The Abandoned Empress

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The villainess sees herself executed in front of a large crowd by the order of the emperor (her husband and the one she loves). However in the next moment after her death, she is back in the past. Monique is sent back into the past because of her brutal memories of her previous life with a prince who was engaged due to their similar age. When Empress grew and looked at the past, she killed her emotions to live as an Empress and remained one emotion, that was sickening affliction. Where in her next life, she made new connections in order to avoid getting executed again…

Associated Names
One entry per line
AB
Abandoned Empress
La emperatriz abandonada
TAB
The Abandoned Imperial Concubine
捨てられた皇妃
버림 받은 황비
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
The Princess Wei Yang (2)
My Fiance is in Love with My Little Sister (2)
Why Are You Doing This, Duke? (2)
The Villainess Reverses the Hourglass (2)
The Rebirth of the Malicious Empress of Military Lineage (1)
The Wolf Lord’s Lady (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. KR Novels with Manhwa (FL Version)
  2. [BXG] villainess isekai novels that got manhwa ada...
  3. Romances coreanos (completos)
  4. Leisure
  5. MLs you love to hate

Latest Release

Date Group Release
03/04/20 Webnovel c12
03/04/20 Webnovel c11
03/04/20 Webnovel c10
03/02/20 Webnovel c9
03/02/20 Webnovel c8
03/02/20 Webnovel c7
02/29/20 Webnovel c6
02/29/20 Webnovel c5
02/29/20 Webnovel c4
02/29/20 Webnovel c3
02/29/20 Webnovel c2
11/01/18 myling novels c1 part1
02/29/20 Webnovel c1
10/27/18 myling novels prologue
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yooyunayoo
yooyunayoo rated it
January 6, 2020
Status: Completed
LONG, DETAILED SPOILERS EXPLAINING WHY SHE ENDED UP WITH THE PRINCE

I know everyone is pissed that Tia ends up with Ruve after he r*ped her, killed her family, her unborn child, and her, but there's a reason for all that.

... more>>
Spoiler

So the background is, Ruve's father, the Emperor, has always been very cold and distant to him, raising him with harsh expectations and no love. The Emperor was actually in love with Tia's mom, Jeremiah. Keiran (Tia's dad) was engaged to be married with another woman (Karsein's mother actually) in a political marriage, but he also fell in love with Jeremiah.

Jeremiah was in love with Keiran, not the Emperor. The only person in the empire who can break off the official engagement between Keiran & Karsein's mom is the emperor, but obviously the emperor wants them to get married so he can hopefully marry Jeremiah. However, Keiran offers to swear an oath of absolute loyalty to the Emperor if he will give up on Jeremiah and allow Keiran to marry Jeremiah by breaking the official engagement.

The Emperor/King is actually a very just, wise man and he realizes he cannot put his own personal feelings ahead of the good of the Empire, so he gives up on his love for Jeremiah and breaks off Keiran's engagement so Keiran can marry Jeremiah and then Jeremiah gives birth to Tia.

Just some background, I'm probably mixing them up (?) but Tia's family is part of the "Aristocrats" (I think) which mainly support the Emperor and on the other side you have the "nobles" or something, which oppose the emperor. The emperor is actually not as powerful as you think, as the noble faction have basically 50% the power of the empire and the Emperor+aristocrats the other 50%. The emperor needs to ensure the aristocrat faction that supports him is unified (there's in-fighting inside both factions), which is why he wanted Keiran to swear an oath of absolute loyalty to him.

Tia has her father's coloring, but looks exactly like Jeremiah, which is why the Emperor (who was in love with Jeremiah), loves her so much and treats her like a daughter. He gives her all the love he has and gives zero love to his son. The reason is because in order to survive as Emperor, you have to be cold, logical, rational, and strong-willed. He does love prince Ruve a lot, but was perhaps misguided.

The aristocrats all have harsh expectations on Ruve to grow up to be intelligent, rational, capable so everyone is always telling him "You need to stop whining, you need to be better". On the other hand, Tia is naturally gifted and smart and everyone always says "Tia is so amazing, we love her so much!" Imagine being a young boy, growing up and seeing how everyone, including your own father, loves Tia so much and nobody gives any love to you at all. Of course he grows to resent Tia.

Only two people ever showed "love" to Ruve, which is Jeremiah and Duke Jenna/Zena (or whatever his name is, the main villain). However, when Jeremiah gets assassinated later on, she happily gives up her life to protect Tia, while ignoring Ruve (who was also in the same room), so Ruve feels betrayed that Jeremiah didn't care about him at all, which I mean, of course this woman will protect her biological daughter over the unrelated prince. Like Jeremiah rushes to Tia and covers Tia with her body, while leaving Ruve to fend for himself against the assassins.

After this, Duke Zena is the only person who shows any "love" to Prince Ruve, which is why he believes anything Zena says. Zena basically tells Ruve that Tia is an unfeeling, incredibly manipulative and intelligent woman who is out to marry him so she can get more power for her household and the aristocrat faction. Thus Ruve hates Tia even more.

Tia, on the other hand, despite being loved by everyone, also has really harsh expectations put on her and she feels she cannot show any weakness, that she must prove herself to be a capable Empress. She actually does have trouble expressing her feelings which is why Zena's whole "she has no feelings" rings true to Ruve. However, through her actions, Tia proves that she cares deeply about the Empire, her household, and even Ruve.

However, one day Ji-Eun magically appears and is denoted the "child of god" and the one who is supposed to be empress. Ji-Eun is basically an average Korean 16 year old girl. Imagine getting thrown into a game of thrones setting at 16. She lost her friends and family and is completely alone in the new world. Zena tells Ji-Eun about all the s**t that goes down and basically says "If you don't manage to get Prince Ruve's support, you will probably get r*ped and killed cause the politics here are deadly". He also tells Ji-Eun "Ruve is desperate for love, so just be happy and smiling and tell him you love him". So Ji-Eun, terrified for her life, does everything she can to seduce Ruve and he falls in love with her because she is "honest" with her feelings and "innocent".

Thus Tia becomes the "abandoned empress" and Ji-Eun the actual empress. Ji-Eun now gets to enjoy a life of luxury and wealth, while Tia does all the official Empress duties as the "Queen". The Empire is thriving and everyone thinks "Life is so good and our Empress is such a wonderful, kind, happy person, while that b***h Tia thinks she's so much better than everyone. She always acting so stuck up."

NOW THE IMPORTANT PART. Zena's plans are in motion and he wants even more power, so he begins to poison Ruve with a psychotropic drug that makes him angry, bipolar, and schizophrenic. He also feeds lies to Ruve and Ruve hears the people+staff... basically everyone saying how Tia is a total smug, superior b***h who is power-hungry and pissed off her plans to get power failed cause Ji-Eun showed up. There are rumors that Tia wants to assassinate Ji-Eun so she can get back the place of Empress.

Ruve confronts Tia and wants her to be honest with him, but she basically thinks "I'm scared of you, I cannot be honest with you" and tells him "you won't believe me anyway" and Ruve goes "So you're basically admitting all the rumors about you are true." Now don't forget he is drugged with those psychotropic drugs, so that's when he r*pes her. And of course, he later pushes her and causes her to miscarry.

He does feel extremely guilty about this, but when Tia finds out she miscarried and can no longer have children (her womb is damaged), she laughs crazily in front of many maids/servants, basically cursing god (Vita) for her life. Zena and the palace staff report that Tia laughed like crazy, saying "I'm so glad I don't have to give birth to that f**ker's baby. Thank god I had a miscarriage". Of course Ruve gets pissed off at this and thinks what kind of monster is happy her baby died. Thus Tia just confirmed all the rumors about her.

Tia's father, Keiran, understands Tia is unhappy and miserable and begs Ruve to take Tia away. He wants to fake her death and have her live quietly in another country. At the same time, Zena fakes an assassination on Ji-Eun and blames Tia for it, but Ruve has some moments of clarity. He thinks "If Tia wants to escape to another country, why would she risk killing Ji-Eun? The only point in killing Ji-Eun is if Tia wants to stay and become Empress."

