I came in not expecting much, but damn, I wasn't expecting the uke character to be such a literal unrepentant trash of a human being lol.
It's kinda interesting (from a BL literary) standpoint that he's aware that he's a terrible person, started out as a terrible person (with NO tragic backstory excusing his behavior) & doesn't care that he's a terrible person. Like, he seems weirdly proud of it?
With asshole uke characters imo, they tend to fall into either "naive innocent (slutty) babies who harm others & drag them down with their selfish stupid actions" (usually MC ukes) or "scheming evil slutty bitches" (usually villain ukes) types.
Anyway, since this one seems to have actual street smarts & the seme is a total bumbling fool, I'm seriously hoping that the uke will be taken down a notch, whether it's by the seme or by something else. If the current power dynamic continues, it's probably going to head right into a pretty toxic relationship (or maybe the seme turns all yandere & stabs him to death, haha).
If this wasn't role-reversed, the MC (or heroine) would probably either be the weepy frail type who wins empathy from the Emperor by crying a lot & whining about him not being kind to others or the defiant independent type who grows to empathize with the Emperor's inevitable backstory full of blood & backstabbings.
Also, she'd conveniently get pregnant just when their love has hit full heart points (& because heroines are too pure to even know what birth control is).
Frankly, MLtWQ is a lot more refreshing compared to those types of stories & making the MC an ex-prince adds to the dynamic, too. He was the spoiled youngest prince & had zero ambitions to the throne while she was literally locked up in a tower & even after achieving power, people still throw shade at her for being a woman.
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Okay, so the reason why she knows stuff about Fi & why she's asking Nika about whether or not fate could be changed is that Liliana is actually stuck in a time loop. No matter what she does, she keeps hitting a Bad End (like, not just for herself but for everyone) & she basically has gone over the despair horizon & gives up on changing anything by the time our MC becomes Lady Rose.
Only for MC to completely ditch being Lady Rose but still save everyone. It's kind of like a slap in the face for Lilianna, like saying "hey the only way for the world to be happy is for you to be a selfish bitch & take everything from the kind Saint Lady Rose who will bear all your sins for you!" & that's why she's desperately praying for forgiveness at the church every day.
Currently, behind the scenes she is trying to set up a plan to re-establish MC's status & engagement, absolve her of all the false crimes & then she will commit suicide to atone. (Don't worry, they stop her).
WAIT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
BABY! BABY! POOR BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
omg can rose just have a harem of women LOL
OH MY GOD. I read it for the cute fluff moments but didn't get any and got THIS! i lowkey enjoy the dark moments tho. Liliana isn't a bad person then!