I can empathize with what he endured as a child, the abuse from his parents and the torture he later suffered under the emperors orders. His life was marked by pain and betrayal (clearly there was a conspiracy against his house). But his past doesn't erase his crimes. It can't justify the way he treats a woman who is faultless in his suffering, a woman who genuinely loved him and even helped him.
His behavior is not born of love but of selfishness and obsession. He channels his hatred of the emperor and her family into her, weaponizing her loyalty. He manipulates her guilt, sexually abuses her, and deliberately breaks her until she becmes a fragile, compliant shell of her former self, a fucking doll he can always access and control.
Major spoiler ahead:
In the manhwa this abuse is depicted, but in the novel it's even more explicit.
Her first experience with him is a brutal rape. He
"rescues" her from a forced marriage to a fifty yearold man, something arranged by her own brothers (that want the throne), but his salvation is nothing but a creepy ass opportunity for him, he literally tells her "Either live sucking my dick or kill yourself. Those are your only options". She of course chooses rape because it's the only way to survive.
At one point he even says, while raping her, "Maybe it shouldn't just be me enjoying this hole. Such a waste, maybe your subordinates should have a taste too", degrading her.
All of this cruelty stems from a misunderstanding because he believes she agreed to send him to the border, even though it was solely her brother's order. He forgets everything she has done for him, everything she sacrificed, and takes her loyalty for granted. The suffering she endures is the direct result of his filthy mistrust. Eventually she reaches a breaking point. She wants to die, to leave her place as empress. Only when he loses her does he realize too late that he truly loves her. Regretful he begs her to punish him, and she does until he is groveling on the floor, asking for forgiveness.
I won't spoil any further details. But the story is a devastating portrait of how trauma can twist someone into a monster and how, in the end, remorse is often not enough to undo what's been done.
I feel empathy towards what he went through as a child, abused by his parents and then going through torture due to the emperor(obviously there was a conspiracy going on). However, his past and what he went through, don't erase the crimes he commits towards a, faultless to his circumstances, person, especially considering she was actually of help to him in the long run and harboured genuine feelings of love towards him. His behaviour is the result of selfishness and obsession which he justifies with the hatred he feels over what her father, the emperor, did to him. He purposely sexually abused and fed her with guilt, turning her into a vulnerable little doll that he'll be able to always have access to. The empress is nothing but a traumatised shell of her former self, under the control of a person that took advantage of her feelings and loyalty. She was forced to face the reality of the people around her so fast, it broke her.
She didn't cheat. She was drugged and raped. People really need to work on their reading comprehension so this can get through their thick head. This sounds like victim blaming to me. A person under the influence CANNOT consent and she screamed at him to stop.
Also spoilers from the book since i read it(whoever wants to also read it, go to eternaluna scans they have the best translation and if you don't want to buy earlier the chapters from 26 until 40 (it's less than 5 usd) they will get released for free pretty soon):
The boyfriend is a piece of shit who cheated on her countless times and saw her a piece of meat. Back then he made people isolate her and approached her when her mom died and she was vulnerable, because he wanted to sleep with her. He reveals who he is pretty soon by lusting for the 'governess' (blond bitch who abuses the maids) and having a mental breakdown, saying Anna will make him a 'cuck'. She even breaks up with him after seeing his true face and that's BEFORE she gets into the coercive relationship with the Marquis you'll see her getting into in the next chapters, with the hope that she can get back to her world.
Her relationship with the marquis is coercive and violent, she's not a willing participant. Saying an assault victim cheated in the first place, is absurd and callous.
Also, for people who wonder about it, Anna's current age is 24, the boyfriend's 25-26 and the Marquis (Rothbart) is 38. In the past, her version from the other dimension, married him when she was 21 and he was 24. But they met when she was 19 and he was 22. She gave birth at 24 and left him, so her current age is symbolic.
The person saying she "cheated" on her boyfriend is insane because she quite literally got drugged and raped. Wtf are you on?
"He's nothing but a low life thug!"
Said the sociopath rapist who wants to get his victim pregnant, without any care if the father and baby die. If mc is a thug, the. he is lower than trash. Dropped. Aside from having a ridiculous plot (you'll see what i mean once you read it), ml is so fucking disgusting, i'd rather not waste my time more.
Don't bother with this story. I'm convinced it was made to be a rage bait.
MC and her brother are surrounded by predators, and it's fucking sickening. The lawyer is despicable, the pedophile even worse, and the aunt's comment that the brother is "at fault" for his SA made my blood boil. He was, and still is, a child. The story captures very realistically how threats and psychological control work in an abusive household. The FL was conditioned to believe she's a burden, that everything is her fault. The brother, meanwhile, was groomed into thinking he was responsible for his own assault, silenced with threats, and forbidden to tell his sister.
Mc was forced to grow up too quickly, carrying the responsibilities of the adults who failed her, all while being resented for things she had no power over. Her baby brother, drowning in fear and trauma, turned his anger on her, the closest figure he expected to protect him. I don't blame him for that. But I also don't blame her. Being "the adult" was never meant to be her role: she was a child too, suffering through her own abuse.
And no, her pain wasn't limited to "just a slap" as some claim. The slap was only one glimpse of a much bigger pattern. Abuse doesn't have to be tallied like points in a competition, both siblings endured it, both are victims, and both deserve freedom from it.
Cool manhwa but it's NOT josei. I want to be able to use the tag Josei and actually find Josei manhwa, not seinen. The motherfucker who misplaces the tags, may you step on fucking LEGO
Why are you guys surprised Yul doesn't change in the end? He showed who he is, which is a manipulative, obsessive, selfish sociopath. It would be weirder if he magically became a self sacrificing (by letting Howoo go), selfless and truly caring individual after what we witnessed about him. Some of the worst sociopaths aren't born this way, not everything needs to be about a hurt ml with a plot that takes advantage of his abuse to justify and magically change him into a kind person despite committing some horrifying shit. People can have a hurt childhood and still be a non justifiable piece of trash. Yul always cared more about how HE feels not how Howoon does. Howoon's feelings come second. If Yul wants to own Howoon, he will regardless of how Howoon feels. If he wants to take he will. Be it through emotional manipulation or straight up threats.If he wants to destroy he will. What matters in the end, is what HE wants. I think a lot of us get lost in the clichè fairytale of a violent, dangerous and straight up horrible individual, turning into a misunderstood (who still committed the crimes he is accused of, but STILL misunderstood), deep down kind and caring prince who is only rough around the edges (i mean he still kills and rapes but UwU).
This ISN'T spoiler, just information regarding the items and beings the author's characters are inspired from.
Here you go:
<The Shining Trapezohedron is a fictional artefact appearing in H. P. Lovecraft's short story "The Haunter of the Dark" and Robert Bloch's sequel, "The Shadow from the Steeple". The Trapezohedron serves as a window on all of space and time. By gazing into it, its wielder would summon Nyarlathotep in his avatar as the eponymous Haunter of the Dark, as well as (possibly) the other Outer Gods. In exchange for horrible sacrifices, the Haunter of the Dark would reveal other worlds and arcane knowledge. It has been theorized that the stone offers a glimpse into the mind of Yog-Sothoth.>
The secretary is Nyarlathotep, hence why he keeps hold of the ring. He's probably trying to play a 'prank' on fl. A horrifying one.
Ml is a disgusting piece of trash that makes someone unrelated and unfortunate his and his mother's punching bag all because his father is demented. He disgusts me as much as his father. I hope he and his whole family just drops dead and leaves the poor woman and her brother alone. Fucking irredeemable.
