Lauvil's manga / #Intrigue(4)

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Astelle Leston is the daughter of duke Leston and the unlucky partner of the crown prince, who was married for less than a day before she wa kicked out of the palace. The prince was convinced that Astelle didn't love him, so when the emperor died on their wedding night, he immediately divorced her to free himself of the relationship and his ties to his bride's power-hungry father. Even though they only spent one night together and even used contraceptives, Astelle still managed to get pregnant from this fleeting encounter. However, since she knew her father and other greedy nobles would try to use the child once it was born, she hid herself and the child to raise him safely, as a commoner. Years later the emperor comes looking for her because of his grandmother's will, to take her home to the capital and get things sorted out. Thus begins Astelle's struggles to hide her child's parantage and keep him safe from the clutches of the emperor and other nobles... The ML is a bit of a self-absorbed asshat, tbh. Like, he divorces his wife after just one day? And AFTER he's taken her viginity. Damn, that's cold. Like throwing away a rag after using it. Not gonna lie, it's gonna take a lot to make him likeable in my eyes. Even if he acted on a misunderstanding, it's really shitty behaviour. The FL is awesome, though. I'd read the story just for her and her cute-af son. She's intelligent, cunning and strong-willed, while also being a fiercely protective and loving mother. A great model for a female character. She's not perfect, and the story does a great job of portraying her struggles and weaknesses. I also both love to hate sir Bellian. He's such a well-written character. He definitely holds a villain-role right now, but only because he has opposite goals to the MC at the moment. His goal is not to harm her - only to protect his master - which makes his villain status temporary. His suspious nature, cunning intellect and fierce loyalty actually makes him a very interesting character. Though he's also arrogant and a bit classist, which makes him somewhat unlikeable, but a good character should have flaws. It means there is room for growth. I'm certain he'll be a strong ally in the future. A character I'm not a fan of, though, is Marianne Kreuzen (blonde girl who clings to the ML). Not because she's unlikeable or an antagonist, but because of the trope and mindset she represents. She's literally the first non-mob female character we meet in the story, aside from the MC, but she embodies the worst traits of "femininity": She's vain, entitled, arrogant, greedy and dumb. It's just striking that we are introduced to two antagonists around the same time, and while the male character gets to be cunning, loyal and interesting, the female character is superficial, childish and unimportant. So, I hope to see some more diversity in the future. For the story is just my cup of tea. The tension, the suspense, the subtlety *chef's kiss* 4.5/5 stars.