I'm kind of confused too with the novel/webtoon, but I think there's not enough evidence to tie Tia + Keiran + her house into the assassination attempt, but Ruve & Tia fight and he lies to her that he killed her father, because he wants to hurt her in retaliation for her laughing that their unborn child died. Tia, who was also poisoned by Duke Zena, goes crazy upon hearing her father was killed and stabs Ruve. Of course, now there is enough evidence that Tia committed treason, attempted assassination of the Emperor, so Zena and everyone votes to have her executed. Ruve actually votes against them but is outvoted. He only wants Tia banished to another country. He was actually trying to grant her wish to escape the palace. He was setting her free.

However, Tia is executed and dies thinking Ruve had killed her father and sentenced her to death when none of that actually happened.

Anyway, now that Tia is gone, Ruve continues to get crazier after being poisoned with the drugs, Zena causes unrest in the Empire by continuing to gather more power, and Ji-Eun must now do all of Tia's duties. How can you expect a modern 16-21 year old girl to run an Empire? Ji-Eun makes a ton of dumb decisions and that with all the other crazy going on means the Empire goes to ruins.

All the people that used to praise Ji-Eun and say "Tia is so smug and unlikable" suddenly turn on Ji-Eun. Suddenly everyone says "Ji-Eun is such a dumbass. How can anyone be so dumb? She's probably faking dumb and is actually evil and wants us to all suffer and die. Nobody can be THAT dumb. When Tia was Queen, she was so smart and the Empire was thriving." Basically everyone regretted tr*shing Tia and wished she were still alive and the Empress.

Ji-Eun is devastated that suddenly everyone turned on her and one day Ruve finally tells her, after another dumb decision, "Why are you so dumb? I wish you had died and Tia was Empress". Ji-Eun also gets pregnant at this time and feels so alone and powerless and worried about the future of her baby.

Ruve has figured out at this time that Zena is not his "father figure" but was actually poisoning him and that everything about Tia was a lie. For instance, Ji-Eun keeps saying she loves him but after 5 (?) years together, has no idea what his favorite/disliked foods are, whereas Tia figured it out within a couple of weeks. Tia also took so much pressure off him by handling many Empire matters for him, whereas Ji-Eun actually stresses him out with more work with her dumb decisions. He realizes Tia loved him and showed it through actions, just not words, while Ji-Eun's words were empty and hollow and betrayed by her careless actions.

Ruve also realizes that he is dead soon, especially if Ji-Eun gives birth to a son, since Zena will kill him and then assume the role of "regent", while raising and brainwashing the baby who will one day inherit the empire. Ruve has a way to save his life by killing Ji-Eun and he considers it, but realizes that killing her + the unborn child will be doing the same thing to her what he did to Tia, something he regrets with all his heart. And in case you forgot, he actually wanted to save her life and send her away from the empire, just Zena + the nobles were too powerful and ordered Tia executed. I think the webtoon actually portrayed this badly since they showed Ruve kind of with a superior/unfeeling look on his face while she was executed, when in reality he wanted to spare her.

So he instead realizes he's lost and Zena will now take over the Empire, so he gives up on being Emperor and tries to run away, but Zena gets wind of this and sends soldiers to assassinate Ruve. Ruve falls down a cliff and as he lies dying, he gazes up at the moon (the king is the sun and the moon symbolizes the queen/empress) and he thinks the moon is Tia and basically begs her for forgiveness and thinks death is not so bad since he will be reunited with Tia.

This is all background and Tia gets sent back in time, of course.

SECOND TIMELINE

This time, Tia realizes she should be more "open" with her feelings and she's not actually alone, there's so many people who support her and love her. Don't forget she also thought her father was somewhat "unfeeling" but realized he risked his life and household to make her happy. He begged Ruve to fake her death and let her live quietly in another country, showing how much he actually loved her.

Thus 2nd timeline (2TL) Tia shows her emotions more and Ruve, seeing Tia showing all these emotions and laughing with Karsein + Allen, realizes she is not unfeeling and cold. Also, don't forget that Tia inheriting her household makes it impossible for her to become Empress (due to some rules and stuff), so how can Tia be power-hungry and out to manipulate him, Ruve, when she appears to want to break off the engagement? Thus 2nd timeline (2TL) Ruve realizes a lot of what Zena said about Tia was a lie.

Oh, and BIG SPOILER ABOUT ALLEN, but Allen, despite being much more capable than his brother, is passed over in favor of his older brother. Allen wants to inherit the household, thinking he is better than his brother, but the parents think it's unfair, since the oldest son is supposed to inherit. Even though Allen is definitely better, the oldest son is capable still. Allen thinks this means his parents don't really love him and he gets driven to Zena's side as a spy.

Allen also is sociopathic and possessive of Tia. At one point, he considers killing her father, Keiran, because Keiran sees through Allen's true nature. He also kind of has an erot*c daydream about strangling Tia to death so she will always be his. His other plot is to kidnap Tia and keep her locked up in a secret house forever, so she will belong to him only.

However, he does have a moment of clarity where he realizes he is f**ked up in the head and he double-crosses Zena to the current Emperor, who sends Allen away to another country, but thanks him for realizing the error of his ways.

So Allen did love Tia enough to realize his love for her was messed up and psychotic. He willingly went away to protect Tia from himself.

Ruve falls in love with Tia because of how expressive and lively she is in the second timeline, and also because, if you've forgotten, he loved Jeremiah (Tia's mother) because only Jeremiah + Zena ever showed him love +affection, and Tia resembles Jeremiah.

After Ruve died in the first timeline, Ji-Eun gives birth to a girl, who cannot inherit the throne and with Ruve dead, it means the royal lineage is broken. Zena can now over take the throne legally, so he decides to kill Ji-Eun and stabs her and her baby daughter to death.

Ji-Eun b****es to god/Vita about how unfair her life was and Vita (God) offers Ji-Eun a choice. She can send Ji-Eun back to modern day Korea with her memories completely erased, or she can send Ji-Eun back to the moment she arrived in the Abandoned Empress world with her memories intact.

Ji-Eun does miss Korea + her family, but don't forget this choice came literally 10 seconds after she got stabbed in the stomach by her "friend" Duke Zena. Ji-Eun hates Ruve for abandoning her ("I wish Tia was alive and you were dead instead"), hates Zena for manipulating and killing her, and most of all, hates that Tia took everyone's love even in death. Remember, after the Empire started to crumble, the people and Ruve all said they regretted how they treated Tia and wished she was the Empress and said Ji-Eun was dumb tr*sh.

Ji-Eun also thinks if she runs away to Korea with her memories erased, it means admitting to herself she lost to Tia, that she is and will always be inferior to Tia. She thinks if she actually works hard she can match Tia and become a powerful empress who can take revenge on Prince Ruve + Duke Zena. Thus in her anger and pride, she chooses to relive a second life instead of going back home to Korea.

When Ji-Eun arrives this time, she does everything she can to seduce Ruve because she wants to make him fall in love with her so she can then toss him aside and destroy him, the Empire, and Zena.

But at this point Ruve only loves Tia and none of Ji-Eun's attempts work. So she instead asks Zena to adopt her, so she can have the aristocrat backing and become Empress. Her second goal, of course, is to spy on Zena and find out his weakness so she can kill him.

Zena though is smart and while he wants to manipulate Ji-Eun and make her Empress, doesn't trust Ji-Eun at all. By the way, Ji-Eun has a special power where she can heal flowers/plants, just not humans. Tia's power from God is that she can hear Vita's voice/holy messages, just like some priests can.

Anyway, yada yada, s**t happens and then one day Tia gets stabbed and almost dies, but Ji-Eun who finally realizes that neither Ruve nor Tia are the true villains, begs God to save Tia's life and Vita/God tells Ji-Eun she can save Tia by giving up her magical powers and losing her status as a "child of god". Ji-Eun willingly does so and Tia's life is saved.

Ji-Eun works with Ruve + Tia to bring down Zena and Zena does get judged for his crimes and his whole household is beheaded and killed.

Ji-Eun saw herself as a protagonist in an isekai novel, thinking that she was the main character and Tia was the villainess out to steal her position and love, but realized in the end, she was actually the villainess. This is why she saves Tia's life, because she wants redemption. She also regrets so much not taking Vita/God's offer to go back to Korea with her memories erased.

Ruve and everyone else in the Empire wants to kill Ji-Eun, since she is a co-conspirator and Zena's adopted daughter, but Tia begs them for mercy, however, Tia is overruled, just like first timeline Ruve was overruled when he asked for clemency for Tia.

