Stepmothers Are Not Always Evil

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I possess a stepmother who meets a tragic end after abusing the young male lead.

Is there a law that says stepmothers are always evil? Moreover, she is so beautiful!

There are too many hurdles in trying to be nice to the male lead for a comfortable and happy life.

“Don’t worry, I will never accept Escal as my successor, Lena.”

“What?”

My ignorant husband doesn’t know my intentions and treats his son badly.

“Why don’t we send that kid to boarding school?”

“But Escal is only six years old?!”

Even his biological father wants to kick him out so badly.

“I will listen to what you say, please don’t make him leave.”

Don’t worry, my baby. This mother of yours will protect you.

Associated Names
One entry per line
새엄마는 나쁘지 않아요
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
The Male Lead’s Father Refuses to Break Off Our Engagement (2)
I’m Only a Stepmother, but My Daughter is Just so Cute! (1)
She Became The Devil’s Stepmother Who’s About To Be Killed (1)
When I Quit Being A Wicked Mother-in-law, Everyone Became Obsessed With Me (1)
How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love (1)
How to Avoid Becoming a Vicious Step Mother (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Favorite Korean novels
  2. ml after fl
  3. childcare novels>>>
  4. Do It Right This Time
  5. Fluffy novel list

Latest Release

Date Group Release
02/27/24 Readhive c81
02/09/24 Readhive c80
02/09/24 Readhive c79
01/19/24 Readhive c78
12/31/23 Readhive c77
12/16/23 Readhive c76
09/17/23 Readhive c75
09/14/23 Readhive c74
09/11/23 Readhive c73
09/07/23 Readhive c72
09/03/23 Readhive c71
08/30/23 Readhive c70
08/25/23 Readhive c69
08/17/23 Readhive c68
08/12/23 Readhive c67
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5 Reviews sorted by


Nightkiss49
Nightkiss49 rated it
October 31, 2022
Status: c5
I read the novel's spoiler the actions of every character were justified to some degree (let me make it clear not all but some).

I do agree that it's not the right thing to do but anyone in their circumstances/shoes would have done the same thing the main characters did (ML-Father, FL-the stepmother, and OgML-the son).

... more>>
Spoiler

So the stepmother is the MC of the novel and the Duke, the father of the OgML is ML.

I will not put any filters while writing the spoiler, so be cautious some might not like it.


ML was drug by his father and his first wife (she technically r&ped him). Also, he was forced to marry his first (his r&pist) wife who was also pregnant around that time, so he is traumatized by looking at his son (since he is a reminder of that), he feels that he betrayed MC. Let's be honest he is unstable and that's how the abuse on ML's side starts toward his son.

About the OGstepmother she did not hate him (son) at first but mistook the son's first actions, and started to hate him. I am not blaming her because ML's father and son's mother's family tried to k1ll/thread her, before their set up ML and his first wife's marriage and also afterward too. To be honest, it is clear she also was not mentally stable. In the novel, their flashbacks and proof of the attack made her traumatized. It also strains ML, the son, and her and her children's relationship with each other.

The son was a victim of the circumstance and an easy target, in the original and current novels. Unfortunately, his biological mother was selfish b1tch, she didn't treat him nicely. He genuinely wanted to get also with the stepmother but kept on getting misunderstood. By both ML and FL.

Little background information, ML's father did not like the stepmother because she was a poor noble as well as can't bring any benefits, so he was forced to ruin their relationship and So did the First wife's family also did it.

The original novel their a lot of mistakes, misunderstanding on both sides, and no time to heal. In the current life/novel the stepmother tried to correct the mistakes, and misunderstandings and even did try to heal and move on.

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Skite
Skite rated it
May 23, 2023
Status: --
The concept falls through if you think about it too hard.

... more>>
Spoiler

The kid is a child of r*pe. His father, the victim, is understandably traumatized and wants nothing to do with him. And honestly? The man should not have to deal with this constant reminder. He'd be completely justified adopting the kid out and starting over. No one should be forced to raise their rapist's baby.

To make it even worse, Dad was forced to marry his rapist and loses his original fiancée, the love of his life, the OG FL, because of this s*xual assault. The kid's bio mom was an abusive witch who took her fury that her r*pe scheme did not turn out the exact way she wanted out on the kid (dad simply ignored the kid existed, mom was actively abusive).

The OG FL was horrified and devastated that the man she loves was forced to marry his rapist. She is socially ruined by his forced abandonment, and she is harassed, threatened, physically harmed and hunted down by the kid's mom.

These were two very traumatized individuals who have been through the emotional wringer and were mentally fragile.

It is 100% absolutely understandable why they would not want to embrace this kid and should send him to boarding school or similar.

However, the transmigrated MC is pretty flippant about the ML's trauma and feelings regarding his r*pe baby, constantly shoving him to play happy families and berating him for not being a great dad, and that feels gross.

In the original, the grown kid returns and mu*ders his younger half sibling. In front of the child's mom. And then kills his stepmom. This was a toddler. A grown man purposefully mu*dered a small child to punish his mom. Like, holy crap.

