Under the Oak Tree

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The daughter of a duke, the stuttering Maximilian, married a knight of lowly status at her father’s coercion.

After their first night, her husband departed for an expedition without another word.

He comes back three years later, this time as a famous knight in the whole continent.

How would Maximilian face him on his return?

Associated Names
One entry per line
Utot
상수리나무 아래
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Living As the Villainess Queen (10)
Predatory Marriage (9)
The Duke’s Imposter Sister (9)
I Don’t Want to Be Loved (8)
I Should Have Read The Ending (8)
I Raised A Black Dragon (6)
Recommendation Lists
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169 Reviews sorted by


MeineMeow
MeineMeow rated it
July 11, 2020
Status: c90
This one maybe not your cup of tea if you prefer smart and strong MC. That’s what I thought at first. But the more you read, you will root for max to be brave and grow together with riftan. The romance are cute, and the snu snu is good. Thanks for the translator to deliver beautiful translation. So I rate this 5 star, and you should give it a try to read at least until chapter 50 before giving review.
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Rentintin
Rentintin rated it
July 3, 2020
Status: c62
This is really heartwarming. And of course the smut is good ? The translation is great. That is all I can say for now. I am not really good at giving reviews. I am looking forward to a more character development. A must read!
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aitakm1
aitakm1 rated it
May 25, 2020
Status: c1
I haven't actually started yet.

But the status of the original chapters being N/A makes me a bit scared especially if I start to read it and I really like it. Can someone fix that pls

_ (:3 」∠) _
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Avery Very
Avery Very rated it
May 24, 2020
Status: c46
Binge read this one and I'm in looooove!!! I'm rooting for MC so much. The characters are flawed and full of insecurities but there are character development.
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Gail_42
Gail_42 rated it
February 7, 2024
Status: c120
It's SO good. Too many reviews are from people who barely read any of it... blargh. To be fair, it's hard to get your hands on the story.

The ML is far better of a person that he initially seems. No spoilers, but keep in mind he's: Insecure that he's not good enough for her, bitter that he can't give her more, afraid she won't love him, ignorant (and outright misled) of her real history, legit terrified that she could get hurt or he could lose her, and genuinely traumatized to... more>> a terrifying degree... despite all that explaining things, the walls he puts up and his short fuse can still be a bit much, so if you DON'T know all of that, you'll be like "wow, forget this dude" and possibly bail before you realize how powerful the love is between these two. And yes, it's powerful.

The FL is absolutely justified in how she behaves. Our sweet girl is broken and does what she can. You'll often be frustrated by her weakness, but she's a stronger soul that anyone that actually exists, so cut her some slack. Often, being innocent and naive leads to her being in difficult situations that can make you side with the ML's overprotective behavior... while also making you go "argh, give her more credit, dude". Both sides have valid points. Give them a chance.

The writing, plot, translation, characters, romance, drama, action, fantasy, developments, storyline that builds to something much larger, and delicious spice add up to a wonderful novel. It has a lovely R-15 comic as well. I've recommended the novel to people I know personally, and definitely recommend it to anyone considering reading it. Don't sleep on this or make hasty judgements. If you get the chance, give it a chance, too. <<less
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Azu92
Azu92 rated it
September 9, 2023
Status: book 2
OK. I just finished Book 1, Book 2 and Riftan's pov (the whole story in webnovel).

The best points in this novel are the world building and the side characters.

Ruth is the best throught the story, the only one with common sense. It's such a waste that he's just a side character. A lot of parts of the story would have been more interesting if he had a major role. Kuahel, Sejour, and Hebaron: I can believe that they just appeared sporadically. For real, you can count with your hands the... more>> number of scenes they get throughout the 3 books and still they feel more alive and important than most of the characters that have more story time.

The word building is interesting, but not as magical as with other stories. I'm always baffled when people related utot magical system with Harry Potter or similars (they have no point in common!).
Spoiler

I mean, UTOT is mostly elemental and not that magical (it actually has lots of restrictions and some of the procedures are more mechanical and less magical). And it couldn't be. I mean, if the mages were that powerful, there wouldn't be a need for knights.

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MC being weak and not so capable is kinda refreshing, but frustrating most of the time. I still cannot understand how someone that had been abused and is all fearful most of the time can go and do dangerous stuff (thinking or just being delusional that she can do it) but lacks the confidence to speak up her mind. I mean, that doesn't make sense.

