I think it's really easy to blame Harsen, but if you stand in his shoes, he really didn't have many options after he chose to marry Ercella.
Late Duke Berhardt:
- Was against the marriage because the Visardes have a lot of enemies. Warns Harsen that he'll have to spill a lot of blood to marry her. (Also pressured Harsen throughout his life because he's illegitimate.)
Late King of Grania:
- Wanted to marry the princess to Harsen. Because he declined, sent him off to war just after his marriage as petty revenge.
Death of both fathers:
- Both the former Visarde and Bernhardt dukes die around the time Harsen is at battle. Keep in mind, Harsen is barely an adult at the time, and his similarly young wife is suffering from depression and fending off usurpers while he is away.
Current King of Grania:
- Wants to weaken both Visarde and Bernhardt as vengeance for his late lover, and fear of their growing power.
Duke Caron of Visarde: (Ercella's brother)
- Uses Harsen and Bernhardt as a shield against Visarde's enemies. Makes Harsen do a lot of dirty work while threatening him with Ercella's divorce.
Duke Garten:
- Harsen needed Duke Garten's support (the haughty girl Vicente is engaged to), because he was being used as a dishrag on multiple ends. He can't really ask his wife for help either, because women in Grania aren't respected and have no real power. Duke Garten convinces him to rebel, and he ultimately decides to coup because he's tired of doing everyone's dirty work while having a noose around his neck. It doesn't end well.
Regardless of whether Duke Garten convinced him or not, King Grania was going to cut him off anyway.
Harsen has been in mental wars since young, and real wars since barely legal age. I don't think his motivations are great, but there are a lot of political-situational factors in play. He was effectively shouldering two households on his back. He can't even peacefully be with the person he wants the most, when she needs him the most, and whom he knows doesn't love him back. A lot of things are just eating at him inside.
So yeah, I do think he's a terrible person, but I also pity him. If he hadn't chosen Ercella, they both could have lived with (slightly) less bloodshed.
I had to re-read this from the beginning since the politics is messy to juggle, but after going through it again, I can sort of sympathize with Harsen going crazy (of course, that doesn't absolve him of his crimes). I wrote a summary of events for some of the politics.
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[ Ercella ] is of House Visarde, and is the direct descendant of another country's princess (Beatrice of Ludelsia). House Visarde is known as an information-powerhouse that essentially collects blackmail. Her position is pretty lofty, but she herself has no political power and is used as a pawn. She was not yet an adult when she married and gave birth to Vicente, and died young (mid 20s) to illness. She went back 3 years in time before her death. Her two goals right now are finding a cure for her illness, and preventing both a civil war and a regional war. If war breaks out, her husband and her son will have to fight. She has very little power in her current country of Grania, which doesn't hold women to any esteem.
[ Eshahilde ] is Ercella's elder sister, and Grania's Queen. She later dies during childbirth. Caron (Ercella's brother) who helped put her in power, wants her son Alexis to be the next king. They're in a factional war right now over succession for the throne. The Visardes have many enemies, and that's why they want to stay in power. For the same reason, the attendants of Bernhardt do not trust Ercella because she is a Visarde.
[ Harsen ] is of Ducal House Bernhardt, which is considered the King's Sword. Because he chose to marry Ercella instead of the royal princess, he was forced to go to war during the time his wife was pregnant as punishment, which was shortly after the death of their fathers. It's hinted that he's an illegitimate child, making his position in house Bernhardt shaky---that's why the late Duke, the late King, and even the late Caron wanted to control Harsen by threatening him with Ercella's divorce. In the end he chooses to rebel so that he wouldn't have people use his wife to oppress him anymore; but ultimately still divorced Ercella in case things went wrong so she and Vincent wouldn't be implicated if he were to be tried for treason. He still loves her deeply, but their relationship is strained. To date, he has killed a lot of people just so he could marry her, and stay with her. Ironically, because he chose to marry her, the cost of being married to her meant that he couldn't spend time with her because everyone else wanted him to pay up for the cost of their marriage.
After the death of Eshahilde, Caron wants Ercella to leave and cut off Harsen because the house of Bernhardt built up too much bad karma through Harsen's underhanded tactics, despite Caron being a part of the problem, but he is hesitant because of prince Alexis. Eventually after Caron dies trying to protect the young prince, the now-divorced Ercella takes over the duchy as next head of Visarde.
