The person standing here and now was a human being. Not House Everett's villainess, not a witch with an ice heart—just a nineteen-year-old girl who had never been acknowledged by her family.

I'm a VERY petty person, I hold grudges, and I get super immersed in whatever I'm reading, so whatever happens to FL, happens to me too. But, even I have to begrudgingly admit that Roen's character development was written real good. It felt kinda therapeutic hearing him admit that it was the family's fault FL went through so much, and even more so when he explicitly stated that he will make up for their lost time, and showing it in both actions and words.

So far the story has been good, its a somewhat done before trope of everyone blades MC but the circumstances make it so the MC is only kind of at fault or not really. Something I did like about this one is the MC did at least acknowledge that she did do things that were wrong, although the story is somewhat doing the "MC was like this due to circumstances so its not their fault/they aren't a bad person" which isn't horrible and I know its necessary since it would be difficult to like an MC who did cruel acts without giving the readers some form of justification.

So far there are a few things I think could be improved on for this story, one of the biggest is her remembering her past life. Currently this feels like a somewhat pointless narrative, its only been used for justifying painting skills and giving a reason why the MC can't forgive their family, since she isn't truly their daughter, but its overall a somewhat worthless plotline and I personally think it takes away from the story. Violet had a near death experience, the author could of used this as the trigger to make her "break" where she stops caring about everything. This could of happened without having her regain memories of her past life easily, explained in the exact same way of her giving up on her family. So far I don't remember any use of magic or divinity, so having an event like remembering a past life feels somewhat out of place. The painting skill is also something I think that actively lowers the quality of the storyline specifically because it comes from violets past life. If the skill came about as just a way for violet to vent her frustrations then I think it would be good but at least currently her father and one of her brothers are taking interest in her artwork, which makes it a bit vague on did they start paying attention to her due to her art. If this is the case then it slightly deflates the story in my opinion, since it essentially makes Violets existence worthless and her value that finally got recognized came from her past life. If this isn't the case then it just removes the value of her knowing how to paint from her past life, hence making the remembering her past life feel like a somewhat worthless plot line that can only really serve to lower the quality of the story.

An interesting twist that I think would somewhat allow for this but not lower the storyline is that rather than remembering her past life's memories the person in her past life (forgot their name) becomes like a person speaking in violets mind, but purposefully make their words vague and unclear if they came from another world. What this could essentially do is allow a "character" to be created who tells violet that she matters, to reject her family, it can even encourage doing something like art and give "tips" within reason, but not using unknown terms, because then this entire character inside Violets head can also be described as a mental illness, where she has been broken and hurt to the point of creating a personality inside her head that can give her comfort. Personally I think this kind of narrative would be better since all of Violets actions would be hers getting rid of the issue of "are they now paying attention because of violet of her past life" while also being able to get rid of the mystical element of remembering a past life, since creating a personality in your head is possible and somewhat realistic which I think just removes a bit of the world building issues while allowing a similar plot to progress, although it would interfere with violets sloth like new personality of barely moving/eating/ect. since it would require her to talk with this person in her head. (Note: this is just something I thought of on the spot while writing this, doesn't influence my rating of series)

Overall one of the things I really hope this story does, but I don't expect, is her rejecting her family. Its something that won't be done because its a novel but in these novels the person who suffers always forgives, I'm sure we will get a bit like Aileen and the one brother being kicked out or punished but so far its going somewhat in a direction where the father and one brother might be forgiven which just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The brother would be one thing but the father is the main person at fault here, he is the one who basically left all of his young children who just lost their mother in a situation and was the authority that finally broke Violet and made her believe that nobody would listen to her. Honestly a depressing but realistic and impactful plotline would be if Violet takes her own life due to something Aileen or the older brother did causing the father to look into things and realize the truth, causing him to deal out punishments but become broken himself realizing that he drove his own daughter to her death due to him not caring about the family and barely putting any effort into being a father. This would probably lead to him becoming an alcoholic and later dying from it causing the younger brother who has guilt over the situation to take over with plenty of issues himself, causing a very depressing story (that probably won't happen since it would be painful to read if written well making at least me not want to read it, since reading is meant to be enjoyable and not make me feel depressed) but a storyline thats realistic, where people don't notice it until its too late and can only live with the regret and pain of their past choices. It could even have a slightly positive message with the younger brother about how you should put effort into your relationships, care and love those important to you, make sure not to fall into a bias and think for yourself and to try to put in effort so you don't regret your decisions. Anyway, went on a bit of a tangent about a dark twist but my overall point is if she decides to accept her father and younger brother I feel like it would slightly take away from the story, because it shows that they didn't care about Violet until she literally gave up, its possible that they will have a good redemption arc but I don't expect it and I think it will leave me with a bitter feeling since the past is an absolute and even if we should live in the present certain actions in the past I don't think should be forgiven. Again, the younger brother has some room since he was young but the father I don't think should ever be forgiven. In his grief over losing his wife and brother he didn't put any effort into raising his kids allowing a situation like this to occur and is the adult in the situation who should of prevented it. His negligence and inattention lead to this result, so while he might make an effort to change the past can't be undone. Developing a relationship with him is one thing but I don't think he should ever be forgiven, especially by the current Violet who is different from the Violet who suffered due to his actions. The scars won't be erased ever so I don't believe he should ever be forgiven. (To clarify forgiveness is different than atoning for what he did, I'm saying that forgiveness in a way absolves him of his actions and he should have to live knowing that he caused this situation and bear that weight, but I'm not saying he cannot develop a relationship with Violet. It should just be done in a way where there will always be that wall between them, where she can't fully trust him, since its necessary to protect herself, and he will need to come to terms and live with it.)