Spoiler

Also, her willingness to do stuff is admirable, but the fact that she thinks she can do stuff without the proper training, power or capability is beyond me. She is doubtful that knights and other people with more training and years of experience can handle dangerous situations, so she wants to join them to protect them (weak, with almost no skills to survive the wilderness, wars, expeditions, etc), and end up being a liability most of the time. And the fact that people excuse that behavior because she "helped" and "saved lives", even when those things happen not because she is capable or talented, just because she was lucky and had a buch of people running behind her to save her all the time, it's just too much.

[collapse]

I kinda liked the story at the beginning. All the allegories of addiction were kinda nice, and expected some development with that.

Spoiler

Every time she drinks to forget or have s*x to forget are clear signs of an addiction, but the sad part is that there is no further development. So, I don't know if that was unintentional or the author just decided to go with an easier route. Still, I felt disappointed with that.

[collapse]

In my opinion, book 2 is the most frustrating and disappointing of all of them. The excessive use of the same tropes, over and over again, makes you think that the author just ended up without ideas of how further develop the main romantic relationship. It's so overused that lacks any thread of logic.

Spoiler

There is an upcoming war, lots of dangerous deeds that have to be done, no time to socialize, because every time they let their guard down something bad happens and someone loses their life. Still, there is enough time to have angry, desperate s*x. There is no time to have a proper conversation and solve their issues, but there is enough time to spend hours and hours just hooking up.

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Also, in the last book, there is an interesting plot, and there is a lot of build up for said plot. But the almost factor is the main downside of it. There are tons of "almost" action scenes, where the author starts describing what's happening, the stakes and its getting quite interesting when everything is cut in the middle, solved in a blink of an eye, just because the MC closed her eyes, couldn't tolerate the gruesome situation in front of her, or was simply skipped for no good reason.

So you end up with a huge number of chapters with almost action scenes, and interesting plot that is not fully explored, and with solutions that doesn't make a lot of sense. We just get the "ML was thinking on that even when nobody knew".

Spoiler

For example, more than half of the story we have the ML stubbornly negating the help of the MC. A little bit more than half of the second book the ML wants her to be safe at his fief or the mage's island (basically anywhere except the war is good for him). But suddently, he just gift her a personalized armor so she could join the dangerous deeds as well. Also, it is described as something of the highest quality because the materials are rare and not easy to handle. It doesnt makes sense! How the heck he got the time to order something like that and the workers to craft it, when they have been in the middle of wars! And up to like a couple of days before that gift he didn't want her to join any dangerous deed!

There are lots of situations like this one. As if the author just wanted to finish the book faster.

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Riftan's pov is good. If you look at it as a separate book, it's quite good. It's shorter but better thought. Ruth appearance makes more enjoyable lots of the stuff going on. IMHO, I think this book reinforces the idea that Riftan's "love" isn't love.

On the other hand, I had the feeling that the author is kinda new to action scenes. In this book even though there is more action, a lot is just skipped or they just tell a bit of what happened. Aside from one or two completed action scenes where the author fully inmerse us in what's happening, it feels more like a character study than anything else.

Overall, I think this is a good transition series. If you are not used to fantasy and adventure, you can start getting more into the genre of epic fantasy or fantasy fiction reading UTOT and similar stories. Books like this seties could serve as good training if you ever want to fully enjoy books with heavier plot, bigger world building, more complicated development, and sophisticated solutions.

As someone that actually reads epic fantasy, the fantasy adventure side just falls short. <<less
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Mary ell
Mary ell rated it
December 31, 2022
Status: c272
I have now finished reading this up to the latest chapters. Sadly, it hasn't updated yet for one year. I hope I'll be able to read this till the last. Honestly speaking, the chemistry between the Maxi and Riftan is out of this world. I like this 💖
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cicielie92
cicielie92 rated it
April 22, 2022
Status: c271
I know this one from the manhwa and can't stand the spoiler on the comments and ended up reading the novel.

Honestly I think this is one of the best novel with great character development. Not only the story is well writen, the words used to decribing the situation also helps a lot on immersing to the novel.