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Other Background Information:
[ Current King of Grania ]
Used the Visardes and Bernhardt to get his current position, but wants to cut them off. He considered replacing them with the fallen Robert house. It's implied he may have loved a lady from the Robert house before marrying Eshahilde, and abused her verbally. He knows Harsen used all means at his disposal to get rid of the Damonshires and Robert. Although Harsen put him on the throne, he intends to get rid of both houses.
[ The Damonshires ]
If Harisen hadn't proposed, Ercella would've married into the viscounty of Damonshire by default, because the Damonshires would've helped to support the then Princess Eshahilde. However, because House Bernhardt was an even better offer, her soon-to-pass father urged her to marry. Likewise, for house Bernhardt, marrying a Visarde instead of the princess is akin to saying they want to stay neutral, which angered the late-king and sent him to war. The late Duke Berhardt was also somewhat against them marrying because Visarde has a lot of enemies.
During Harsen's time away at war, Duke Bernhardt passed away and Harsen's uncle tried to usurp the duchy. Meanwhile, the teenage and pregnant Ercella just lost her father, and her father in law, and was going through postpartum depression while Harsen is still at war; and also while having no power in the Bernhardt household. Even when Harsen returned, his extended family tried to kill him for the position of Duke, so he had no time for Ercella, worsening her depression.
By way of ploy, or convenience, Harsen plots for one of the then king's consort, Bethel Damonshire's downfall, and the previous king offs her head on charges of infidelity. --- putting the then 1st Prince and Eshahilde next in line for the throne. Eventually, after the late-king's passing, the 1st prince succeeds and becomes the current king, and Eshahilde becomes the queen. The other royals in line at the time eventually suicide or fell out of power. Harsen was effectively used to kill off the other royals, leading to the enthronement of the current king. Though he probably had his own agenda for ruining Kasaro (the man who proposed to Ercella).
[ The Gartens ]
A ducal household with diplomatic agency. Originally Harsen set up Vicente to be engaged to the young lady of house Garten (Olivia), but Ercella was against a political marriage. But the marriage would be beneficial for the Bernhardt who are under a lot of fire for marrying a Visarde. Ercella instead takes in Adora from baroness Zardea as her lady-in-waiting. Additionally, the Gartens and the Visardes already don't seem to have a good relationship.
[ The Roberts ]
A family involved in the succession / queen candidacy that was ruined by the Visardes and Bernhardt when they put Eshahilde on the throne. Incidentally, sir Juan who was the kind noble who spoke to Ercella is from the Robert family. That's why they were shocked when they found out each other's identities. Both her households basically ruined his.
[ Ludelsia ] A neighbouring country past Konrad. A region where women typically are in power. It is said that they are descendants of the creation goddess Ludelsia. It's rumoured that Beatrice fled Ludelsia and married into Grania because she didn't want to marry her half-brother who coveted the throne. Because she was first in line but left, her elder half brother became the king of Ludelsia by default. Additionally, Grania's Princess Hermia (who once proposed to Harsen) was sent off to marry a Prince of Ludelsia by Caron's suggestion.
[ Regional Diplomacy ] There is tension between Grania and the neighbouring country of Konrad over a land called "Azrel" under Grania's control. However Konrad cuts right in-between Grania and other nations, essentially controlling their trade route. In the future before regression, war breaks out between Grania and Konrad.
[ Atinel the Holystone ]
A holy stone from the land of Ludelsia that may grant wishes to those containing god's blood. It's implied that someone made a wish to turn back Ercella's time. That's why when she sees the stone in the current timeline, it doesn't seem to have much lustre.
I hope the author commits to a breakup ending.
No redemption needed here (╬￣皿￣)凸
Is it just me, or is she drawn a tiny little bit slimmer lately?
(▰˘◡˘▰) wow, girl, I'm happy for your paced accomplishments.
This crazyf*****. I can't believe the audacity of him to dare whip Ruby knowing she's going to go back to Izek. Can't wait to see him get his karma.
There's an official English manga of this series published by Square Enix US, just as a heads up.
