia did it so that others will believe he was punished and therefore won't demand further punishment, but that he'll always know that he was never truly given proper retribution for his mistake and therefore will have to carry it with him always. So whenever he judges the crimes of others he'll be forced to remember his own unpunished crime and remember to temper justice with mercy and give people the opportunity to repent and atone for their crimes.
We get a brief flash forward then...in the original timeline Sion was known as the Penal King and he was respected but feared for his fair but unyielding justice and ended up dying alone. In the new timeline he's going to become known as the Libra King (symbol of Libra is balanced scales) who is both just and merciful. In this flashforward, Sion tells Keithwood that that kick was a turning point in his life.
TO BE CONTINUED....ONE MORE TIME!
Mia, The Princes, Dion, Anne, and Keithwood go to rescue the Chancellor. The one holding him captive is the Firebrand guy that Sion and Mia met earlier. They corner him and he tries to escape by taking Mia hostage with a knife to her neck. She's carrying around a bottle of shampoo and squeezes it to hard when she panics. She ends up slipping in the shampoo when she tries to run and her feet slip in such a way that makes her duck under Firebrand swinging his sword and then kick him right between the legs. They capture him and everyone thinks Mia took him down on purpose. Awe of Mia continues to increase!
They capture all the members of the rogue spy faction. Mia asks that they not be executed. The Princes think that Mia is being kind and benevolent, Dion (who sees Mia as a tactical mastermind) thinks she wants to keep them alive to extract info. In reality, Mia is just afraid that they might go back in time the way she did if they're executed under similar circumstances (since by now it's around the same time as when she was executed in her first timeline). The Firebrand guy talks of big game about he's not scared and no matter what torture they devise, they won't get anything out of him so do their worst. Mia suggests that they be send to Rafina (The Saint) where they can listen to religious sermons all day for the rest of their lives. For some reason THAT makes the FIrebrand guy freak out. With that the Remno conflict is resolved peacefully and Mia returns to the school shortly after.
We then get a couple of chapters from other characters POV, setting up the next volume. We get a chapter from Rafina's point of view after recieving the prisoners. We a bit of foreshadowing that the men are part of some sort of demon worshiping anarchist society called the Chaotic Serpent whose goal is to throw kingdoms into chaos. The reason the Firebrand guy freaked out was probably because demon worship was anathema to Rafina's holy religion. Anyway, it seems like this Chaotic Serpent society is going to be a big villain in later chapters.
There's a chapter about Tiona, who feels that she was useless during this whole trip. Even though she came to protect Mia, they got separated and she didn't do anything at all. To make up for it, she goes with Ludwig to convince the Remno king not to punish the rebels. The Remno king insults Mia and Tiona angrily defends her, in the process saying some things that convince him to forgive the rebels.
There's also a chapter about a group of Tearmoon noble heirs who also attend the academy. Apparently Tearmoon has four ducal families who are only slightly below the Emperor in terms of rank of power: The Yellowmoon family, Redmoon family, Bluemoon family, and Greenmoon family. Their known as Stars and so the ducal family + imperialf family are known as the Moon and Stars. The heiress to the Greenmoon family is Emeralda (we saw her briefly in the manga chapters, she's the noblegirl whose tea party Mia went to before visiting Anne's family). Emeralda is hosting the annual Moon and Stars tea party, but Mia doesn't show up because she's busy holding a thank you get together for Tiona. The Stars, especially Emeralda, get annoyed. If she ditched them for Rafina or Sion, they could understand it, but the fact that she's choosing a outland noble over them is irritating. More conflict for Vol 3 is set up!
I forgot to mention but, after the incident with the Lulu tribe forest, Mia's diary (the one that came back in time with her) dissapeared, signalling that she was no longer in danger of being executed. In a small sidestory towards the end of the volume, we find out that in its place a NEW book appeared. This one was a history book from the future that told the tale of the life and times of Princess Mia. The history book states that after the rebellion in Remno, the royal family fell. The only survivor was Prince Abel who was forced to flee Remno. He took sanctuary in Tearmoon and ended up as the Prince Consort to Princess Mia. Although there was a lot of opposition from the nobles over the princess taking an exiled prince as her consort, together they overcame them and Prince Consort Abel devoted himself to Princess Mia and helping her rule Tearmoon and they had eight children.
Mia thinks that although she likes the idea of marrying Abel (she spends some time wondering how he proposed to her and patting herself on the back for having eight children so the country won't have to worry at all about heirs), she's not satisfied with a future where he can never go back to his home again. In the end, she's glad she changed this future. She thinks that she's a greedy person after all; for herself and those she loves, she'll only settle for perfect happiness and nothing less.
