Silly fluff. If you don't think about, it is a cute story with many warm moments between a mother and a child as well as a man and a woman that are decently written and translated. The mother in law is pretty great too.

If you do think about it, nothing makes sense. The premise is like this: The MC reads a novel whose main character was ab*sed as a child for a while by his beautiful step mother for no clear reason and eventually is kicked out of the house,... more>> but after much difficulty is adopted by a duke, grows up and becomes the emperor to then take revenge on his tormentors and find love somewhere along the way.

Our MC dies horrifically due to her oven exploding (gas leak I presume) and is reincarnated as this evil step-mother about a month after the ab*se starts, the child being about 7 (I'm guessing). She obviously stops the ab*se immediately, but she never explains herself to the child. Why did the ab*se suddenly start and why did it suddenly end? This isn't touched upon, and it is very awkward.

She decides her relationship with her step-son is too far gone, so she plans to contact the aforementioned duke so that he directly adopts the child, without the years of ab*se and homelessness, and she can get out of the way. This seems a bit extreme to me, but it is a reasonable course of action. However, rather than just having the duke adopt the child, her plan is to have a contract marriage with the duke for a year and leave only after that. Now this, this is silly.

Why did she need to stay? She already knows the duke would have taken good care of him all by his lonesome and supposedly she is the worst thing in the child's life, so instead of letting him escape to freedom, she basically decides to keep tormenting him... from her own viewpoint. It would have been at least understandable if she married the duke, but kept her distance from the child and supported him from the shade, yet she doesn't. Far far from it, she happily clings to him and cooks for him and so on. In fact she spoils him rotten and is a pretty bad parent, but it somehow works out because the child is basically an angel.

So in spite of her supposed plan, in practice she grows close to the child with time and they start having a loving parental relationship, yet she still plans to leave after a year. This makes even less sense and is actually abusive. The child already loves you, how is it a good idea for a child to have his mother abandon him? Ridiculous.

This silliness is compounded by almost the exact thing with the duke himself. For truly no reason, the duke that is the most beautiful man in the empire and the strongest and the richest, who was never interested in any woman and never married in the original novel to his dying day is completely smitten by the MC after meeting her once, maybe twice for probably a total of an hour.

She showed a bit of intelligence maybe, and she is very good-looking, but still. From nothing to completely in love for truly no discernible reason. She wasn't even particularly impressive or offered him that great of a deal. In fact, he obviously doesn't care about her part of the deal by chapter 10, and he says so. Before even signing the deal, his only proposed condition is to extend the contract marriage from a single year to a thousand or something.

At first, she thinks this is a joke, and I agreed with her, but this continues for months. Obviously, he is in love, and she is in love, but she still plans to abscond in a year. This is her biggest problem that is mentioned almost every other chapter, how she can't get used to her loving husband and child because she has to leave in a year, but the problem is completely self-imposed and irrational.

So this is quite annoying.

Anyway, if you just don't think about it, it is fine. Just plough through and you will have fun, mostly. There is no depth here, though. Nada. Zilch. <<less

I think I can give my honest thoughts regarding this novel.

I don't really like it.

It's main draw back is that it's written specifically as a "Web Novel"... with ALL the artificial devices those kinds of novels use to drag a single plot point to eternity.

... more>> And then, instead of developing the plot or continuing the story, the author just drops it or ties it with a forceful knot and begins to weave a completely different set up for another future dread.

We have being jumping from plot device to plot device without a satisfying pay off, without a competent resolution...

It feels like the author spent a whole week hammering iron to forge a sword, then another week to decorate it and making it beautiful, then another week to sharpen it so that it's the best frikken sword anyone has ever seen, and when he walks up to the arena to finally use it, he slaps his enemy with a wet noodle...

It's underwhelming, the "child elements" are just "there" and don't relate to anything else in the story, the "romance" has staled so much that if it was bread you probably could use it as a hammer, the "mystery" keeps on piling on and on and on and on, there is no real arch, well... no, there "are" arches, but when they finish its just a wet noodle!

I like the ideas originally in the story, the particular magic is interesting, but it's chapter 68 and there is no real purpose or goal or ANYTHING in the story...

The "reincarnator", "tells" us a LOT about the original story and how things transpired and whatever and you know what? I wanna READ THAT STORY, because the reincarnator has twisted it so hard and the devices are so ALIEN and completely unrelatable to what is happening RIGHT NOW, that I just find all those things obnoxious.

We spent like 30 frikken chapters setting up the original story, only for the character to start "This wasn't explained in the original story!!!"......... I won't spoil it but it was SO FORCED that I wanted to smack the author in the head and ask "WHY DID YOU MAKE HER A REINCARNATOR WITH KNOWLEDGE OF THE STORY IF YOU'RE GONNA DISREGARD IT COMPLETELY!?!?!?!?"

