Many readers will be put off by how it is seen as adultery with her being married and nonconsensual. However, that is just a snippet of their relationship.

it takes place at banquet and FL goes outside for some fresh air and the ML drags her into the room to do it. Eventually we are left with a cliffhanger of someone walking in on them lol.

We have the "second male lead" that in the end of the novel becomes kinda a villain.

His name is Duke MoonYeo or Han Jewol and he's kinda of a prince of a kingdom. He is too beautiful and pretty and for that reason even draw the lust of men and that was a curse for him, for that reason it had rumors that he wasn't attracted to any men and women and didn't like any kind of touch. He was friend of female lead Yujo and her older brother Yuha. The female lead was kinda of a princess from another kingdom and it was being attacked by the kingdom of male lead and second male lead.

By the way, the general and prince that led the attack to the female lead's kingdom was the male lead, Red King Garan.

Long story short, in order to save her kingdom, female lead hide her identity and marry the second male lead, but she was not worried because the second male lead would protect her.

Let's gonna say that female lead marry in a fake marriage because she made an agreement with the Crown Prince of the invader kingdom, that in exchange for her to get some information the Crown Prince would give her kingdom a truce. While the female lead is trying to investigate and gather those information, the second male lead is being sexually ab*sed by the disgusting Crown Prince. The second male lead give all those s*xual favors because he wants to save the female lead and keep her safe.

So, the second male lead actually loved the female lead, after he got fond of her and her brother, that showed him affection and respect since the first time they met.

I feel like he never had any kind of love, only arousing the attraction and lust of people, and that's why he was so pitiful and lonely.

For sure, he wasn't perfect, he had his defects and secrets, he did some bad stuff and even betrayed the female lead, but in my opinion, he only did all that to protect her life. His protection wasn't perfect and was full of shortcomings, but he made something that he felt that was super disgusting just in order to protect the only person he ever loved.

He never touched the female lead because he respected her, and what happened in the end? The male lead, Red King, either by jealousy or anger, ended up forcing s*x with female lead and literally f*cked her in front of second male lead, Duke MoonYeo. After literally finishing of f*cking female lead in front of the Duke, the Red King kidnapped her and threatened the second male lead, if he didn't give the information the Red King wanted, he would keep having sex/raping female lead. The duke, second male lead, in order to save her, go after the Crown Prince, the Crown Prince discovered that second male lead betrayed him to help the female lead, so the Crown Prince beaten him up.

The Duke MoonYeo, second male lead, ended up getting "crazy" because he felt no one understands him, he felt hurt, disgusted, lonely and betrayed, even by female lead that was moaning in front of him while having s*x with male lead.

Of course, Yujo, the female lead ended up with the Red King, the male lead, because they were fated ones, even despite raping her several times in a day.

Meanwhile, the second male lead, the Duke, ended up becoming a villain, he blamed the female lead for loving and sleeping with the other prince while he was doing disgusting s*xual acts to keep her safe. So, he tried to kill female lead and her brother, so the three of them could ended up together in the after life. Of course, the second male lead was killed by the male lead, the rapist that had the heart of the female lead.

I feel that the second lead couldn't put all the blame of the s*xual ab*sed he suffered in the hands of female lead, but definitely she was partially responsible, since he did all that for the love he had for her. I felt so sad and my heart hurt so much, his life was so tragic and pitiful and he only wanted love, but ended up alone and crazy and finally died. I wish someone could give him love and comfort for the rest of his life 😢.

(Despite the novel not having a tragedy tag, because ended up having a happy end, for me it was still a tragedy, because of the death of second male lead).

Although the Crown Prince made Jewol go through all those bullsh*t and disgusting stuff I still can't forgive Jewol for what he did to Yeha and Yuha and Yujo. No matter how he feel about the two it still doesn't erase the fact that he spied on them and put them through all those trouble. And he basically went lunatic at the end. His character was frustrating. I pity him for what the crown prince did to him but I also hate his sins.

WTF??? I didn't like how she just went and stole Jukmo for Garan to follow her. She admittedly went back to snatch her man. Lol. But seriously girl? You'd really put both Nations at risk for the sake of love? What bullsh*t is that? Have a complete family and experience love at the cost of Yeha which you protected. At the cost of your brother who died to protect you and the nation. I was honestly disappointed. And Garan too! Aaaag it's just so disappointing. I understand the Emperor's anger. They're both s*upid. It all went well because the next crown prince didn't take after his father but what if he turned out to be s*upid, immoral and incompetent? Reading Yujo's thought about everything being part of the destiny—how she came up with the thought that it happened all for the sake of the baby inside her like it's all meant to be and stuff—like girl are you shitting on me?

the FL is only a person who was forced to go to YeongSeong to save her land and it's people, she is by no means a trained person or a professional or has any such experience before so she might come off as a naïve one who uses brawls more than her brains but I don't dislike it. It actually seems quite realistic (amidst all the unrealistic stuff ofc)

I mean, I was kind of intrigued when the ML was named as 'The Red King" like that's what's the ML from Basara is called as well. And then, it hit me that these two stories are so similar to each other. Like even the FL, she is supposed to be the ML' enemy as he's destroyed her homeland and then basically stands on the other side of him (like in Basara) however, falls in love with him without knowing his identity and even has s*x with him for the first time in a cave, after like escaping the clutches of death (LIKE IN BASARA) Then, the second male lead is a soft feminine kinda guy who does some questionable stuff at times (Like Agehaaaa) and then tries to save the FL and assist her, also gets... sexually harassed by hateful guys and eventually dies. Alright, maybe I'm reading too much into this but that's cuz the name The Red King just always reminds me of Basara alright, it's definitely not cuz I'm too jobless.

Anyways, that's why I felt like these two stories overlap in certain aspects, but this also reminds me that I should reread Basara once my exams are over lmao

tragic past which was caused by each main characters' family

i wouldn't say this is adultery considering the fact that it's a fake marriage, but some people might not have the same opinion as me

the daughter of FL and ML. She seems to have some sort of prediction (?) power. She can see the future, I guess? But it wasn't elaborated much by author so I'm not too sure

death of the brother. I was hoping he would make it even though it was pretty obvious the author was gonna kill him off lol

i dont blame him for a particular dub con scene after all the FL decisions, I cant really blame him that he snapped.

just a childhood friend/brother which FL made a deal to fake marry him so she can get a treaty and save her nation after she find for him and the crown prince a woman.

and NEVER EVER saw him for anything else.

and he is also is a fcking traitor from the start he was a spy and betrayed the FL and lied to her he married because he wanted her and he knew that the treaty was a lie and also kidnap her brother for the crown prince and in the end he get the death he deserved.

I think Jewol somehow deserve his death. I mean, I sympathize him for what he had been through but that's not enough to betray and kill people. And I don't think Yuha's death was necessary? Plus I wonder what Garan was thinking when he found out Yujo's real identity, like I was expecting to read that in the story but the author does not include that. And the ending is much better than to what I am expecting. I wish there were more.

I wished there was a better ending for Jewol since his life was quite tragic and it was painful watching him being violated by the CP. Also, it would have been nice if there was a more in-depth look into the characters, especially the villains, such as the Crown Prince. It would be nice to see his human side rather than just the monster he is who is blinded by greed and power. I wished there were some details to make the reader hesitate to hate the villain as we learn his tragic background like with Jewol.