Decided to pick this up again after it got completed, because I remember how heart wrenching it was and I’m a sucker for angst.
I really like the first couple of chapters when MC decided enough was enough and really looked forward to her finding new love and raising Carlyle. I knew in my heart though, as a long time reader of these types, that she would end up with Raymond ┑(￣Д ￣)┍.
Which was fine! Okay! I guess because that’s where the romance and angst is. ‘I used to love you, you fckng hated it, and now you want me back BECAUSE NOW YOU LOVE ME’ bs is a trope i read before and enjoyed. My gripe is I wish there was more of that here. That was what hooked me and I felt like I got misled because I instead got all these political intrigue which I did not care about (freaking scrolled through chapters and still got the gist of it).
The dialogues were not interesting enough. Too much tell. Too redundant show. Did not care for any of the characters except for Edmund and I wish he had more screentime.
I see potential in Lizena’s character story though. Incoming headcanon insert (a bunch of these might be a stretch but that’s headcanon for you):
From what I understood, she was her family’s hope of moving upwards in society. Probably driven by her family’s greed for power, she cheated on Raymond with the old crown prince. My headcanon is she did this unwillingly. Because I do believe there was a point in time when she really did love Raymond based on that chapter where she said: ‘If you had just shown any of that (past) love for me, I would feel so much more hesitant to kill you (Raymond)’. This explains to me why she begged Raymond to sleep with her the night before she had to leave. Maybe she didn’t know she was pregnant at the time. And on that night, in my delulu headcanon, she couldn’t go through with SAing Raymond. Because how could you do this to the one you love?
So she didn’t sleep with him THEN she finds out she was pregnant. By the very man who tormented the one she loves. Despair. Probably tried to drop the child. But how could she? That’s her baby. This child is innocent. Edmund is innocent. So she hides him in a convent. Because remember she’s a concubine to the Western King, a king who she has not slept with. And if the western kingdom did find out, she could be returned to Aegritta in shame because how dare they send a pregnant woman to be another king’s concubine? How could she face Raymond, who just killed his family, with a boy whom his lover and tormentor made? We all know Raymond would have killed Edmund then and there.
So then, why did she pretend Edmund was Raymond’s son? Doing that could only put Edmund in danger, no?
Envy. Pure envy. To the daughter of the second most powerful man in the empire. The woman who got everything she wanted without even lifting a finger. The main female lead who got everything that was supposed to be hers, the villainess.
The female lead got to marry her true love and have her happy ever after while she rots in a kingdom faraway, concubine to a chronically ill king. No future for her and her beloved child. Forsaken by her lover.
Yes, I love villainess stories.
Anyway, if I get isekai-d as Lizena I am doomed (^▽^;). I did not read any of the politics and scheming. Hopefully I wouldn’t need to, because I’d just freaking make sure Edmund wears that shapeshifting earring and get Elijah on my side early on. Heck I’d fucking help Raymond get his act straight.
Overall, I think this story had great potential but lacked character depth. As experienced readers, we knew where this was going. I think the author just failed to make us want to make these characters happy. Thanks.
P.S. Every time they said WOW YOU LOOK SO BEAUTIFUL YOUR HIGHNESS, I cringe.
THE ANGST! SOMEBODY TELL ME WHERE I CAN READ THE NOVEL AND WHAT CHAPTER THIS IS PLEASEE I CANNOT STAND THE CLIFFHANGERRRRRR （πーπ）