Tia visits Ji-Eun in prison and asks why Ji-Eun hated her so much and why Ji-Eun decided to save her. Ji-Eun tells Tia "I was supposed to be the protagonist, I was supposed to be loved and have a happily ever after, but even in death you stole that from me. Ruve & the people told me they loved you more and that I was useless tr*sh. You have everything that I don't have."

At this point Tia gets pissed and goes "WTF. Ruve + the people executed me and treated me like tr*sh for years. How can you be jealous of me?"

At this point Ji-Eun goes "Be honest, you looked down on me."

And Tia does admit she looked down on Ji-Eun as being dumb and incompetent and was upset that Ruve + the people loved her despite Ji-Eun being a dumb Empress.

The girls both find it ironic they envied the other.

At this point Tia gives Ji-Eun an option, which Ruve agreed to. She gives Ji-Eun two bottles, one with real poison and one with a Romeo+Juliet poison that will fake death. Ji-Eun can choose to die or she can be smuggled away to another country and live there quietly for the rest of her life.

Tia tells Ji-Eun "this is your choice" and then walks away and you never find out what choice Ji-Eun chose but in side stories I think it says she chose to live.

Tia & Ruve get married and have 2 daughters + 1 son. The daughter inherits the Marquess household while the son becomes the greatest Emperor in the history of the Empire.

Vita had originally said the "blessed child of god" would bring eternal happiness to the empire, but in the first timeline, the empire crumbled due to Zena and everyone (including Zena) lost. In the second timeline, they all lived happily ever after, except Zena + ji-Eun. Since Ji-Eun gave up her powers, Tia is the only "child of god" in the second timeline. Also, Ji-Eun eventually comes to peace with her life and lives a quiet, but fulfilled life as an ordinary person in another country. Kind of bittersweet she never got to see her Korea family again, but that was her choice and she has to live with it.

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AbyssalDaemon
AbyssalDaemon rated it
March 24, 2019
Status: --
Aristia is a interesting character. Unfortunately the author seems determined to pair her up with her future rapist and the person who ordered her death, while handwaving how much of a complete ass the ML has been.
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evilluvr
evilluvr rated it
July 18, 2019
Status: --
This novel made me so angry I made an account just so I could give it 1 star. The ML can repent his whole entire second life and I will never, ever forgive him for what he did to the protagonist during their first life. I can't believe she didn't even try to get revenge, he literally ruined everything for her over the pettiest jealousy on earth (don't believe people who said he actually had complex and deep reasons) and she ... more>>
Spoiler

still forgives him and falls in love with him at the end?

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Don't make me laugh. Even a rat has more self respect. <<less
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Mis Occ
Mis Occ rated it
April 17, 2020
Status: --
The way the author made the MC, the girl who had suffered more than anyone back to the start without giving her the carefree life she deserved is lowkey victim shaming/blaming the MC when she was not at fault.

ALSO, ... more>>
Spoiler

how is anyone supposed to be ok with her relationship with tr*sh prince when she's literally going to end up with her would-be r*pist and have a constant trigger to her PTSD?? PTSD isn't curable, so WTF!?

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The way the author deliberately made the second ML a pyscho so she could rightfully ship her with the tr*sh prince is disgusting.
Last but not the least reason why his novel is sh*t and author is dumb,

Spoiler

Let's forgive rapists/killers/kidnappers/abusers because they were under drug effects. This completely nullifies their bad actions. Poor babies, they weren't in their right mind! They are just MiSUndeRstOOd. It was that bad bad drug's fault, they didn't mean to completely ruin someone else's life so everything is okay. Tomorrow I'm planning to do cocaine and maybe rob a bank, they will forgive me because you know, drugs.

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I can't believe I wasted time reading this bullsh*t. <<less
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Dimension Breaker
Dimension Breaker rated it
March 27, 2020
Status: --
*READ THE NOVEL AT YOUR OWN RISK*

The Author seems rather ignorant in human psychology, sad.

NO catharsis from all the sh*t MC went thru.

... more>> All those 5 stars reviews are misleading and full of sophistry.

MC has little to no self-respect.

Final thoughts:

- Male (Monster) lead is irredeemable after the first 6 chapters - if that was to be avoided, the writer needed to consider taking things down a notch. Instead we went with full rapist and mu*derer lead and that just isn't gonna cut it... and by it I don't mean the Idiot Lead's head because he definitely gone and do that! Likely only redeeming quality: putting Idiot Lead out of her misery.
- Female (Idiot) lead is an idiot; talks to literal God and says she doesn't believe in God anymore after she returned 7 f*cking years in the past with said God's help. That's gratitude for you! Also entertains thoughts of letting her rapist come back inside for a drink when most women in that position would be on the side doing the penetrating... with a sword... that she took up supposedly so she doesn't marry the Monster... so I don't know what the f*ck is wrong with her.
- Writing is ban*l and cliche; there are dozens of other manhwa out there with better written leads and plots... also less r*pe.
- Characterization is... well read the first 2 points above to tell you about the 2 main characters and you'll get a feel about it: muddied, disjointed, unbelievable and aggressively offensive for anyone with the capacity of seeing the characters' actions in perspective
- Message, as I mentioned, is literally "live your life to be this man's wife, get betrayed, r*ped, used and abused, lose your father and your mind because of him and when you have a chance to escape all of that, try giving him another shot because he's a changed man and surely he won't do the same things again" -- I cannot stress this enough but this is the classic and most basic abuse victim mentality that leads to IRL deaths! This may be a fantasy story but this is not something that should be put into anyone's mind! It's f*ckING TOXIC and honestly disgusting.

It's honestly funny how I have read other works where the characters were written to be the most vile and disgusting ones possible, even the main ones, and yet this is one of the few who has garnered such hate from me and most definitely the one who garnered it in the shortest amount of time. Author needs to stop fantasizing about abuse and how "everyone can change" and understand that while that is true and people can change, that doesn't mean they shouldn't suffer some consequences for it. Monster Lead might be an alternate universe version of the one who did those horrendous actions, but the fact that Idiot Lead barely even seems to care about it after living through, dying and then having God intervene on her behalf to give her a second chance is the gravest problem of all.

In perspective: this means that everything the Idiot Lead went through was ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY in order for her to go back and put into effect the chain of events that would "redeem" the a**hole.

That's not redemption for the Male Lead; it's just damnation for the work itself.

Do not bother! <<less
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Itachi_is_god
Itachi_is_god
August 8, 2017
Status: v1c10
So this is a really interesting plot with a dark setting. The MC is executed and finds herself age 10 again, basically before she married that disgusting waste of space prince. There isn't much plot development in the first three chapters, with it just giving readers a recap on how the situation led up to her death and eventual time travel. From the summary alone readers can easily understand that this won't be the happiest ride to get on. And this is just a spoiler for anyone sensitive r*pe situations.... more>> It doesn't say it in the tags, but there will be r*pe scenes in the third three chapters, so if you absolutely hate novels with scenes like that I suggest you not read this.

And this is just a spoiler for anyone sensitive to r*pe situations.
Spoiler

It doesn't say it in the tags, but there will be r*pe scenes in the third three chapters, so if you absolutely hate novels with scenes like that I suggest you not read this.

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Continuing on, the prince is extremely s*upid and annoying. Despite "falling in love" with the classic Asian girl from another world (a.k.a. Our reality) he still marries his fiance from birth, the MC, as the second wife. Now, this is where things get complicated (not that it wasn't before)
Spoiler

He basically treats the MC like sh*t and forces her to take the work load of the Empress despite her not being the Empress (d*ck move). Whenever Gina (the girl from another world) cries he always interprets it as the MC's fault and punishes her by slapping her or physically assaulting her. Basically, he's an absolute d*ck who has done a lot of heinous crimes against the MC. (I hope he dies in a fire). So when the MC goes back in time, she does her very best to prepare for the future and get out of the ridiculous engagement. The problem is that she formed a trauma from her past experience with the prince and, now, whenever she is in close proximity to him she freezes up and can't verbally say anything. This gives the s*upid prince the impression that she's arrogant and cold, leading him to hate her even more.

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Quite frankly the entire situation is really s*upid and I hope the MC gets out of the engagement with the prince and finds a real man who isn't an absolute moron. I do NOT want a reconciliation between the two because what the prince did in the previous life was unforgivable. I don't care if his "past crimes belonged to another him" and that he's technically "innocent of the crimes" he should suffer a hundred lifetimes for his s*upid actions. Basically, I hope the prince burns in a fire and isn't the ML in this story.

