Lauvil's manga / #Bastard ML(12)

I'm seriously fed up with the trope of a naive FL who can't say no. But even more, I'm tired of the trope of a ML who's selfish, arrogant, emotionally unavailable, doesn't respect the FL and forces himself upon her. The whole arrangement was really icky. Like girl, have some more self respect. And dude, grow a conscience. When she feels like she has no choice but to sleep with you, you're basically raping her. I honestly really wanted her to just stay in the shared apartment. Mitsuki would've made a much better ML. Their chemistry was much better. They had fun together, had common values, and connected really well. Mio seemed a lot more confident and relaxed around him and there was no inferior/superior dynamic between them. It was all healthy and balanced. He was also kind, thoughtful and caring, didn't try to force her into anything, didn't take advantage of her and respected her. Basically the complete opposite of Kouichi.

God. I don't even know where to start my complaints about this story... I certainly hope that the author intends to adress the gender equality issue they created in this world, otherwise: why the fuck make it that way in the first place? I really don't get why it's become a trope to make stories in a setting with rampant misogyny, when the author has no intention of addressing it. It's just a backdrop to make the reader sympathise with the female lead's pain and anger, but otherwise it serves no greater purpose. She doesn't change anything or inspire anyone else to change it. All she shows the reader is that it's nice to be the exception in that kind of world. But she still needs a man to "allow" her to be respected and happy. And for that to happen, you need to be different from "other girls." You need to be "special" to "deserve" being treated fairly. It's not exactly inspiring and it gets me angry every time I read the trope. Aside from that, all I'm reading here is that a woman got married to a man because her parents decided it. Because of that, she did not trust her husband and thus didn't enjoy sex with him. This caused him to be disinterested in her and so he solely focused on satisfying his own desires with no regard to hers. This only deepened the rift between them until he eventually tired of her. Then finally his interest was re-awakened when she displayed a mind of her own and a desire to take the reins to satisfy herself, before circumstances would again remove that option. But rather than allow her some freedom momentarily he thought it fair play to let her have the illusion of freedom and power, while he was actually manipulating it all behind the scenes. We're only 7 chapters in, so there is still the possibility of the webtoon averting expectations and giving the mc and the women of the story a liberating plot, but I highly doubt it. If it lives up to expectations, all we'll get is a "happy" ending for the mc, while any other female character fend for their own. And by happy ending, I mean an ending where she is still 100% controlled by her husband and societal norms, but at least now he loves her.

Dropped. ML has no excuses for the way he treated his wife in their previous life. MC's father is bastard who blamed his 7 yo daughter for his wife's accidental death, which is complete bullshit. FL doesn't seem to have a clear goal and I don't understand where this story is going or what the author is trying to say. So, this one is a nope for me.

God. Is there a scene in this manga where Suzu doesn't cry? The smut in this story was decent, but the plot just didn't grab me. I think the story should've ended after chapter 8. I tried reading a bit further, but I got too bored. Too much drama. The ML was a douchebag. The FL was a crybaby and a pushover. The only character I liked, was Tsutsumi and he barely had any screen time... Also, the early chapters were uncomfortable. The smut was too much non-/dubcon, the ML was acting cold and cruel, and the FL had no backbone. The premise itself, was kind of ridiculous too. I mean, who tells a person they hired as an assistant, that their job is to have sex? Like, boy. You hired a normal woman, not a prostitute. What the hell. And who in their right mind accepts a job, where the employer asks them to have sex for work, like a common prostitute? Well, that's smut-manga plot for you, ig.