Type
Genre
Tags[ ]
Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 46 votes)
5 | 59% (27 votes) |
4 | 17% (8 votes) |
3 | 9% (4 votes) |
2 | 9% (4 votes) |
1 | 7% (3 votes) |
Language
Support Book (#ad)
Author(s)
One entry per lineArtist(s)
One entry per lineYear
Example: 2012Status in COO
Status in Country of Origin. One entry per lineLicensed
Completely Translated
Original Publisher
One entry per lineEnglish Publisher
One entry per lineRelease Frequency
Every 64.5 Day(s)Activity Stats [Graph]
Weekly Rank: #2000Monthly Rank: #2000
All Time Rank: #6669
Reading List [Graph]
On 1181 Reading Lists
Monthly Rank: #2687
All Time Rank: #6594
Description
Links are NOT allowed. Format your description nicely so people can easily read them. Please use proper spacing and paragraphs.The first man she ever loved in her life was taken from her by her half-sister.
So she took the older brother of her first lover as her own.
Emperor Achilleon, the man who brought an entire continent to its knees knelt at her feet.
It was Hazel who made him beg for love.
“Tell me, what does my Empress want?”
She was able to get whatever she wanted.
Except for one thing: her first love.
On the night of the hunting festival, when she was beautifully decorated and invited.
The emperor offered her his most coveted prey.
“What do you think? Isn’t this much gentler?”
“Ah, Your Majesty.”
“I’m a husband who will let my wife have everything she desires.”
Caught up in her ‘sweet’ husband’s cruel plans for revenge, Hazel faced her last chance to undo everything, however…
“I found it.”
The emperor’s blue eyes shone only on her.
Associated Names
One entry per lineRelated Series
N/ARecommendations
N/ARecommendation Lists
Latest Release
Date | Group | Release |
---|---|---|
09/27/21 | RainOfSnow | c50 |
09/27/21 | RainOfSnow | c49 |
09/25/21 | RainOfSnow | c48 |
09/25/21 | RainOfSnow | c47 |
09/24/21 | RainOfSnow | c46 |
09/23/21 | RainOfSnow | c45 |
09/22/21 | RainOfSnow | c44 |
09/20/21 | RainOfSnow | c43 |
09/20/21 | RainOfSnow | c42 |
09/20/21 | RainOfSnow | c41 |
09/17/21 | RainOfSnow | c40 |
09/15/21 | RainOfSnow | c39 |
09/14/21 | RainOfSnow | c38 |
09/03/21 | RainOfSnow | c36 |
09/03/21 | RainOfSnow | c35 |
TLDR: The premise of this story somewhat reminds me of "I Don't Want to Be loved" -- albeit with in my opinion a much better written heroine and I sincerely hope it won't go to sh*t like that story. But otherwise it's a must read. What struck me when I first saw this novel was the book-cover and how it deviated from the norm of Korean romance novels by lacking a drawing of a beautiful heroine on it. Rather, all it has is the drawing of a beautiful slightly mysterious aristocratic figure whom I presumed (correctly) at the time would be the male lead. This paired with the somewhat enigmatic and wistful title "He Was Kind if I Stopped" drew me in to read the story. I highlight this observation about the cover as I believe that it in some ways (whether deliberately or not on the author's part) is indicative of the novel as a whole. Just like how the cover does not have a beautiful, lithe and perfect heroine gracing it, the novel similarly does not have a perfect, flawless, good princess as its heroine. Unlike other popular Korean romance novels such as "The Tragedy of the Villainess", "Remarried Empress" or "Who Stole the Empress", our heroine, Hazel, is not the saintly overwhelming embodiment of good being bullied and plotted against by undoubtedly evil and tr*shy antagonists. Rather she resides in the grey zone, a flawed imperfect character that strives to do the best for herself. And while the novels I listed above are undoubtedly amazing novels (otherwise I wouldn't be reading them), it is still quite refreshing to read a novel that deviates from the well trodden path and presents a not so perfect heroine. While the novelty of a deeply flawed heroine is interesting, it by itself does not mean a deeply interesting story. After all "I Don't Want to Be Loved" which has a similar premise to this story also has a deeply flawed main character. But in that story, rather than evoking interest and sympathy in me, the heroine just brought me disgust and frustrations at her actions. However fear not, that phenomenon does not occur in this novel due to the author's ability to create a cause to justify each and every one of Hazel's actions. As an example, while Hazel is a woman who selfishly married the emperor -- who was deeply infatuated with her -- simply to get back at her first love, the emperor's half brother Sisef, that fell in love with her half-sister, this is only half the story. For she is also a princess who was never loved by her father because to him she was the epitome of the political struggle he despises -- the puppet on a string of a queen backed by a powerful family. She was the princess who had to suddenly accept the entrance of a half-sister who was showered in the paternal love she never got. She was the princess, whose first real friend