Lauvil's manga / #marriage(15)

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.

Restart

This is a nope for me. The ML is condescending and the FL is too hung up on a jackass who doesn't love her back. I hoped it would be femdom, since her husband cheated and went to a BDSM club to satisfy masochistic tendencies. But for some reason he's the Dom in their relationship, which makes ZERO sense.

Paused around ch. 31

Lily is the daughter of a wealthy merchant, whose father has a habit of selling her into marriage with aristocrats to boost his business. Her second husband, passed away from illness, has not even been put in the ground before she receives the order to enter into a third marriage. Her groom; A notorious duke and monster on the battlefield. The two get married at lightning speed and she returns home with him to live in bliss and luxury. There's just one problem: He won't show his face to her. ...I don't get it. I don't get this story at all. Does everyone involved have an IQ of 4? I don't understand the premise, I don't understand the character interactions, and I don't understand their thoughts and motivations. To me it makes ZERO sense. Like, why does the duke hide his face? Because he finds it hideous and monstrous. Okay, fine. Fair. I can live with that promise. But then WHY does he say "my face is too monstrous to show her" and then show her multiple times - just while pretending to be someone else. That doesn't make fucking sense! Like what??? If your face is too shocking and hideous to show your wife, that you want to spare her the vision, why does that not apply all of the time? Why only some of it? And what's up with the FL's memory?? Like, she sees his face. The have an intimate moment where she keeps her eyes closed, but opens them despite his orders and sees his face. They do the hanky panky and she wakes up AND THEN SUDDENLY SHE THINKS IT'S A DREAM. But it's not even consistent. She thinks seeing her husband's face was a dream, but then begins to refer to him by the name he told her to in the supposed dream. And she does so in front of others. And it's the correct name. Why does she not realize any of this??? Who mistakes waking moments to be dreams, if they aren't at least inebriated. And the story is full of moments like this where we think: "Oh, she saw his face now. Now that tension is resolved" but then the story backpedals and it wasn't resolved after all. It feels like the author wants to drag out the face-reveal to milk that tension for as long as they can, by tricking the readers into thinking it has been resolved only to reveal that it hasn't been. And the attempt comes off as condescending and nonsensical. I'm already getting a little impatient to know: Has the author even prepared a major storyline? Or is it just going to be a string of minor plotlines with no greater outcome? The only other tension that the story has introduced so far, is a possible jealousy-plotline revolving around Tristan. Which is underwhelming. I could be pleasantly surprised which is why I'll give the story a chance - but I'm not counting on it. 2/5 stars.