As for advice on reading this novel, I find it interesting and I do recommend you try it and form your own opinions on the story. So far they haven't uploaded much with it only reaching one entire chapter and the start of a second chapter. If you don't really want to wait for a long time for this story to finish being translated, I wouldn't recommend reading this. <<less
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Nivi
Nivi rated it
April 19, 2020
Status: --
Okay, I'm here to rage.

This story started off pretty good. It didn't deviate much from the cliche, but it was still entertaining. I liked the main character, Aristia, because she's smart, decisive, and determined. I also love that she becomes a knight and breaks free from the stereotypical isekai protagonist role. Which is why I think she definitely did NOT deserve the ending that she got.

That's right, I'm talking about who she ends up with in the end. However, I'm not mad for the reason that most other people are--I'm... more>> not mad because he's a shitty person. I'm mad because he's f*ckING BORING.

Spoiler

As you've probably read, a lot of people are frustrated that she ends up with Ruve, who repeatedly mistreated Aristia for all the wrong reasons, and even went on to r*pe her and kill her and her unborn child. Yes, she led an absolutely miserable life with an absolutely miserable ending, thanks to him. And yes, this is absolutely his fault. People try to justify it with "But he was drugged!" or "He was not in the right state of mind!" but in the end the blame partially falls on him and there is no denying that.

However, that isn't what I'm mad about, because that was a previous timeline. The Ruve in this timeline is different, because he hasn't experienced the same things. He doesn't have any memories of the previous life, so it's unfair to judge him based on what he did before. He turned out to be a rapist and a mu*derer due to the lies and deceit he was fed for years, not to mention depression and a serious inferiority complex. Again, I'm not justifying his past actions--he was a f*cking TERRIBLE person and no one should have to go through what Aristia did. I'm just saying the Ruve of this timeline didn't go through the same things, so he's not the same Ruve as before.

So, we have to look at Ruve objectively based on the second timeline--the one we're currently in.

But EVEN when we examine him as a person in the second timeline, he's a terrible male lead. Not a terrible person, but a terrible male lead. He does nothing worthwhile throughout the entire novel. He has no defining personality traits other than... being in love with the MC? That's like the only thing we know about his character. Yeah, he is the most GENERIC character ever written, almost like a "template" male lead. I just don't understand. Why is literally every other character in this novel more fleshed out than the MAIN LEAD?

Allendis has his possessive yandere thing going on, and this is elaborated on and his motives are explained in the novel. The reader may or may not even sympathize with him. But we learn about his personality and how he grew to love Aristia, so he feels genuine.

Carsein is bright, determined, and energetic. He's supportive of Aristia and while he doesn't really get much "screen time", so to speak, most readers still absolutely adore him because of his loveable personality. In fact, if you look at the comments section of the manga, it looks like around 99% of the readers want him to be endgame.

Now what does Ruve have? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. I'm so frustrated because he's the one who is talked about the most, has the most history with Aristia, and is literally the MALE LEAD and yet he is the most BLAND and UNINTERESTING character in the series.

So, to all Ruve supporters who gave this series a high rating, tell me: would you still want Aristia to end up with him if he wasn't the future emperor? LOL. No. Admit it, that's the only thing he's got going for him--being an attractive prince.

[collapse]

I'm just... so disappointed. Like please, Aristia is a great female lead and she can definitely do better than THIS guy. I'm also kind of disappointed in myself for reading this far, as it was very obvious how this would end all along. I don't know what I was expecting.

Another thing I need to complain about is the "Child of God" bullsh*t and her weird ass "powers" that weren't even really used in the novel. So, why was adding that even necessary? I think Aristia would have actually been a more compelling MC without all that special snowflake bullshit. It didn't even add anything to the plot or the story, and it just felt like an incredibly s*upid deus ex machina. <<less
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Cle
Cle rated it
September 22, 2019
Status: --
I was really enjoying this until the author pulled a 180 on us, the readers. Not only am I devastated about this, but I'm also quite livid as well.

... more>>
Spoiler

After all that the MC had been through, the author goes and pushes the least favorite ship, MC and Prince, together. Why give the MC a second rerun of her life when everything's gonna end up the same way. It's absolutely ridiculous! Like for godsake, he r*ped her, killed her unborn baby, humiliated her, and killed her in the first life. Don't give that BS excuse saying, "Oh it's gonna be different since this is a different life." He hated her freaking guts since day one. Another excuse that people use is, him not having a mother and his father not caring about him, also everyone around him always praising MC. That doesn't give him the right nor justify all the f*cked up sh*t he did to her. Dude's a psychopath. The author's seriously messed up to put her together with her former rapist. I was hoping for her to become the knight she dreamt of being in the story, but I guess that ain't happening.

[collapse]

All the plot, development, characters wasted.

Don't read this unless you want to waste your time.

I had really liked this at first, but after I found out the ending...I'm gonna have to say nah. 10/10 at the beginning, but 1/10 at the end. <<less
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Q9744
Q9744 rated it
April 20, 2020
Status: --
I suggest other novels.
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akera93
akera93 rated it
December 30, 2019
Status: --
The story is a waste of time if you're looking for a story where the character has a better second chance at life and fully utilizes their first life knowledge and skills.

She isn't completely dumb but she is, in my opinion, as useless naive and emotion-driven as her first life. She learned nothing and even when she kept rejecting to be the empress, it never felt like a firm stand on her part. Her character is wishy washy without depth. The emperor was an as*hole in her first life but... more>> suddenly isn't in her second one (?)

Take my advice and don't read this unless you want to torture yourself. Not worth it <<less
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Pakhi
Pakhi rated it
April 15, 2020
Status: Completed
First.... sorry for my bad English...

Now.. this novel is a piece of sh*t... the male lead is a piece of sh*t... villains are piece of sh*t.. that isekai girl is a piece of sh*t... and even the female lead is also a piece of sh*t cause she chose the as*h*le male lead...

And seriously I am really amazed by the mentality of the Male lead's supporters ?...
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rosie.rose
rosie.rose rated it
March 21, 2020
Status: --
I'm scared of the male lead and his fans after reading spoilers. The reason why he treats her badly in timeline 1 and in the start of timeline 2 is because he's jealous of her. Everyone praised her because of her beauty and intelligence, besides her mother run to her to save her only daughter from assasins. He could not accept it so he disliked her though he loved her. It's weird! His fans said I should forgive him because he was 10-year-old child. Excuse me, you are whitewashing a... more>> villain who caused her trauma. At least I know where he comes from so I can't accept him. People in the empire pay for their sins except him. I found it odd, frightened that he has fans and they says he's harmless, handsome. <<less
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sweetmel
sweetmel rated it
June 14, 2019
Status: --
A lot of people seemed to have read spoilers first or after reading the first 2 chapters, because they make it seem as though this story is a shallow one where the MC is an idiot and the ML is a jerk both in the first and second lives.

This is not a shallow story. Although the MC does end up with the ML who treated her badly, it's after a lot of plot and a looong time. For reference, the MC has PTSD and is terrified of the ML in... more>> the beginning, and for the most part lives her life trying to avoid him and is happy with other people she has become friends with. (At 60 manwha chapters she's interacted with him like 5 times, all of which were 1-2 chapters) The PTSD slowly changes, and from what I've heard the ML learns about what he did and there is an entire arc of him regretting, plus the psychology of the ML is pretty interesting and complex and while it doesn't really excuse him for what he did, he also wasn't a jerk in his first life just because he was spoiled or born like that.

Granted, this I don't know Korean and I haven't read the novel, and have only read up to the translated manwha, which as of this review is ~Ch. 60, but I have gotten spoilers from other people.

