Lauvil's manga / #Contract Relationship(9)

Elisha is a slave of the Cartier family. When she was young her aristocratic father died and left behind massive debt, and even though she had long been abandoned by him, she was forced to take responsibility. She becomes collateral and lives as a slave of the family she's indebted to. She is abused and assaulted and finally dies in an attempt to escape, only to wake up several years in the past. With the knowledge of her miserable future she decides to escape it by allying herself with the Cartier family's black sheep; General Lucerne, whom she knows plan to take over the family or destroy it if he can't. To solidify their deal, she agrees to marry him and thus their relationship deepens. I am thoroughly tired of premises like this. The setting is a sexist/mysogynistic shit show, that only serves as a backdrop for the toxic romance the story centers. The ML is creepy, forceful, cold and generally unlikeable. His assets are good looks, fortune and status - which, by patriarchal standards, are all men are needed to have to make a good husband - but his personality is shit. Any small kindnesses are highlighted as if the sum of them will somehow make him a good person, when really he barely reaches the minimum standard for what that is. Any scene in which the couple are intimate makes me uncomfortable, bc the FL is clearly afraid and the ML is completely unfazed by this and makes no effort to alleviate her anxiety. I know women are conditioned to like assertive men, but his behaviour is just scary and I'm not here for it. The FL has the blandness of a classic female main character, but one could attribute that to her past abuse. She's very cautious, anxious and nonconfrontational. However she does try to fight back against her fate and abusers. I just don't like that her only option is to marry out of the abuse - especially when the husband gives off toxic vibes. So, 20 chapters was enough for me. I'm done with this.

Veillyn is the eldest daughter of count Orlando, and she is neglected and abused by her family. One day she falls ill and wakes up with memories of her privious life and the knowledge that the world she lives in, is inside a novel. She then also realizes that she was just a minor character whose death from an unknown desease, sparked events of the novel. Determined not to live out the rest of her days as pitifully as the novel's Veillyn, she draws up a plan to escape her abusive family by the only legal means available: Engagement. And the only eligible candidate for such an arrangement, is the third, and illegitimate, son of duke Liesentstein, Jellard, who also happens to be the obsessive male lead of the novel. So far, this seems very promising. A strong minded FL, who uses her knowledge to change her circumstances. An ML who acts cold but probably isn't. He's just become used to being shunned by others. And a mysterious desease which puts a time limit on their developing romance. Colour me intrigued! It's a bit of a cliché plot line, but honestly it's one of my favourite tropes. Love the angst and the drama. And neither of the leads seem toxic, so it passes. 4/5 stars.

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