I have no expectations going into this but --- I clicked it because the ML doesn't have black, blonde, or white hair Σ(っ°Д °;)っ
Is it bad, that while I think what Shinjae did is terrible and he deserves to be called out for it --- but in terms of fictional content, on a scale of 1 to 10, his crime is like a 3... (a 7 being making a bet for money, and a 10 being physical harm). Like he's trash but not irredeemable trash? He's genuinely is in love with Hanbin, so I hope he can redeem himself slowly??? Or am I just desensitized now
(Kind of reminds me of Punch Drunk Love, a bit).
The MC is stuck in an erotic BL game with a psychopathic lover, but because he's really into BDSM he's secretly enjoying the heck out of it, unbeknownst to the ML.
I started reading this for the brother-sister family relationship but it's kind of boring now because she has no chemistry with her male lead.
I really wanted to keep it up for the brother but we see him less and less now XDa...
Damn, guy didn't even feel a shred of guilt as he asked for money...just throw him to the curb.
One of the rare stories where I can say "can't wait to see her die" and mean it in a positive vibe (￣∇￣")...
Y'all are spreading incorrect and skewed spoilers (T-T)lll... I finished the novel and I promise you, the story and Heejae is really not that dark or twisted. Please don't trust MTL. The series is very cute. My only complaint is it's too short.
1.) Nothing bad happens in this story, Heejae and Seyoung don't break up. They're a cat-dog couple so they have some minor misunderstandings here and there but nothing tragic happens.
2.) Heejae is kind of petty and childish, but he's not evil. He's younger than Seyoung and is still in his early 20s, he's truly just acting his age.
He was in love with Sesam but after being dumped and cut off for no reason, he goes to look for Seyoung, and sees him happy and smiling with his coworker. He's angry because even though Sesam chased after him, she's kind to everyone else except him. He also has a bit of past trauma with suddenly losing his loved ones. He doesn't understand Seyoung's behaviour and why he's being treated this way.
3.) Because he was bitter, /initially/ Heejae was planning to make Seyoung fall in love with him and then dump him for revenge but he quickly dropped that idea when he realized he fell in love with the real Seyoung. He realizes this in Ch 21 (after chasing Seyoung in the snow). Of course he's upset about his car, but he's far more scared of being hated by Seyoung. Heejae then decides he wants Seyoung to fall in love with him for real. He's not scheming to hurt Seyoung anymore. This dumbass gets the butterflies when Seyoung smiles.
The next few chapters in the raws is Heejae's POV arc (it's really long in the novel too), which is why he seems sus. It's not the case, it's a flashback explaining his thoughts. The novel covers it in more detail than the webtoon.
Heejae is an intense and expressive person with a lot of duality. He's always thinking and feeling different things at once. He can be both upset at Seyoung but also deeply smitten by him at the same time. He's also very romantic and plots a lot of dumb schemes just so he can have a date and hold hands with Seyoung, who he knows isn't very good with receiving affection or doing couple-y things. Heejae seems unhinged but it's more like "the end justifies the means" to him. Seyoung calls him a lunatic, but he's just really smart and achieves results. And he does, actually, always achieve results.
Seyoung does eventually like Heejae back but he's not yet comfortable with physical intimacy (yet). So even though he also likes Heejae, the guy is also too cringe for him sometimes (lol).
The one aspect I like about Heejae is that he's normally a rational person, but when it comes to Seyoung his IQ drops to -100 and he ends up doing carzy things. For example, he's not a foolish spender, but he's dropped down some serious cash in the spur of the moment on something just because he thought it'd make Seyoung happy.
--- Additional Spoilers ---
4.) Yoona is not deeply in love with Heejae, but she's prideful and just as petty, and wants to be the center of attention. She's also rich and invested a lot of money into ruining Heejae's Rumble Tumble clan out of revenge.
5.) The guild is accepting of Seyoung, and they later have a guild war against Yoona because she sniped up a ton of their members and is trying to rank #1.
(Seyoung's female bestie, is secretly a PVP ranker in the game and helps out.
She's a seriously cool gal.)
Omg...these names. The author seriously likes boba, coffee, and tea.
(fair, me too---)