and first real love was taken away by that sister. She was the princess who never felt the love of her father that her sister easily received and lost her first friend and love to the same sister. She was the princess who finally after all this pain and perceived injustices finally made this flawed and bad decision to marry the emperor to get back at them. Thus while Hazel does make some questionably selfish and despicable choices, considering the magnitude of these misdeeds (she's not commiting genocide as a mass-mu*derer) and the fact that they aren't arbitrary but come about by misguided decisions from her own misfortunes, the author creates a convincing and realistic character that garners support and sympathy from the reader. And because this novel is a regression-style novel (surprise if you couldn't see that coming from the synopsis), we also see significant change in the Hazel of pre-regression and post-regression which adds another dynamic to the story. Post-regression Hazel has been traumatized by a husband who killed her first love under the (I believe) misguided belief that they've been having an affair behind his back. Furthermore, he locks her up in a room to become a baby breeding machine and he r*pes her daily (btw this isn't a spoiler cuz it happens in the first 2 chapters) causing Hazel to fall into deep despair before she finally escapes back in time. This trauma is vividly depicted by the author and sets the stage for the sort of character Hazel will be in the story. For unlike some other regression stories, Hazel does not seek revenge or reconciliation nor does she try to use her knowledge of the future to her advantage. Rather she just wants to avoid both her first love and the emperor all together and leave nightmare behind. The traumatic incidence and Hazel's actions in response to it, is in my opinion the strongest part of the novel. It's genuinely interesting to see how Hazel tries to slowly recover herself and repent from her "foolish" past -- and this redemption on her part further drives my sympathy and like of her as a character. In this review, I have mostly only focused on Hazel, however most of the other characters are similarly not simply black or white. Besides Lady Pais -- the mother of Hazel's half sister -- who is the prime antagonist of this story and seem to be written like such simply as a narrative device to drive tension (although this opinion of mine may simply be because it's still somewhat early in the novel and I haven't had much exposure with the character), the actions of everyone else (for the most part) have justifications behind their actions. For some, these justifications are somewhat extreme and tenuous, such as the emperor raping Hazel (which in my opinion is an entirely unforgivable crime but will probably be brushed past in this novel for the sake of "romance") for cheating on him, but despite this it brings a greater sense of realism to the story. It makes the story more believable and less like some cheap cathartic escapist story where the heroes trample on the face of the s*upid bad villains that some other Korean novels tend to fall into. And while as this is a romance novel and thus it is most definitely that Hazel and the emperor are to (sadly) end up together, I am intrigued and curious how the story will proceed and go forward. I honestly have no idea what direction the story will take (fingers crossed Hazel and the emperor stay separated), but I am cautiously optimistic that an amazing story will unfold. Thus, ultimately I would recommend giving this novel a read. It's not the next Salinger or Nabokov or Austin. It doesn't hold some deep profound commentary about trauma or redemption. But as a guilty pleasure type of reading, it's amazing. Perhaps, Hazel isn't your traditional delicate saintly flower or your typical strong beautiful flawless female lead, but her tenacity in trying to climb out her past nightmare and redeem herself is both admirable and interesting to see. While it does start out dark (in case you couldn't see from my review), it builds on it with interesting characterization and plot. And while the pacing is somewhat slow and thus more conducive to spurts of binge reading every 30ish chapters, the high quality translation makes the reading experience pleasant and easy.
(his inferiority complex fueled delusions)the world? This is that story but for women. Hazel is a despicable bastard. Bad things happen to her and she has my sympathies. But bad things happening to bad people do not make them sympathetic. She is still a despicable bastard, just one that bad things happened to. I am scoring this 2.0 not because I despise MC's character but her character changes... more>>Although I must say, the first few chapters narrating about the FL's first life were rather... dark. And it evidently shows the ML's yandereness (and it's not like the fluffy yandere. It's more like the dark obsessive yandere. Tho idk if that'll change in the second life.)