
In reality, the merfolk are just as intelligent as humans but also far more wicked. Yet, the author has severely nerfed them, all to justify the FL behaving like a…child.
The merfolk have been reduced to a group of pregnancy obsessed women, with no aspirations beyond finding a random man to father their child.
Meanwhile, the FL has zero survival skills or common sense, despite being from the vast cruel sea’s—which is far from a fairyland. She’s perfectly fine being treated like an object by the man she naively fell for.
And the man? He’s a vile tyrant who has left a trail of innocent corpses in his wake. If I were in his position, I’d have taken out the royal family and myself before committing such atrocities. There’s no justification for his evil deeds. He should have rotted in repentance instead of getting a woman with the mentality of a child that he can manhandle, Stockholm romance isn’t going to magically absolve him of all the blood on his hands. If anything, it only adds onto the distasteful writing.
This whole story reeks of being written by a man or someone on propaganda payroll. Remember, birth rates are going down and men are scum, this is just a ploy of the patriarchy.
To my mentally developed ladies, it’s not worth wasting any of ur precious time.

I'm sorry but this comment is so fucking funny
Mermaids aren't real and thus there is no "reality" in which they are just as intelligent as humans. The author can choose any kind of mermaid to write about and this is the kind she chose. Just as any story can do whatever they want with mermaids. All countries and cultures have different stories about them and people can pick and choose what parts they want in their stories or fully create their own mythology.
The author is also likely a woman as most female-targeted mangas are. This story is not some super evil ploy by the patriarchy either, it's just that artists are subconsciously influenced by their reality and by other media. People can have fun and not everything has to be out to et you was a woman. In this story we even have a self-sufficient mermaid society that only uses men for sex to make children before abandoning them to live by themselves. The mc falling in love and choosing to go against her culture isn't evil, it's just a choice she makes.
This story is also obviously influenced by the little mermaid so saying this is a super radical take on a mermaid story is fucking wild since it follows the footsteps of the most popular story about mermaids.
Everything about this comment reads that you didn't like the story but had to pathologise why and then make it everyone else's problem. You don't need to like a story, you can even take issues with actions made by characters, but to accuse the author of being a misogonist who is promoting forcing women to give birth and submit and claiming this story is a massive ploy by our governments to indoctrinate us it wild

I think OG cpmmenter speak from the original legends - and yes in those legends merefolk is a wicked one, and the author clearly didn't take over from those legends anything.
And yes its very repulsing that MC having the intelligence and behavior like a child, it having same disgusting pedo vibe, this is why I didn't read after I saw some spoilers.

Bro what? You're the one leaving since you dont like the story, which is fine. I just pointed out how weird it was to put all these preconceived notions you have onto the story, it was quite a bit of projection. Also I'm ace so im all good, no interest in men (not to say that you would know that, but its another instance of you projecting this weird idea of all women who has a different view from you being slaves to the patriarchy and perpetuating it).
As I said in my original comment which I doubt you read or understood, it's fine to hate the story and express it. What is weird is to project that hatred back onto the author as some moral failing on their part and assume the worst of them because they chose to make an adaptation of the little mermaid. Melusine is not human, she has no human morals or understanding. To her Kieron acts like a child who knows nothing, not the other way around. It's all about perspective. And she also doesn't act like a child, she just speaks childishly since she doesn't know the language or culture, and naivety is not a crime. A full ass child isn't going to be asking to have sex so she can abandon Kieron and raise her own child.
Hate the story, love the story, read it, dont read it, whatever. You can analyze it and point out things that you think reflect certain aspects of society that you disagree with, but dont come here and claim this is cynical propaganda done to influence women to want to have kids. That is both unproductive to actually fixing issues that literature can unintentionally have due to author bias and antithetical to actually taking down a patriarchal society by attacking a female author reinterpreting a popular story. Solidarity with all women, not just those who you have slight disagreements with when it comes to taste in literature.