Plot 9/10 - The base plot isn't overwhelmingly outstanding or anything, as I have seen the "my first life was terrible, and since I have a second chance I'll make it better." But there is a lot of other things that make it interesting and while super complex, is intricate enough to keep the reader interested and is realistic

Spoiler
  • The MC has PTSD after her first life and is frozen in fear first time meeting the prince in 2nd life, which I don't see often
  • The first person the MC talks about her first life to doesn't believe her, which is heartbreaking for the readers but realistically makes sense. Additionally, the problem isn't solved immediately and the two reconcile slowly, over a matter of years and a lot of letter exchanging
  • MC struggles with herself, as she aims to become the heiress of her family and become a swordswoman. However, she has a weak body, and is constantly pushing herself to learn the sword quickly as time feels short to her and various events with the prince that she is now scared of are approaching
  • Other events that I can't describe in detail as they have yet to appear in the manhwa and I've only heard spoilers, but there is a lot of plot
[collapse]

Character development: 10/10 There are characters beyond the scope of the MC and ML, and all of the characters are incredibly well developed. Throughout the story hints are given as the character backgrounds, and you can understand how a character grew up and why they are the people they are now. The spoiler explains the psychology of 3 male characters, including the ML, who appear frequently and are important to the story.

Spoiler
  • Ruve, the ML. (First life) He has always been compared to the MC since childhood and dislikes her to a small extent because of this. He later grows to hate her because her priority is responsibility and she never acts selfish, so that she seems cold and inhuman. Another major fact is that Ruve was extremely close to MC's mother and was there when she died. The MC doesn't really remember her mother, but Ruve thought she just didn't care. Basically, he thought she was cold, unfeeling, inhumane, and even ruthless. (Second life) because MC has PTSD, she is terrified stiff when she meets Ruve and because of this, the initial dislike due to comparison turns to curiosity, and you can see how he changes from first meeting to other meetings, and how he cares about her more as time goes on.
  • Allendis (my personal fave) - He is also a noble kid and approaches MC first, and is kind, cute, sweet, funny, and really caring to Tia. He cherishes her a lot. However, it is implied that this is only towards her, and that to others he is cold, or even aggressive. Hints show that Allendis grew up in a bad environment, where his father considered him a tool and typically disregarded him, and his mother cared more about his brother. It can be assumed that as a child, he tried hard to get his parents attention, including misbehaving, and now has a cynical view. The MC is the first who genuinely cares about him and now is his emotional base, and the amount he cares for her can easily become dangerous. (The MC is not a Mary Sue though)
  • Carsein - he meets her later on, and is a cheerful, pure boy who is a bit spoiled. Their first meeting is cute, but he treats her badly after realizing she is Ruve's fiance. They become friends later though, and she makes him less spoiled, I guess I'd say? And teases him a lot. His background isn't nearly as complex, but definitely shows how people grow up depending on their environment. He is the 2nd son of a loving noble family, hence why he is a bit spoiled and is probably cheerful partly to the fact that it is a family of knights so he does sports and may be friends with various knights. It's not a politics heavy family, so he grows up to be more honest.
[collapse]

Please give the story a chance whether it's the novel or manhwa because it is really interesting and well-written, and time is taken to develop the story and characters. <<less
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Asyr
Asyr rated it
June 24, 2020
Status: c111
Try another novel.

If you want to read relatable and acceptable developments - Do skip it. It's a absolute waste with no recycling value. DON'T READ.

... more>>
Spoiler

At the beginning (chapter 1), I thought this plot has lot of potential to become a ground breaking badass dark novel, because of its 'cold and cruel' start, but soon, my hopes were lost in the abyss of oblivion, since MC was too innocent and pure.......

Then,

Allendis - a calm, clever...... more of an adult than a kid, came to picture. Most importantly MC actively did something to avoid her previous timeline. So, I thought, OKAY, may a beautiful love story appear and leave that ruve sh*t to die on his own.

What happened next, Author made a turn again and introduced a noisy yet like able kid into the mix - Hmm, so a love triangle?!.... Or Political mix?! Bcoz of it... Its going to be Interesting!........ Even if not revenge, we might able to see a strong MC, who doesn't freeze to a doll, just by seeing that shithead prince......

What happened later, Author made another turn and I got goose bump - When that Shithead Ruve also entered the mix !!.

Only because he is a Prince and has pretty face...... Even after knowing his shithead, MC is falling for him - Again!!!

- What the **** to say, SHE is supposed to have PTSD. She got abused, lost her baby, her dignity, her father, even herself - everything......... she lost everything she held dear bcoz of that shithead, even now she froze to a doll on their meeting and yet she considered him as a kind and caring person?! and missing him when not around!?

- What kind of development is that!?..... How in the hell that is possible - especially when she still has her trauma....... I know its

fiction, but this is way too much.....!

- on this point, I'm done!...... I lost my favour, on the novel.

But still I went out of my way to read some future chapters with a hope that - this novel can't be that s*upid..... After all, it gave such a grand entry right??

What happened...... I was left flaring up....!

That shithead PRINCE is the ML and HE was actually a VICTIM in past life!!!!

TIA'S DEATH:

All those horrible things in previous life happened, because

    1. Lack of communication and misunderstanding....... - IS everyone's brain development stopped at the age of 10? They are too dumb and couldn't even see what openly laid in front of them..... How can people like this govern a country? Or Every single one in the palace sided with the duke?!
    2. Drugs...... - No one knows, that Zenashoes is drugging the Emperor. WOW, What a miracle! - both at none noticing it and for the drug's incredible effectiveness.
      - Better say it was a mysterious magic, which allowed memory alteration or total mind control or ML's body is possessed by someone else and that 'sh*t to the core' person did everything to FL, not ML. Even this far fetched idea is only somewhat creditable, as this shithead is the Prince of a country and not a random guy who we see in crowds........

That shithead (aka Prince Ruve) has nothing but sh*t in place of brain. Apart from his pretty face and Crown Prince/ Emperor status...... He is a totally worthless piece of tr*sh. Justifying his straight forward abuse towards FL, while she is the one doing all the f**king work.... Doesn't sit well.

For a decent character, that trait doesn't sit well.

Cheating is a bad thing and 'cheating' while promising, "you are my one and only love" to Ju-ien, and r*ping MC is - if not a outright tr*shy character, then I don't know what is.

For those people who argues it isn't r*pe as FL accepted it - the Hell fellas! she just surrendered to her circumstance, she didn't accept it neither like it. There is huge difference between "surrendering" and "accepting" snu-snu, when you don't want it but your partner wants it.....

Here Author says: He did all the above because he was heavy drugged and got tricked by that duke. He is not a insane and cruel person. Actually he is a Good person!!

- With all due respect, his action lead to the baby's ultimate death and yet, What! Its all FL's fault. He didn't even visit her once while knowing her pregnancy & he never checked on her health. Only once, he called FL and made a miscarriage - That Cursed shit. And yet, the one at fault is FL, bcoz she is a cold hearted, crazy, power hungry b*tch....

To be Noted, This is his opinion about FL at this point and later Author conveyed that - Tia was executed, because everything went out of his control.

In fact, Ruvesh*t wants to save Tia by all means, but couldn't be helped,..... He was helpless and blah blah.......

-He asked the MC, the Queen, to plea head on ground in open court, when others present and went further to order her to lick his boot, if she wants her father alive, While knowing all well about her "Empress upbringing" and when she did all these humiliating things, he said those heartless words that her father was already executed! - He is the sole reason for FL death, no one else but him. Solely because of the shit, FL got executed....

***Blaming all of it on drugs and tricks........... is nothing but worst writing, especially when we are dealing with something on 'national scale'........***

AFTER TIA'S DEATH:

This is one of the ridiculous jump shifting development I ever came across.

  1. Jiuen Death:

After FL's execution, when Tia is no more - Ruvesh*t was like

"Oh God, Juien, You are tr*sh compared to Tia, You worthless piece of shit"

and

the cycle re-started.

What happened to the supposed "love of life"?

Where is the supposed God - who favored Jiuen?

If IT wanted to save its blessed child Or to create a "Golden Age"- All it needed was to simply send a oracle - "Zenashoe is Bad, Beware" - YET that never happened!

- Worst plot hole I have ever seen....... And this hole can't be covered up, because if do, this novel won't even be one-fifth of it's current size..... In other words, only one-fifth of it's content has meaning behind it and rest don't.....

What's more funny is, after Juien faced a pitiful death, that crazysh*t Vita made a elegant and beautiful appearance before her and asked "what she wanted to do next?" as she is the blessed child....... Where IT went when it's supposed Blessed child was preyed? On during the ruin of it Golden Era?

-I think, the supposed God Vita is either ridiculing Juien Or US, the readers.......

- And Just think of it from Ju-ien's prespective - You were kidnapped all sudden and could never meet your caring family & beloved ever again, thrown into an unknown world filled with bloodthirsty wolves - where you got preyed, abused, humiliated, suffered like hell and at the end met a pitiful death! and Now the Perpetrator, Who used YOU (without your consent) for ITs ambition, who spoiled your life to core, is in front of you! - What will you do.........