Anyway, overall I think the story so far is pretty good and doesn't have any faults that are truly an issue. I think some things could be improved but overall the book has a lot of potential. I just really hope this story is satisfying with the redemption and forgiveness type arcs since usually this genre it ends up feeling sub-par.

So glancing over my previous review I seemed to be more forgiving towards the younger brother. The story ended up going in the direction of the younger brother trying to get forgiveness but at least right now the way he is doing it doesn't make me want to support him at all. At the root he is the same, someone who doesn't really care what's best for MC, he is merely acting on what will benefit him. At least to me it feels like he came to the realization that his father is starting to show favor towards MC and that Alize is just trying to act for sympathy so now he is cutting his ties with her. His interactions with the MC don't feel like someone who wants to support the MC. His actions directly caused her misery, he purposefully tried to put her in a difficult spot socially while doing other things to try to get on the good side of the people around her to socially pressure her into meeting him (example when she was painting) which at least to me shows that he doesn't actually care about her. He is at best trying to make up with her for his own sake and own satisfaction. In the recent chapters she made it quite clear that she does not desire to make up with him, that she wants him to leave her alone, and yet he ignores her wishes and continues pursuing "forgiveness" which at least to me makes him feel like a piece of shit. He can't claim that he is doing it for her sake since he is actively doing things she dislikes, that causes her pain, in order to achieve something she does not want. While you can always make the argument that she might want it later and she isn't in the best mindset I personally don't agree with it, she set boundaries and they are being crossed by people who deeply hurt her, if your family member was abusive and you gave up trying to have a relationship I think that's the better option, its not good to stay with people like that. She has no reason to try to forgive him, and from his actions he isn't acting with her best interests in heart. I've gone on a tangent but its quite simple, while you can ask for forgiveness if they reject you then you should accept that fact and if you actually care about them and they want you to stop and go away then do it, continuing to try to ask for forgiveness is for your own sake, not theirs, and at that point you aren't asking for fulfillment, your trying to satisfy your ego. I'm starting to debate dropping this series, I'll probably continue a bit longer but so far the MC feels just like an empty shell with nothing on her side that makes me want to read more (By this I mean she has close to zero personality, the bit we get of her painting in the streets gets crushed by her family and overall she just doesn't add much, its just overall not satisfying to read about her and there are no signs of progress) while there are zero side characters who I actually like. The younger brother I just ranted about, the father for the earlier issues of ignoring his family and pretending that its not related to him, even the staff she has with her is barely developed with there only being the guards and the maid but none of the interactions are fun to read. I'm hoping that it picks up soon but right now its just going down the stale forgiveness path with people who honestly don't deserve it with nothing else going for the story.

I think I'm going to drop this story... the past 9 chapters have done very little to make me actually feel any favorability towards any character. Before you could somewhat excuse his actions because he was a child, and children don't fully understand the world around them, so while I don't love the redemption arc I can understand it but he just acts like a piece of shit. The way he acts towards violet is not a "I wronged you" but more of a self-centered I'm doing whatever I want. Case in point how he brings up the prince or asks questions like what do you think of the duke as a father, which the story even highlights that these are taboo questions she can't really answer. He is not acting with any good intentions and his actions are making the MC suffer which just makes him an unlikable character. There has been no development with the duke so he continues to be a neglectful father who let it come to this point. The other brother in public uses violence and causes a scene. Overall this story is just "MC has such a horrible life" and there's nothing that makes the story enjoyable. The main character is uninteresting, she is essentially just someone who paints abnormal things, but I honestly barely care about her. There is nothing to build up her character, its all just "this horrible thing happened to her" and the only thing you can call positive is her interactions with the maid but even those aren't great. Every single side character is badly done, the family members are all horrible people and the only character you could call good is the maid, but the author never develops her. I might of just forgotten but currently their relationship feels forced. While the maid is special to violet since its someone who would stand up for her there is nothing on the maids side, nothing like her family is dead and violet gives her a sense of family or some motivation for why she is willing to serve violet through this situation. She also has traits like how she spread rumors about violet not being that bad, which while was done with the best intentions is not something violet wanted. What she wanted was to be left alone, and this inevitably caused her to have to deal with things she didn't want to deal with. Overall theres just nothing to this story, its just a simple "My life is so bad" story but there's nothing enjoyable about it. These stories usually have some kind of twist or happy ending with a satisfying revenge for the people who are a**holes, but this story just feels lackluster. Her painting, a major trait, is sidelined to where it barely matters other than her father and brother essentially taking and showing off her art work or her painting on the street and other than that she has no personality. At least so far the story just doesn't have anything, its just trying to create a sad situation. So I'm going to drop it because this story is just not enjoyable to read, I don't enjoy watching someone get ab*sed, the main character doesn't have a personality that makes them shine. They just simply act as the dummy for ab*se where I'm suppose to pity her as a reader. Unless the story takes a major turn like her running away from home or snapping and plotting revenge I can't see this becoming an interesting plot line. I don't want to see her make up with her family, They are all horrible people. I don't really want to see her end up in a relationship with the prince, since that would probably tie to her making up with her family. It really needs a twist like her running away, because right now its basically just her staying at a place that ab*ses her and her enduring it. That's all this story is. I expected a bit more from it early on but at this point it just feels unsatisfying to read which is the point of reading which makes me consider this a bad book, even if the writing itself isn't poor.

Some people might not like Roen due to his nature as a cunning mastermind (he's accurately portrayed as a snake) and how he continues to force his presence on the MC when she just wants to be left alone, but he's just a well developed character. Is he right to do so or is he just trying to assuage his own guilt, or both? Are the actions he takes towards the rest of the family justified? I think the ambiguity of all of this is a great aspect of the work. Hey, I'd like to assign this as a high school English Essay exercise.

Additionally, the final moments of the first act where we see the sister's true face is a climactic, cathartic crowning moment of awesome.