Respectfully, there is no such thing as a "In reality mermaids were..." That is a bias you have, not a fact.
One of the oldest stories that depicts what we can consider to be mermaids is the story of Atargatis, an Assyrian Goddess. Her story is pretty much: Fell in love with a human male, accidentally kills him, and jumps into the water, becoming a mermaid. In another version, it's because she fell in love with a fish and turns into one and there is one where she has a kid with a fish and is ashamed of it. Which negates your whole "Intelligent" argument.
Atargatis could be said to be the first recorded mermaid story (3000 years ago) and an inspiration for the most well known story of The Little Mermaid (although there is this whole other speculation about the author, Anderson, being gay and writing the story as a reflection of his life and love for his friend Colin). Funny enough, this story too ends in the mermaid sacrificing herself for love.
I believe you are actually confusing mermaids for sirens when you say they are far more wicked. Sirens are the actual origin of "wicked" mythological creatures who have enchanting voices that lure sailors at sea and drown them. You can reference this in The Odyssey where they make an appearance. Sirens and Mermaids started being equated to one another around the rise of Catholicism and the Medieval Ages through artwork. I suppose this is where the confusion began and people started conflating the 2 distinct creatures as one. But they are not the same.

Gradually, the image of the siren and mermaid are meshed into one and the stories began to describe mermaids as both good and evil omens depending on the author and the time period.
In the east, China has a merfolk in the Di people, Korea has a diety mermaid who guides sailors, and in Japan, the mermaid is a mythical creature that provides immortality eating it's flesh or even is described as a yokai and evil being in more modern stories (Detective conan murder episode).
So really, there is not an "In reality" mermaid that we can definitively use to describe what a mermaid is supposed to be. It is up to the writer and what they want the mermaid to be.

I ship her with the princessss they’re so hot tgr, a navy headed sadist and a red head that’s weak to money?? Omg missed opportunity
Aghhhhh so many striking women!! Author should write a yuri asap it’s a crime to not do so uhhh
Even the blonde villainess has chemistry with the other girls
Mc is breathtaking and her personality is just as perfect pls I’m hurting atp
A cast of male love interest has never been as irresistible as these women. That just goes to show how easily women overpower men when given a fair chance at writing and design
I’m starting to think them trying to make us like men is all a propaganda

Oh hold up—it only follows the route of On the Emperor’s Lap up to a certain point! Because in the end, Madam won’t go back to him! Yooohooo!
According to spoilers, things could go either way since there’s a main ending and a parallel side story. In one ending they reunite, in another, she marries the Crown Prince.
I’m not sure which is the canon route and which is the side story, but honestly, as long as their reunion isn’t the official ending, I’ll be fine ignoring it.
And let’s be real, Kian is a much better choice than the Crown Prince. She needs to step away from the world of royalty and nobility, it’s done nothing but torment her.
That twist alone redeems this manhwa for me. I’d actually like her because she’s not as foolish as people make her out to be. Nearly all her decisions were calculated with her best interests in mind.
She only picked the scum because she had no other choice—and she sidelined him later on anyway! She even tried to take control of the mansion like an absolute badass, despite the scum jeopardising her plans.
She kept speaking up and standing her ground, problem was that she had no power.
So is she really to blame for everything that happened to her? Absolutely not. And I’m thrilled she went out with a bang. He deserved to be haunted by her forever.
In the second half of the story, the focus is now more on his suffering & wretched regret, as well as him building a bond with his son, which is exactly what I wanted to see.
This refreshing development makes all the angst so delectable for a sadist like me. I needed her to end up in the best position possible while the scum suffers and that’s pretty much what we’re getting.
Well, sort of. There’s no confirmed ML, so it’s open to interpretation whether they end up together in the long run. He’s constantly tied to her life because of their child, and there’s even a confirmed side story about them…but it’s still digestible!
I don’t believe in forgiving men who did u dirty, unless it’s in a next life. More women need to respect their own peace.
Kian would’ve made a great ML, he was more of a husband to her and a father to Ceasar. I hope the kid isn’t dumb enough to resent his mother, and if he does, he’d better knock it off as soon as he starts.
I wish she could’ve remained in her own body, I hate this red head outcome, but oh well. I still have a sliver of hope that her original body will be revived—even if it’s the one decent thing the scum manages to accomplish.

Yet another webtoon where soul replacement feels completely unnecessary. The original Sanya deserved so much better. What’s the point of redeeming the people who killed her by having them make amends to someone else entirely? This MC has no right to act entitled to Sanya’s experiences—it’s honestly so frustrating.
Not to mention, why is it adult in kids body x kid they grew up with?? Soo disturbing how they’re trying to normalise pedophilia by sneaking it into every single webtoon.
It’s a drag to read, rly not that interesting.
It feels like a typical dragged out historical kdrama, not my thing.