The ML dan FL may not be the perfect lead they are, but they are very humane for me. A person with temperamental issue and insecurities can be found anywhere in many relationship. What... more>> matters are how they can improve themselves over time. They relationship may look nice but it still toxic to some degree and the decision on that matter area actually very logical and close to reality

I love how this story flows and really cant wait for the next chapter. I hope they release it soon. Hwaiting translator-nim! <<less
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Quaraliel
Quaraliel rated it
April 9, 2022
Status: c300
That’s a hard review to write.
I liked the first season/book/part. It was usually frustrating and slow, but both MC seemed to start growing towards each other and open up. It was a very slow process, with the culminating point at around chapter 230-something. I loved that part, it seemed like a great turning point for them to finally start communicating, but... I’ve found MTLs for the rest of the existing chapters, bc I wanted to see that as soon as possible and it’s actually getting even worse. Both MCs... more>> had trouble voicing their opinions and honestly talking, which led to a lot of misunderstandings and anger on both parts.
Spoiler

And when she finally reveals her biggest secret and they finally talk about their insecurities, she just drops everything for him and leaves. And that makes sense - as it’s the only way “save” him. The logical thing for him would be to accept that. He could be angry, but he throws the biggest tantrum ever and limits their contact to just s*x. He literally ignores her, which makes their contact even worse than before.

[collapse]
.

But let me start from the beginning - FL is insecure, timid and afraid to talk to ML, but the only thing he cares about is that she waits obediently for him. He doesn’t imagine that she may be afraid about his well-being. He treats her as his wife, gives her whatever she wants (as long as you can buy it with money) and there are quite a few sweet moments between them. But as far as he is concerned she is supposed to just stay in his land, take care of it and do nothing.
Spoiler

He doesn’t even like the fact that she wants to be useful and starts learning healing magic.

[collapse]

I expected that it was a slow growth of their characters, but instead of growing they are going backwards and instead of becoming a power couple they become something I no longer have any patience to read. Maybe I’ll come back and see what the author decided to do in a few months, but I’m fed up with them at this point.

So in conclusion - the first book was slow but had a great potential and ended in a brilliant way. The second one... I lacked patience and dropped it. <<less
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lilphi
lilphi rated it
January 28, 2022
Status: c271
Reading this I both laughed and cried, I would gamble that the 'emotional rollercoaster' you ride while reading this is due to the glass of the characters and the fact that you have both sides of the coin; fluff and angst. I would say that these characters felt realistic and everyone had their unique flaws, trauma and challenges which I think made the story a hundred times more heart-wrenching.

I think their realationship was a bit suffocating (especially for Maxi) they both had good intentions and loved each other but their... more>> communication was severely lacking, they didn't listen to each other or pay any heed to each others feeling and they repetedly hurt each other by making the same mistakes.

That being said I'm so exited to see what comes next. I can't wait for them to reunite after they have (hopefully) reflected on and improved themselves, I think they will be able to grow together and love each other even more after they have learned to love themselves. <<less
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lisacrossing
lisacrossing rated it
January 26, 2022
Status: --
While the character development for Maxi is great in terms of her power, the development between the OTP isn't. Every time they give us fluff, it's like glossing over their relationship problems because the underlying nature still there and then it gets brought up later and explode in your face. Like 1 step forward, 3 steps back kind of thing. Some people like that push and pull, but I would like some gradual fixing. Heard the novel is going to complete soon so I feel like with the remaining chapters... more>> left from author, it'll seem rushed to fixing all that, but I guess since they both love each other it would just be a love fix everything immediately kind of issue. Both of the characters have issue, Riftan with his over protection without telling her anything, but same with Maxi. She makes decisions without telling Riftan either and would mostly get hurt as a result which then makes Riftan even more overprotective. Never ending cycle. <<less
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baml13
baml13 rated it
September 30, 2021
Status: c213
This is the first light novel I have ever read. Since then, I have read a handful of light novels, but this remains at the TOP of the list for me. It's simply beautiful, amazing, and bittersweet. I want to erase my memories, just so I can read it again.

To those readers who can't stand Riftan the ML: that's because you are not yet able to read the full story. Once the book is completely translated, you will understand him more. And if your hatred is still strong for him,... more>> read his POV first. But you will lose the experience that the author intended for you. Yes, you are meant to hate him. Then, love him. Then, pity him. At last, you just wish Riftan and Maxi all the happiness in the world.

Maxi, on the other hand, is the protagonist. She is meant to be weak at first and then grow as the story continues. That's typical and should not be catching any flames of contempt or rage.

All that being said, I have yet to find another light novel that is at this level of excellence. It won an award for a reason. Because it deserved it! It deserves to be loved and spread across the world! It deserves to be read for generations and decades. It deserves to be labeled a classic and live forever with all the other highly acclaimed literacy works.