2. Ruve's Death:

At the pinnacle of it - before Ruve-sh*t died, he recalled Tia to his core and accepted his wrongdoing and "loved/missed" her - what is this - fan service!?......

Here Author was like, that drug is no more, as such that shithead returned normal - Hooray! Come on, Everyone now UNDERSTAND, past ML is a good person too and he is a Helpless Victim! And blah blah........

TIA's SECOND LIFE:

MC must be seen as a pure and innocent child at beginning but as plot progress - you will come realize that she is the epitome of s*upidity or along the line.

She is "Okay and Alright" with everything

Ruvesh*t did to her - including killing her baby, her father, her self-esteem, her dignity and her........

- He took away everything she held dear and yet how she overcome the "revenge" instincts ?.

I do accept she is a young girl at both life and had a strong love for Prince in her first life - but why she has no grudge against Ruveshit's straight forward abuse? - never came to picture and completely forgotten throughout the end.

It should be noted that, it is a teenager grudge and most unforgettable one as it cost her everything yet, Author was like - Who Cares?

BTW, Tia is supposed to be a "well trained and reliable" Empress who was taught to judge and rule the Empire from earlier age......

YET...How the novel portrayed her..... She should NOT be a pushover at any case......

A pushover Queen, could never rule a country properly.

Ruling a nation and a house (a family with parent and children).... is entirely different. A Pushover wife might able to create a lovable and prosperous future for her family if she is competent in other field, but a pushover Queen could never do that, no matter how good she is in other fields..... She will fail miserably and make her country suffer - that is the real world... yet.... This novel... what to say.......

And also, MOST IMPORTANTLY, In the new life, She froze a couple of times and right on the next meeting she was ready to have the "maiden in love" effects- blushing at him, thinking warmly about him, missing him?!

- what is this ? How in a 'sane mind' this development could happen ?!??.....

-Does Tia have loose screws in her head?.....

And after a little passage of time, She ACCEPTED him, as the shithead in previous life was -

"What? that is previous life!. Not this one, Okay. So I love him again, even when I still have the trauma!! hahahaaa"

Is she sane, Is this novel sane...... I wonder.

[collapse]

For a plot that supposed to run around PTSD and emotional growth - this was filled with so many plot jumps, many key developments were turned a blind eye....... And dragged long and long with superficial content.

It's world setting, characters, character development, plot - makes less and less sense if we use some common sense..... and you will be forced to realize that, this empire, an independent nation with a 1000 yrs long history, has no pillar to support it existence and is doomed to collapse like a card house, if not for plot armors.

If you are looking for plot with emotional growth and redemption arc - this novel will present you a dog sh*t wrapped in cat sh*t decorated with bullshit........ So, Be CAUTIOUS.

And I should note that, the manhwa artists did a good job. Their artwork is really nice. If it were to have moderate plot I might have followed them till end - Alas..... <<less
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Sora-chi
Sora-chi rated it
August 20, 2019
Status: --
The best novel that went and sweep, everything that had been done to the heroine, under the rug. Seriouly, the very f*cking best novel that exist. The manhwa had a chapter longer than the novel and at first it was entertaining before someone actually spoiled the ending pair (which make this a whole lot more enjoyable). It was your very best cliché ending folks! ;) Pretty sure ya know what I mean.

Annnnnnd the best of all, like I said previously, they sweep every damnable thing that happened to the... more>> heroine... Somewhere one earth, I guess? Trying to justify it happened in the past, the author did. And tryin so hard to make the ML likeable after those very much like a damn gentlemanly thing he did to the heroine! :D

Whew, tough novel this one is! There's is only one so far that is a very much normal compared to the other 3 target this author showed. Honest to lord, there is one!

So, to those who wanna read this, proceed at your own risk because, whew, this piss me off more than... (no words could describe it). Though, I could assure YOU that ya would be having a blast with ya smartphone or laptop whole reading this ;) Honest! (Though ya wallet gonna suffer afterward). <<less
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Vekawa
Vekawa rated it
July 5, 2020
Status: --
*Sigh*

I'll just give up.

Most (if not all) of the characters are so... Argh

... more>> I felt bad for Tia and tried to side with her but I just can't help but feel like she's just... Naive? Lacks self-respect? Too... "Pure" (which, in this case, I just see as s*upidity) ?

I'm not saying THESE characteristics are completely wrong or bad, but IN THIS STORY?! Argh!!!

I couldn't see the "strong, beautiful and determinated" MC that some people talked about. I never felt she was like that at all. She really annoyed me (the saddest is that I really liked her at the beginning... not even I know when, but my vision of her got worse and worse as I read).

Simply, I can't go on. Liked it sooooooo much at first, but the MC frustrates me to the point where I don't even care about her AT ALL.

I'm just done with that. I feel completely dissatisfied, I can't feel any kind of pleasure while I'm reading this story.

If you came here waiting for a strong, mature, badass female lead like I did... You're in the wrong place.

***I know there are "reasons" for everything that happened, but it's a no for me (the drug thing don't make him 100% innocent, and in the 2nd life he's just boring and annoying to me). As I said:I can't stand Tia anymore. SHE is the main reason I'm dropping. Completely disappointed. <<less
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softi
softi rated it
July 19, 2020
Status: c94
I'm getting some of my opinions from spoilers I received, I stopped around when it was going in a direction I liked and I didn't want to see it ruined for me. Stale ML who the author makes unredeemable before redeeming, FL who seems to regress in her development, Extremely Misleading, Good at First, Shitty at the End, it hurts to watch the good deteriorate.

Below this contains some spoilers.

Alright, first impressions. When you walk into this mess you will see Tia, which is an estranged version of her name that... more>> I will further call T, basically showcasing her truly horrible life. She married a guy who hated her, worked her ass off to take care of his kingdom for him, diluted herself into thinking that she loved him, married another woman and completely ignored T after, verbally abused her, r*ped her (which I will further get into), caused even if not deliberately the miscarriage of her unborn child, did not visit her for months after the said miscarriage, forced her to bow to him, celebrating the child of his other wife when he did zip sh*t for her, told her that her father died, and let her be executed publically. Now that's a laundry list of sh*t right?

So you walk into this all hyped up once she gets her new life and starts rejecting her old one. You like this Tia, you can see how hard she works to try and be a knight, her struggles, and new friends that you start to see as potential love interests. One is a yandere whilst the other is a sort of tsundere that likes swordsmanship. You think: Alright! I can go for this. Working for what you want and going against the prophecy and the people that hated you in your past life sounds like an awesome way for a passive character to become active and break out of her cycle of pain. An abuse victim moving past her trauma whilst dealing with its lasting effects on her.

You see it too, how T shows signs of PTSD when having episodes, nightmares, and blanking moments around and about her ex-husband, Prince Ruve (R), who you already have a massive destain for since he does feel jealously towards T, which lead to him wronging her so badly in the first timeline, right? You feel honestly bad for her and know what she has gone through and the memories she has with him. You can even see her mixing the two in her mind and her trying to run from the trauma and you support that and want her to be happy with a husband who will care for her and give her the care she needs while supporting her.

So you find yourself inside this manhwa that drags a little and you're arguing to yourself about whether you ship Caspian (C) the tsundere or Allendis (A) the yandere that is a bit fishy. Then you finally scroll down to the end of the chapter and see a notice that the group is dropping the manhwa due to them not liking the ending. Suddenly you're confused. But the story is so good? You find the comments and receive the shock of your life.

That rapist that abused her for years? He's the ML. He's the endgame. She becomes Empress again. The exact fate that she was running from in this new life...

Now if you are a normal person you will be confused or concerned as to how this happened. If you ask me I would say, the author was going two completely different things but the execution was so awful that accepting what ended up is hard.

R is, said to be redeemed throughout the second timeline (even though that redeeming actually makes me hate him more). We blame it on drugs and manipulation by one big bad guy and in actuality, he was just a jealous little child that stayed that way throughout his oh, whole adolescence to adulthood. You are floored. Why? Well, let me tell you why I am. People often say that drugs make you a different person, perhaps they do. More paranoid, more irritant. How come no one noticed that the f*cking Emperor was on drugs? Suspending my disbelief these drugs didn't affect his interactions with others either or change his stone-cold face and demeanor. These drugs just so happened to be the reason why he only r*ped his wife that he verbally abused daily. Yeah.