Also, as fast as it was presented, and dropped without any kind of resolution or explanation whatsoever... Now we have "Another" mystery that feels so out of the left field and forced (OMG THIS ALSO WASN'T IN THE ORIGINAL STORY) I just want to kick something...

Anyway, yeah, it's not a "bad" story... it's just OK, so 3 stars...

EDIT: Lowering the score to 2 stars... the most horrible of plot devices appeared and I can't excuse that, Do you like when there is some progress for the autor to use amnesia???? no?? well... me neither, 2 stars... <<less

The MC was so inconsistent on her treatment of the kid, first she says that he has already be hurt too much by his stepmom so its better for her to step aside for him to heal and makes plans to left him in the care of his benefactor of the novel, then she keeps aproaching the child over and over and lamenting that the kid is still terrified of her but doing his best to hide it. And she keeps pretending everything its fine and never adresses the truly... more>> awful treatment he recieved previously and THIS its with the previous history of original stepmom at first pretended to be all lightness and sweetness but as soon her husband died the claws came out, what a way to gaslight the poor child, I could not help but cringe everytime she gets near the poor child.

She gives no thought to his own thoughts and feelings only to how she loves to look at his adorableness and HER own self satisfaction in plying him with sweets. Plus she is the kind of mother that will her kid sweets all day long and let him do whatever he wants, good thing she is not the sole caretaker.

The ML at least its not the cookie cutter Ice block but he did went from 0 to SHE MUST BE MINE! Ridicously fast. <<less

I completely disagree with FEMA with this. First of all, a child that had been ab*sed will rather not see you at all and MC never said she is going to left him all alone for it's to heal itself. She wished for them to be close but knows that it was not ok to rush things up. She respects him and always tries to make her smile. She understands him and that's what makes it heartwarming. Second of all, about the "artificial device", I had not seen it at... more>> all. The only thing that I see is only 100 people have a special ability alone in the empire (which I won't say it because I don't want to spoiler it too much) and a pistol to help with it for beginner and that's it. Like how others novel with " mana" and stuff but no others special "device" like the modern world. It is unavoidable that the story changed and the original story slowly become useless because of the unexpected plot just like others or else how can it be fun if you just follow the original story like following a script. I love this novel because it was not cliche like the ML is cold and stuff but no, he is straightforward but at the same time mind his words around MC. He is heartwarming and also sometimes jealous but know what lines are not to be crossed. I don't even know how many times I thought it was cliche but then a fast-curveball slaps me in the face and it always makes me laugh. Fair enough, you can have your own dislike and the way we think is different from each other so I won't say much. I just wanna say, at first I was reluctant to read it because of a few bad reviews but I think it's better to judge yourself. <<less

I'm writing this as a rebuttal of what "kryokori" said in his review.

... more>>

Spoiler

"the stepmother, she possessed, in the novel faked being nice and sweet and only after her husband died - she shown her true colors

yet here, while the husband is still alive the household already see her mistreating young master - so where exactly is this 'fake sweet nice persona' that we heard of before?"

That's not even true in the slightest, the novel starts after the death of her husband not before, there are no contradictions.

[collapse]

Other than that, It's a pretty heartwarming story, fairly standard in the genre but fun nonetheless. If you like this type of story, you will probably like this one, it's fairly well written, has a bit of a plot outside of the fluff as well so that's a plus.

It shares all of the pluses and minuses of the majority of novels in this genre, from the cold yet seemingly gentle (to her) ML, to the traumatized child that warms up to her as time goes by.

Not exactly a literary masterpiece, but it doesn't have to be, it's a nice relaxing read, for when you want to wind down and read some fluff, at least up to chapter 30, but I doubt there will be drastic changes later on.

So compared to other works in the same genre, I'd give it around a 4/5. <<less

I like the story its refreshing to me. And I like both FL and ML they were clever, the ML is a straight forward person, not that cold type ML. And Hir also very cute! I highly recommend it♡

Dunno why most of ppl give this novel a low star but everyone have diff opinion so I dont really mind that. And you, whoever reading this (review) should give this novel a try.

Sorry for my bad English! And Happy Reading everyone♡

Not even worth for me to review this properly. This is just bad writing, can't believe you can give this higher than 2 stars if you have the ability to think at least the same level as a chestnut. Now I think about it 2 stars is way too much. I was being overly positive...

Chapters are super short but I don't even know why I tried to read it until this point. I feel s*upid just with that.