The goddess is such a villain, and it’s flying right over everyone’s heads. She never even considered saving the poor MC. Instead, she kept rewinding time, passively watching as the MC lived and died miserably over and over again. It’s honestly horrifying—if it weren’t for the snake’s own judgement, this endless cycle of suffering would’ve continued.
They could’ve easily given one of them their memories back, but instead, fate itself had to step in, leading to the MC regaining her memories for once. To me, this just highlights the goddess’s incompetence. She had the power to break universal laws by meddling with timelines but never cared enough to actually fix the problem.
On another note, ML’s slime form is so adorable! I’m glad their relationship wasn’t bogged down by unnecessary angst. The story had great pacing, and overall, it was an enjoyable read. That said, I feel terrible for MC. She’ll probably never fully regain her memories, and honestly, I wouldn’t have forgiven anyone in her place.
As for her brother—what an idiot. He could’ve just killed the duke and taken his place, but instead, he let the man kill them. It makes no sense.
ML’s sister is hands down the best looking char. She’s gorgeous, and the holy knight was also stunning. Meanwhile, MC is somehow the least attractive of the bunch—why is that?
I’ll always choose black & silver over blonde, unless it’s Roxana

You're right, the goddess letting FL go through repeating lives of torture never struck me as odd. I'm wondering if the god really just didn't care. Seems like it doesn't pay much attention to the humans involved until they ask for something, or until a demon needs to be vanquished.
I agree bro could have killed the dad, but I think the story is more realistic when he doesn't. He's been traumatized and abused since childhood. Plus, he still thinks his dad has the only cure for the poison killing his sister. So, at that point he would not want to risk killing him and finding out after that the duke hid the antidote or something. That's just my take on it.
I actually like FL, but I am so rooting for ML's sister to get with FL's brother. I think that was what they hinted at when mentioning the sister's type was the kind of man who could fight a bear with his bare hands. Also, she wouldn't have any issues with losing the family name because I don't think the brother wants any association with the dad anymore. Then you'll have a black and silver pairing! So fingers crossed!

I think the brother didn’t do it for the sake of the plot, that would’ve put the main chars out of business lol.
Yess the gorg sis & FL’s brother would’ve looked so good tgr, I was shipping them too, there was chemistry based on personality alone.
Tbh it may have been just a lil weird if both siblings married into the same fam, but also a bit iconic at the same time, since the same two bloodlines would still rule the same two families

I think she was justified, goody two shoes chars aren’t believable to me. She acted logical like the smart woman that she is. She’s aware of the corruption in mc’s family and they stand on two opposite political sides.
It’s normal to be on guard when your enemy sends their own daughter into your territory. Given her own shaky standing in the clan, she was already on the defence to preserve their lineage.
We’ve been with mc throughout her journey so it’s natural to want to take her side, but she didn’t know her. ML in the og timeline treated her far worse when he didn’t knew her true intentions. Let’s give her some grace…

Oooo, you have some good points ! And I see, so ml was bad to mc in the og timeline? Now I dislike both ml(og timeline) and his sister lol, I just can't stand people who thinks they know it all and ended up hurting someone who didn't do anything wrong. But ofc I don't "hate" her but I just don't like people who thinks like her, I also agree with you that I'm definitely bias here cuz we've been with mc so ofc we know what's the truth. I've read alot of stories where the "villain" is hated JUST because of their shitty family, and I grown to hate people who thinks that if the head of the family or some of the family members are sht then the rest of the family members are sht too ;-;;. And you're right that "It’s normal to be on guard when your enemy sends their own daughter into your territory." Definitely! But be ON GUARD, don't send them to their death, if I remember correctly ml's sister literally sent mc to this forest where she almost died cuz there's monsters there? And she KNOWS it's dangerous but she still sent her there? Which is why I started disliking her. Imagine being like "Hm I don't trust you! But instead of observing you, I'll sent you somewhere dangerous" And if I'm right here, ml's sister regrets it later on cuz she found out MC's true personality and how fck up her family (the dad) is?? Idk if I'm correct here, but I was so happy there and I kind of started to like her more. Tho I still can't forget how she treated mc.. I'm totally bias here hehe
Please excuse my English, if it's not making any sense (づ ̄ ³ ̄)づ it's my 4th language.