Many people say that the act of R having s*x with T while she didn't want it wasn't r*pe since T let him. Right now I'll reference the scene. R (despite supposedly hating T) walks into the room and slaps T over a misunderstanding he had about the reason why his beloved Ji-uen told him to talk to his wife. He then taunts her before putting on a classic evil smirk and grabbing her arm before asking her to strip. Quote what she tells him while he slams her down "Your Majesty!! Don't do this!! Your Majesty, please!" he then reminds her of her indoctrination into 'loving him' she reminds him of what her purpose is. Queen. Child. She submits while he pulls her and insults her, calling on her manipulation to make her think she 'wants it'. Even if this isn't r*pe, the force he uses, his insults, his previous behavior, we already hate him. The author knew we would interpret it as r*pe or f*cked up s*x. Drugs don't suddenly make you want to f*ck a girl you hate for offending the girl you like. Drugs don't turn you into a rapist if you had no risk of being one before/didn't even like the girl. Also, this whole r*pe part is bad writing to me in more aspects than one. Under the rest of the story, this scene should have probably been dropped and replaced with something like they were both intoxicated and it was dark, making him confuse her for J. At least it would have made more sense.

I can understand in part what the author was trying to do through both the title and the summary heavily mislead the reader. It tricks you into thinking that the abandoned T will find herself in a new timeline when in reality she loops back to the one she was trying to avoid desperately. In my mind, it doesn't make sense and in the minds of the people that read all of it... neither did them. The author wants us to believe somewhat in the message of redemption. They want us to believe that people can be redeemed and that it is better to express your emotions then have misunderstandings that lead to more people being hurt. They want us to believe that if we rewound time and changed our decisions to honest ones, we would find a whole new truth that will make things better.

Yet, the author, who wants us to be convincied at first that R is a horrible jerk just to pull off a shitty twist, makes him at least seem irredeemable to use without even foreshadowing the fact that he was on drugs or being manipulated. What are we supposed to think? Episode 1-6 he's f*cking smile like a sadistic idiot at her misery and by the end that very same guy who verbally beat her around, we're supposed to like? I know it's a different timeline but here: The author knows that at least in the beginning were going to associate R with the bad behavior he displayed. Of course, they know. That's a part of their shitty twist that is so shocking because of gasp! This guy was so shitty and literally abused her but he was a poor child who was really drugged and manipulated to hate her from when he was young whilst also being jealous that everyone else adored her. He will obviously still be jealous in the next timeline and from what I read he starts off like that too. We have that association. She has that association even though she acknowledges they are different.

I don't think the author meant to portray this relationship like this. For their desired effect they should have toned things down and given T a real reason to like R besides 'raised to be the empress so of course, I should!'. It sounds manipulative from the start. I would have made R try to like her at first despite the rumors or have them have a connection SOMETHING good for more than a while before all the manipulation happened. I think they might have but he was still jealous of her than too so wtf??

Shouldn't have slapped her, shouldn't have verbally abused her as much, should have ignored her the best he could, simple glares, the miscarriage part could be kept in, he should have not acted like a sadist, he should have probably never even bothered to talk to her. If it was that, maybe I could accept it a little more but nope. T should have ended up with wither C or A and that's just the tea. They have way more personality than R ever will and come off less dick-ish.

All in all the author's bad execution makes everything end up looking just sad. <<less
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Emile
Emile rated it
May 18, 2021
Status: Completed
It's been a while since I first read 'The Abandoned Empress'. Instantly I was attracted to its potential. But that was then. Now, thinking of it makes me sigh on the best of days, and wish it were a piñata I could beat to breaking point on worse ones.

My brain can hardly function well enough on a regular day to properly word what reading this was like; I instead use that time to consume more fulfilling media that doesn't make me feel ill will towards their irresponsible creators. Because this... more>> truly is a narrative that came about as the result of derelict creation. Since today is a day I feel reasonably present and focused, allow me to explain what I mean by that statement.

Spoiler warnings hereon.

Before we begin, let me clarify that I had no horse in this race. The moment Allen was revealed to be an obsessive maniac, I could see where the narrative would lead, and to whom exactly. Once you've read enough, tropes, even the ones that bear red flags, become increasingly apparent. It's a shame I could never come to truly care for Carsein, he would've been a healthier fit, but I knew that his affections were doomed already. Perhaps that colored my affection for him.

We're all familiar with the general complaints most people have with this manhwa (bad pacing, poorly written cookie-cutter side characters, unresolved plotlines, etc) so I will skip over them. My review is centered around the three 'primary' characters of this story, Aristia (tia), Ruvellis (Ruve), and Jieun. This is because although it initially sets itself up to be a coming of age/into oneself story, TAE eventually plays into its wish to be a character-driven romance.

A creator is as a creator does. Four years after Ruve's birth Vita first created Jieun, her blessed child, and through an Oracle made her out to be Ruve's perfect partner. The prophecy was the accepted truth, for everything divine is correct, and the will of the creator is above all. And Then. Vita let their blessed child fall through the dimensions into another world. Humans, unknowing of their God's folly, thus sought for a girl of suitable position and age and decided that she was the prophecized child, and so began the miserable tale of Tia's first life.

What happened next can be relearned through the first six chapters of this manhwa, and is painful to read and garners the utmost sympathy for Tia. We learn she's been brought up with a strict education to become an empress, been married to and hated by the person she loved, relegated to a secondary position after the child foretold by the oracle fell into their world, neglected, abused, assaulted (more on this later), become pregnant, lost her child, heard of the demise of her father and then executed. We learn of all her grief and wish better for her.

My favorite moment from this manhwa comes soon after when Tia visits the temple in chapter 9 and confront Vita. Tia learns that the only reason she loved Ruve despite all his neglect and cruelty was because of her string of fate, and the way it accidentally got entangled with his (more on this later). In both despair and righteous anger, Tia calls their God cruel and professes to renounce her faith, promises to reject and discard Vita the same way she was discarded by them. Vita accepts it all, because it's one of two times they've acted responsibly towards the lives of our three primary characters, and declares Tia to be a child who forges their path, bequeaths the name 'pioneer'. It is an emotional and creative high point, one that the rest of the story completely goes on to sh*t upon.

Since the manhwa centers itself around Tia, we concentrate on her circumstances and her experiences. We understand her trauma, willingness to move on and grow as a person, and wanting to inherit her family title. We root for her. But we're not nearly done with the first timeline.

Jieun is a 16 y/o girl thrown into an unknown world, burdened with the destiny of a 'chosen one'. Duke Jenna, the primary antagonist of the series, manipulates her into believing that having Ruve love her is the only way she can survive. She expects monogamy (as most people in modern times do) and does not get it. She is thrust into a position of power and saddled with responsibilities she has no experience handling (let's be real, a 16 y/o with mere 4 years of education added thereafter cannot handle statecraft the way a girl who has been brought up her whole life learning how to can). With the death of Tia, her husband grows increasingly angry and neglectful and she is constantly compared to and found lacking against the erstwhile queen and reprimanded for her incompetence. Everybody speaks of the special girl with the happy ending, but no one thinks of what comes thereafter. In the end, she dies with her newborn daughter, and carries the pain of a world that believes her to be God's chosen child, but fails to give her any support system to live by.

Ruve grows up in the shadow of a Palace where no one pays attention to him. One of the two people he feels parental affection for dies in front of him protecting her daughter in her arms, and he comes to hate the girl for it. Being the child of a lowborn, he develops an inferiority complex to that girl (who, as most would've guessed, is Tia) who is of pureblood, extremely competent, And loved by the emperor (unlike him). He is further manipulated by Duke Jenna, who tells of how Tia only views him as a way to gain greater power and rule the nation. He is fed both psychotropic drugs (which induces anger, bipolar conduct, and schizophrenia (inducing schizophrenia by drugs is impossible but it's fantasy so alright I guess?)... wonder if it's the fantasy world equivalent of datura?) and lies by everyone around him and finds his confirmation in Tia's icy conduct. This is Before he marries Tia. There's a ton of things that happen thereafter which will be talked about below.