God bless the author. God bless the translators/proofreaders. I truly hope it gets officially translated and distributed one day. <<less
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wizird
wizird rated it
September 6, 2021
Status: c205
I highly recommend reading Riftan's POV first, it really enriches your understanding of the story! Without it, Maxi can seem like a weaker character than she actually is, because of her unreliable narration, and Riftan comes across as an annoying stereotypical alpha male lead at points if you don't understand his motivations
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creams
creams rated it
July 23, 2021
Status: v1c150
Some comments are disgusting and probably read the entire novel without comprehension. Lol

if y'all gonna review a book make sure you back up it with stuff that are actually facts within the novel and not some 21st century standards
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Zheldark
Zheldark rated it
June 27, 2021
Status: c174
It's truely a good novel that I never could imagine it to be!

To those who are starting to dislike Riftan's act, maybe you could learn to understand him thu reading his POV (yes, there s an entire Pov line for Riftan, developing into chapters) Perhaps it's the POV part that makes the story so interesting and capturing when you get to see the same world in 2 completely different timelines and different angles, his - the past, and her- the now. Seeing how Riftan grew into the harsh man that... more>> he is, and how Max will become the amazing woman that we, reader, long her to be, is an exciting journey to me throughout the pages.

Thanks to the translators too, for beautifully turning Ji Soo korean into english, your selection of vocab and phrasal is a part to which I adore this novel so much. Now I m just gonna lay low until new chap arrrives. So cheers! <<less
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Xiaomilu
Xiaomilu rated it
June 20, 2021
Status: c90
A great story with a great characters development. I discovered this from its manhwa adaptation, and it has caught my attention, so I decided to read the novel, and I am not gonna regret spending my time reading this book. It's great!
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MsBlueMoon2
MsBlueMoon2 rated it
June 6, 2021
Status: c163
God the characters in this story are so well done. MC's trauma, anxiety, and depression are viscerally real, and the ups and downs of her growing, adapting, doubting herself, and learning is heart-wrenching.

Both MC and ML have deep insecurities and change over time, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, in a very real way; people don't just linearly improve and become better people over time. At times they grow closer and it's overwhelmingly sweet, but later something triggers an anxiety and they respond poorly, driving a wedge between them.... more>> There is a certain level of misunderstanding that could be cleared up by simply talking it out, but unlike many other stories, the reasons why the characters don't talk about certain things with each other is very well-developed and rooted in their fears and insecurities, and I really hope that as they grow more together, they'll finally breach those walls and it'll just be a landslide of emotions.

Spoiler

I really hope and expect that when Max finally comes clean and tells Riftan about her life at Croix, he'll straight up call a war meeting go mu*der her father. Also, the fact that the repeated beatings and subsequent healing sessions she endured as a child are the exact thing that developed her talent for healing magic? That's tragic but also some good f*cking writing.

[collapse]
<<less
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Yashii
Yashii rated it
April 27, 2021
Status: c144
Being worried to your wife is fine but please, just because she looks like expensive glass, a fragile glass it seems your limiting her actions. I know, how much riftan loved and care about her. She might be in danger since their place has a lot of monsters.

She may be small but she's strong her will to stand beside him is high she never gave up even if she's afraid. I am hoping that riftan will notice her efforts not just the castle or something.. But the effort she made... more>> in order to stand proudly beside him (since she has a low self-confidence) and she's been dreaming how nice it could be. <<less
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Logophile
Logophile rated it
April 6, 2021
Status: c6
I really would've liked this if the MC atleast have some power, like she's a character with an essense and not just for the romance part. Her life is so tragic, the ML was created with a sense too, well it's all romance but it's really stressful.
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ahoyellie
ahoyellie rated it
March 15, 2021
Status: v1c21
I absolutely love this story. I've read and re-read it, I'm in love! Well I've only read to chapter 21 in the English translation because I don't understand the original. But I'm going to try and learn some Korean literally just for this book! I'm trying to remain patient.

A lot of people seem to hate the MC for her stuttering, her "lack of a backbone", but I don't understand that. She is coming from a home where she was treated worse than the servants, she was nothing to the Duke.... more>> Now she is seeing that on the outside, people will respect her and treat her the way she deserves. Even if her new (ish) husband struggles to express the way he really feels. Their communication is horrible, but it's getting better. It's about character development and I'm seeing it already. There is so much more growth that is going to happen, I just know it! I'm so excited and so impatient to continue this stories I start making up their future in my head. I have Major Depressive Disorder and it's not an exaggeration to say that this story has pulled me out of a dark period ❤️ <<less
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