4/5, the only reason I'm giving this a 4 rather than a 3 is because I sincerely think this story has potential. The chapters are rather short and the story itself is a bit awkward. Its as if the author knows how they want to end the story and are now desperately finding a way to get there as quickly as possible. This however leads to awkward interactions between characters and a not well written plot.

as I said before I'm still giving it 4 stars simply because the idea of... more>> the story is so good and I do think it has potential. Now its up to the author to show this potential in the upcoming chapters, otherwise I'll be lowering my score to 3 stars. <<less

It's pretty cute. Although not as perfect as others but it's got all the things I want. Fluff and obsessive ML. Translation quality is definitely great. I hope to read more childcare scenes. Hir is definitely cute. If you want to read a light one with slight childcare and a clingy ML, then this is the one for you. ML is definitely cute with his obsession and clinginess. Although, for me, he fell in love to quickly but I'm fine with that. All the more fluff and less drama with... more>> other girls. <<less

Well translated, and the story is rather similar to others in the genre. Its the usual dense female protagonist who gets into a contracted marriage for her stepson's sake. But there is something really off about the whole story, and its unlike anything else I have seen. It almost feels like several different authors wrote the story at times, or perhaps its the complete lack of editing. The chapters skip around strangely, the focus goes from one thing to another, and the worst part is that the protagonist's actions and... more>> behavior don't make much sense.

The ML is also just infatuated with her from the start, without any seeming reason except that she is smart and beautiful, and all this happens instantly despite him never having been interested in women before. It just feels off, like the author is trying to copy other stories but didn't put in the effort to flesh out these things or think them through. For example, in one chapter, following the Protagonist's visit to her fiance's manor, the next chapter just starts with some new character we have never heard of (The Emperor at that) kidnapping her, having a conversation about something and then being rescued by the ML. Its just so weirdly sudden and out of place, and this sort of thing is all over. <<less

The concept of this story is right up my alley. Cute kid, stepmother FL, obsessive ML, but the execution was not the best. The translation is great, so no issues there but the flow of the story is just a bit meh?

honestly, nothing I write hasn't already been said by anyone else. The FL's way of treating the son is a little insensitive to all the ab*se he faced at her hands. Yeah sure, classic transmigration of 'I' didn't do those things, but he's a kid, he doesn't know that,... more>> and the trauma is still valid and real.

I stopped reading about halfway through the translated chapters, so I can't talk a lot about those, but honestly, I was just too bored to keep going. <<less

I like the interactions of the ML and the FL, although it was not properly explained how they fell in love with each other. Plus, I love the parts where the kid is shown but................... It doesn't make sense?? I seriously do not understand the plot at all.

Thank you for translating this Novel

A cute loving ML and a smart FL with her lovely son

Cant wait for the rest of the chapters

(The ML fell in love fast while she treat the relationship as a work)

The kid is the only reason I kept reading this far.

FL so far feeds him only with sweets except for a soup he ate after she just woke up in that world. She just tried to wipe ab*se with sweets, without any explanation, and continued to stay close to him until he opened his heart to her, but she still plan to leave him after a year with a new father, our ML.

ML is smitten with her from their first meeting, without any apparent reason. He doesn't have any other... more>> characteristics except that he is handsome, rich, and more powerful than even the Emperor. Those are, of course, characteristics of a perfect ML, but it shouldn't be only that. He doesn't have any depth, but again most of these characters don't. He kept kissing her shoulders, and neck and openly showed his affection but even though she admitted to herself that she loves him, again for no apparent reason, and in a very short time, she still plans to leave.

The translation is great, and I will probably read more because of the kid, he is so cute, but right now, I am rating this with 3⭐ <<less

soo... if I get it right from the few chapters I read

will the author keep on contradicting themself further in the story as well? hmm

The writing style and the humor is very good in this one. You'd think the plot would be cliche but no, the author kept it fresh. And the translation is very beautifully done 👌👌👌

10/10 would recommend

My fav part and character in this series is definitely this cute cute kid Hir :)

And I think he's the one which made me decided to still give this novel as 4/5 instead of 3.

Actually, I like the story, the plot... It was interesting, made me curious about what will happen in the plot later. But,

To be honest I was a bit frustrated with the FL :") well, maybe not just a bit :") She's kind and clever with strong minds. She's the logical thinking kinda FL not... more>> the definitely not the feeling type, and I was frustrated seeing how sweet the ML is (he's definitely sweet and a cute pup kinda ML, I love him). She's captivated by him. She knows everything about his affections towards her, she blushed and realized that she likes him too but the FL keeps on disregarding and neglecting what he said and his feelings and not paying attention to him regardless of how sweet he was. She just keeps on focusing on her work and the 1 year time limit she has............. Until this 100 chapters I read right now :")))))))))))))

This romance addict soul of mine is screaming, really. Out of frustration ;A; <<less