And that's it for Volume 2!
For anyone following this thread, I've continued with Vol 3 spoilers here: http://www.mangago.zone/home/mangatopic/8206112/
I love the way this manga didn't paint honesty as weak or strong, but rather said that it's the nature of your convictions behind that honesty which decides it. Her father is honest because he believes its the right thing to do no matter what, so even when he faces hardship because of it he doesn't sit and lament but keeps moving forward and doing what he can. In contrast, Connie admits that her 'honesty' was weak because she didn't do it out of strength in her convictions, but as a way to avoid having to make complicated choices or fight. As long as she remains 'honest' she doesn't have to actually DO anything, but can still feel justified and right.
I like that she's throwing it away, not because honesty is meaningless, but because it hasn't had the correct meaning for HER. By realizing that Scarlette isn't black or white (neither an evil woman nor a wronged innocent) and that there are different concepts of right and wrong, she can move beyond her previously clung to moral empericisms. Her father is willing to sacrifice and suffer for the sake of being honesty, because that to him is the ultimate good. What she IS willing to sacrifice and suffer for is the power to protect her loved ones, because that is her definition of right.
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I just discovered this story but it's amazing! Probably the only good version of this very very cliche webtoon trope that I've read.
The CEO ML is arrogant, but he isn't disrespectful, abusive, or unlikable. He treats her civilly from the start and the few times that he's rude to her its after he finds out her connection to the man who he blames for his wife's death, so his cold attitude is understandable but even then it's only him being a little rude and he still acknowledges that the MC shouldn't be blamed for the actions of her father. It's so annoying to me how in these stories, the ML treats the MC like crap until he falls in love and then starts pampering. Just because you're not in love with someone its okay to treat them like dirt!? But here, the ML treated her fine to begin with and after he falls he treats her even better. A++ on your arrogant CEO ML, webtoon.
And the MC!! Finally a strong, independent MC who actually ACTS strong and independent and doesn't crumble and become a overly soft pushover for the ML, while at the same time not making her unrealistically over capable. She's not hard or cold, she's a genuinely kind and compassionate person but she also stands her ground, has clearly defined breaking points, and always always gives as good as she gets, and hasn't needed rescuing by the ML! She doesn't get cowed by his status or money or looks, if she's capitulates it's because she genuinely cares and sympathizes with the daughter because she relates to growing up as a child missing your mother.
Also 1000 kudos for not having a bunch of pathetic 2nd MLs who are in love with the MC. All the the 2nd MLs who care about and help her are actually blood related family members and they all have love interests of their own. All of whom are awesome and amazing in their own right. I could easily see the 2nd MLs and 2nd FLs having their own comics and I LOVE that. So much female solidarity and equal friendships! We only get ONE stereotypical love rival and she is barely in it and I use the term 'rival' very loosely given the fact that absolutely no one takes her seriously.
I'm just so amazed and how good this webtoon is given it's premise. It could have turned out SO bad and cliche and problematic, but every time the use the usual tropes they end up surprising me with how well it's done in this case. I'm not going to pretend that it's the band manga I've ever read, but it is ABSOLUTELY among the best of it's genre and type that I've read.
Yeah i agree but the thing that i don't like with this genre of them already having a child is that the child is genius. 3 year old kid who is already fluent at speaking expert hacker and all that stuff, and the thing i hate the most is them interfering with there parents love like tf i read this one manga where his genius son drugged the girl and sent it to his father like TF and what does 3 year old kids know about love its really annoying but this manhuas version is just a cute adorable child which is nive and i love her
Yeah i agree but the thing that i don't like with this genre of them already having a child is that the child is genius. 3 year old kid who is already fluent at speaking expert hacker and all that stuff, and the thing i hate the most is them interfering with there parents love like tf i read this one manga where his genius son drugged the girl and sent it to his father like TF and what does 3 year old kids know about love its really annoying but this manhuas version is just a cute adorable child which is nice and i love her
Ugh, I hate those genius toddler tropes too. The worst. So glad they didn't do that here!
I was also SO GLAD they didn't devalue the ML's love for his first wife. I thought for a moment when his brother said that what he felt for his first wife was just familial love/deep friendship because they grew up together, but was SO SO happy when he went to his wife's grave and rejected that and said that he truly loved and was happy with her when they were married and now he wants to have that same love and happiness with the MC. A+++