You can see the creator, i.e. the author took a lot of time to create an absolute tragedy of errors. All of this could be better if any of the characters could communicate, but their personalities and positions prevent that from happening. Tia cannot bear Jieun's casual behavior and believes Ruve hates her. Jieun cannot approach Tia without being rebuffed and believes clinging to Ruve is her only way of survival and doesn't allow herself to be vulnerable in front of him. Ruve thinks Tia only wants him for his power and finds Jieun's affection to be far too shallow. As I said, it's a character drama, and its 1st timeline pulls that off well.

Issues arise with how the story goes about executing its plot thereafter. Initially, it gives the impression of being a narrative about a person coming into themselves, assuming power, becoming self-assured, and overcoming their trauma. Instead, it turns into a shoddy 'love overcomes all' romance with cheap villains who can hardly hold together their schemes.

The concept of love in this manhwa is shot to sh!t, swear to god. Love is built upon multiple things. It can be built upon admiration, yes, but unless one makes an effort to know someone, Love, in its truer (real, if you will) form, cannot exist. Love is built upon the small things, interactions, personal banter, shared memories, etc. In the first timeline Tia 'loves' Ruve because of fatum (fate) alone. Her 'love' persists in the face of cruelty, neglect, anger, abuse, and assault. After returning, she swears to Vita she will not follow fate again and not fall in love with Ruve again. Let's reiterate. She has No Reason to love him apart from her twisted fate.

In the first timeline, Ruve outright hates, despises, and has an inferiority complex towards Tia, and all of that is exacerbated by the weird plot convenient drug. They Never have an honest to god conversation, but even in all of their toxic situation he recognizes tia to be more competent than him and feels attracted to her. This becomes a constant source of self-hatred and disgust. His hate/love towards her dictates his actions towards Tia (whom he believes to be a powermonger), and he only gains instances of sobriety (from the drug) around Tia during really intense moments (when she says she's pregnant, when she loses her child, when she is executed, etc). (On that note, the licking of boot thing is non-canon acc the novel, and honestly... WHAT THE f*ck was the manhwa artist thinking when they added that if they already knew Ruve was ML).

I once read someone here say 'Imagine having to send off the person you love most to their death' re: tia being executed while ruve and jieun watched and honestly... that's fvcking laughable. What the author in the novel in those moments calls love can be at best called guilt, regret, and self-loathing on Ruve's part. His emotions for her thereon are marked with his shortcomings alongside regret and guilt. In thinking back to her grace and competence he almost deifies her erstwhile life. You can delude yourself into thinking you love what you've built someone up in your mind to be, but that isn't love either. Ruve sanctifies Tia's existence in his mind, falls in love with that, and that is what we are to believe his love comprises. (Also I was promised that novel!Ruve wasn't as bad as manhwa!Ruve and I had to wade through a fvckton of abuse apologies and 'Tia wasn't assaulted she stripped herself when Ruve told her to' (when she was in clear mental distress over it thinking it was the only way he could ever feel affection for her and coerced into consent) so fvck you to every single person who made me go through that muck, your ML is deplorable.)

My problem with how the author goes about developing romance between Ruve and Tia is how it completely disrespects the experiences of traumatized people and the intelligence of the readers. Even If someone wanted to go about writing something which redeems a past abuser (eg. 2ha, which sufficiently redeems the MC but I still dislike for entirely different reasons do not ask me) the only way a sensible person (be it a character or reader) would be able to accept it would be if the abuser addressed their past actions, made reparations for them, and then made an effort to build something positive with the person they hurt. The writer does that here with Jieun.

Jieun also hurts Tia, but through her POV she is the one worst-hit here. Remember when I said accepting Tia's scorn was one of two times Vita acted responsibly towards the lives of these characters? The only other time is when they offer to either send Jieun back to her world or go back in time. I honestly understood her choice. The memory of her life before is long faded, perhaps reeking of comfort she cannot see herself have in again now that she's experienced so much hurt.

Called God's child, yet isolated, neglected, constantly looked down upon, and scolded by her husband who only ever compares her to his other dead wife (who may have tried to kill her) and then even losing her child. She too burned with a desire for vengeance. But on seeing how Tia and Ruve have changed in this timeline, she makes belated attempts to aid them. She retains memories of her life and nearly kills Tia only to save her and then helps her uncover Jenna's actions. Her presence alone in the last life caused Tia a world of hurt, but in this life, she trades her abilities to save Tia. She redeems herself because she makes reparations for her past actions.

But Ruve? He's an entirely different person with the only knowledge of his actions from the first timeline coming from a letter that he wasn't even supposed to read. I completely understand that he's not the person who abused Tia in the first timeline, but as a reader, it's difficult to accept that the girl who was rendered catatonic for 2 days straight because he merely raised his voice went on to marry him. The writer seems to think that writing misery p0rn about ML's backstory in the first timeline will give him character depth and serve both as an excuse for his actions in the past and as a good foil against the 2nd timeline's new and improved version of himself.

Maybe these cheap tricks work on others, but it doesn't change the fact that whether under the duress of drugs and mental illness or not, his actions are veritably registered as abuse in Tia's mind. This begets the question 'is a mentally unsound person liable for the hurt they cause others?' and the answer to that is yes, yes they are. Tia has PTSD from her last life, and all of that is brushed under the rug in the face of affection from Ruve in this life. This is such a slap in the face of what overcoming PTSD is like.. here in Tia's mind it's 'just get over it lol' that's not how sh*t works dearest author. Giving reasons for committing abuse does not negate its existence, nor its consequence.

It feels even worse that Tia had to change to be a more socially engaging person for Ruve to fall for her in this life. She had to change to become palatable and understandable to Ruve in this life so he can stop hating her and then love her. Tia's feelings for him in this life also seem to build upon a shoddy foundation. Theirs is one of the flimsiest loves I've read (even if you were to take away the 'abused in former life' angle) and I say that as someone that used to read Mills and Boons novels to waste time.

I'll finally answer what I meant about irresponsible creators. Of course, in mishandling the lives of the aforementioned characters, Vita is one of the creators I speak of. The other is the author. In writing their 'love overcomes all' and 'deep down he was a good guy, actually' and 'forgiveness is so romantic even if the person you love is the one who traumatized you thoroughly before' romance novel, they fail to properly recognize and portray with consideration the many heavy issues that come up with executing such a plot. They were so focused on making excuses for their ML and making the romance work that they failed to recognize just what they were romanticizing and what they have failed to write well, and I pray that neither they nor anyone who likes these sorts of novels has to suffer half of what they glorify.

There's also a ton of things to say about plot holes everywhere, about how no time frame was given as to the administration of the convenient fantasy drug so it can become a consistent (with 1st timeline) plot point in the 2nd timeline, my thoughts on Allen, Carsein, and Jieun's fates at the novel's end, etc, but at this point I'm tired and I'm sure you, the reader of this review, is too. Thank you for making it this far. My contempt for this novel has been building for quite some time, I know I'm insane for making such a long comment but ya know? to purge something vicious from your mind you've just got to give it the shape it desires, and for me, that shape was this comment. <<less
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Danshi
Danshi rated it
October 13, 2020
Status: --
Well, I was hopeful at first about the MC in this story but I feel so disappointed with how it headed. Why does she fall back in love with the piece of sh*t Male lead? You think I can just forget everything happen just because of "misunderstandings"!? I thought she was going to live her life in a way where it didn't involve the male lead but no! He did so many things to her and she basically was still suffering from it in her second life! But her "love"... more>> for him f*cking solve everything?! f*ck that! I would have rather her get with the redhead or the green head! It disappointing she would fall back with someone who causes her so much suffering in her first life. I never felt so disgusted before. I was so hopeful but it turns out I really shouldn't have expected much... <<less
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Gushishi
Gushishi rated it
September 18, 2020
Status: c101
Scum ML!

Regarding everything happened on the 1st timeline, even if he is redeemable, he is unforgiveable!

Why?

... more>> Of all thongs he did in the 1st timeline, cheating; abusing; intimidating; mocking; etc, his character is zero and understandable by logic and means!

On the contrary, the potray of FMC whose are cold, high achiever, and strong collapsed by accepting ML as her future husband despite them all she have been through. What a disaster of FL's characteristic and values.

Everything is so contradictary and pushing us to understand and accepting without common sense.

This story is so misleading about love and repentance.

*If someone has a husband like the ML, loving him is no longer a story despite forgiving him is necessary*

- majority of people are not masochists <<less
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