Their relationship is so toxic and superficial that it completely ruins the reading experience. He treated his then wife—the mother of his child—like she was worthless, abandoning her at her lowest point when she needed help the most.
Ofc alpha man child supposedly knew nothing about his own wife, so we shouldn’t blame him waah waah
But the moment she regains her memories and rises to success, all on her own, he barges back into her life as if she’s some kind of trophy to claim. Now he’s capable of getting to know her.
How uncreative and downright appalling is that? He and his company absolutely deserved to fall into ruin.
Someone with her intelligence would never go back to a man like that. And, ofc, the story pits every woman against her, leaving her surrounded solely by men. It’s classic patriarchal propaganda at its finest.

The queen, my Sheylaa. I’ll be devastated if she gets killed again this time, but it feels inevitable :(
The only one who deserves to be disposed of is the scum king. He wanted a kept lover and planned to crown their illegitimate son. Ofc a queen from a more powerful empire, with dignity and pride, wouldn’t just bow down and let herself be trampled on.
It seems like people aren’t considering her side at all. Her reaction to the king’s betrayal feels entirely on brand for a strong and powerful queen. He continuously forced her hand, leaving her with no other choice. I’d much rather have her than some submissive queen who lets the scum king walk all over her.
Looking at power politics, she HAD to have a son! And her ultimate goal was to ensure his safety, that’s what turned her into a mama bear.
The palace is brutal, the king was always going to go after her son’s life. He failed his own son, the lover, and the queen.
The king is utterly unfit to be a ruler. His duty was to show respect to the queen for the sake of peace, yet he prioritized his selfish desires over the empire and did so in the most insulting way possible due to arrogance. If that was how he intended to act, he should‘ve just let a sibling take the throne. The queen tried upholding the alliance all on her own, but he failed to do the same from the very get go. (This is how I remember things off the top of my head).
In the first timeline, it seems ML had always harbored romantic feelings for MC on a subconscious level. While his reasons for killing MC were never specified, it’s clear he had a deep obsession.
He would get mad whenever others flocked to MC due to his flirtatious nature.
Internally ML struggled with conflicting emotions—his forbidden love, avenging his mother, appeasing the king, and his duty as the CP to pursue a relationship with the high ranking noble woman that was dating MC.
This inner turmoil led him to lash out at both of them, resulting in their deaths. He resented the woman for hogging MC and hated seeing him share with others what he wished they could’ve had tgr. The feeling of love, coloured with hatred had long since turned dark, twisted by their sour relationship and unfulfilled desires.
Also, MC is the OG. It’s kind of a Penelope situation.
I just want all the ladies to make it out alive this time x
I couldn’t quite put my finger on why I LOVE mc’s design (& personality) soo much, but some1 mentioned how he resembles Ciel Phantomhive and that’s absolutely right! This type of char is my weakest spot (not just because we share a name hehe)

•Arc 1…The Palace Harem’s A Mess
•Arc 2: 21…A Movie Queen Fallen From Grace
•Arc 3: 37…Vampire’s Lost Feelings
•Arc 4: 60…Elegant Socialite
•Arc 5: 86…That Girl is Damn Wild
•Arc 6: 107…Cultivation and This Feng Wushuang
•Arc 7: 124…I Have a Date with the Taoist Master
•Arc 8: 148….This Concubine’s Daughter is Venomous
•Arc 9: 170…A Literary Giant’s Huge Fall
•Arc 10: 192…The Criminal Offenses of a Villainess
•Arc 11: 217…Rebirth and Ultimate Doting
•Arc 12: 239…Ascent of the Empress
•Arc 13: 269…CEO Wishes to Go on Strike
•Arc 14: 289…Imprisoned Love
•Arc 15: 312…The Quiet Village
•Arc 16: 332…The Immortal Mountains can’t compare to u
•Arc 17: 359…How an Abandoned Wife became the president
•Arc 18: 389…The Real Heiress Wants to make a comeback
•Arc 19: 408…Rebirth of the Demonic Lord
•Arc 20: 433…My beloved Goddess
•Arc 21: 457…
•Arc 22: 477…
•Arc 23: 505…
•Arc 24: 529…
•Arc 25: 551…
•Arc 26: 571…
•Arc 27: 596…
•Arc 28: 619…
•Arc 29: 644…
•Arc 30: 667…
•Arc 31: 680…
•Arc 32: 707…
•Arc 33: 732…
•Arc 34: 748…
•Arc 35: 776…
•Arc 36: 794…
It’s getting a REMAKEE?? Yoohooo