One of the largest plot holes is how the dad is transcendently in love with the MC, has been since they met as young adults, and defied convention, his parents, and remained faithful for half a decade to be with her. So it makes zero sense that he hasn't noticed she is a completely different person.

Maybe there will be a late twist that this is a sandwich regression/rebirth story, where our MC was the original FL, who then had an interim life in our world to heal, before returning to try this one again and fix it all...... but that neglects the whole he killed her babies in front of her thing, so that won't make sense.

Due to the laws of the country, the kid, as a firstborn son, automatically inherits everything, so he is a tool for rapist mom's family to steal the entire dukedom. So this kid who should not exist screws over all of the children they had planned on having and wanted.

It doesn't make sense that the super-in-love FL would now be ok just not having any biological children because she needs to protect r*pe-baby's inheritance and position. They just.... completely brush that whole complexity under the rug and ignore it. Especially with the added snag of the other family trying to steal the dukedom via this kid.

It's a hot mess and taking the high road of "love and cuteness conquers all!" really doesn't work in a situation this complex.

They made it complicated for the drama and emotional impact of it, but couldn't write their way back out of it, and so used simplified plot magic to erase all of the wrinkles.

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If you pretend that instead the young boy is a surprise 'whoops!' baby from before the ML met the FL, this whole thing works so much better. With that premise, this is a very cute family-life rofan, (with one of the most sweet, steamy, and devoted MLs,) made better with the addition of a large mystery regarding some missing children from a commoner school and corrupt nobility. <<less
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Lumine simp
Lumine simp rated it
December 30, 2022
Status: Completed
I like this.

At first, of course I hate Hellios, the ML who treated his child Escal, really bad. Like duh, how can you treat your own child that way? Fortunately, Lenia can change his heart.

... more>>
Spoiler

It revealed in later chapters that actually Hellios was also didn't have a happy childhood life. His mother died since he was a child, and his father never smile since then. His only good memories about the past is that his mother always played piano for him if her body is in good condition, but most of time she spent her days in bed. So you can't expect someone who didn't really have a normal childhood to be a good father without learning. He became a good father later bcz there's Lenia, the FL, who taught him how to treat his own son.

Lenia, actually is the OGFL, and the story about the evil Lenia that hated his stepson that lead to the bad ending of the novel actually never happen. So when Charlotte (Hellios's ex-wife) tried to take over Lenia's body (she failed btw), Lenia's soul was separated with her body. And then she lived a poor and sad life in earth, and died. And then the soul come back to her body. It was crazy of how long she spent her life in earth 20years, is actually only a few minutes in her real world. That's why she thought she's not the OGFL, but only a transmigrated soul.

I don't know about other people, but there are so much events that made my hatred towards Hellios gone. He really loves Lenia, and then Escal.

The villain in this novel is Hellios's the Melks family (the ex-wife and her father, the empress's lil brother, and the emperor. The emperor actually is good if he listen to the right person and didn't love his empress too much, bcz the empress is not a good person and a good empress.

The only disappointing part is there's no side story after Escal's little sister was born 😢

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MagykVen rated it
March 28, 2023
Status: Completed
The start of the novel was pretty interesting however it gets boring later on. I don't know if it's the writing or the translation but the characters feel very 2D and lackluster. I recommend reading the MTL provided on the spoiler page for a smoother reading experience.

You have your "I don't want to abuse my child like the og host" MC, the doting ML, and a cute child. Their relationship is solved early on where ML decides not to hate the child because of MC's persuasion and how cute the... more>> child is. Six years of hate towards the child gone just like that I guess. (Not saying it's bad but that it could have used more development, especially since it was such a large part of the plot set up.) The latter half of the novel focuses more on politics and schemes with cute family moments sprinkled in.

My two biggest gripes are the main characters were not very proactive after a while and sometimes the MC believes she can handle herself in situations she can't.

Spoiler
  1. ML tells MC to stay home a few days and wait for him to come back because there might be danger outside. She needs to buy thread to finish ML's present so instead of waiting for ML to come back, or asking a servant to go instead, MC decides to go out shopping. Then in the same day, she sneaks into the academy ALONE to find clues about missing children just to almost get kidnapped.
  2. The emperor gets manipulated by the empress and villain to believe the ML is trying to rebel. While the ML gets sent to the warfront to fight monsters, the side characters try to persuade the emperor, rallies together, and organizes their private armies in case they need to overthrow the emperor. All the ML did was go back and pressure the emperor with the already gathered side characters.
  3. When ML is at war, someone tells MC that he's in danger and needs her. She follows him with her son and NO escorts, bodyguards, or maids. Turns out, it was a trap and they get kidnapped.
  4. When the villain tries to use witchcraft to take over MC's body, MC and ML are in a hostage situation and can't do anything. But then her unborn kid stops the villain from taking over her body (due to ML's bloodline) and her SEVEN YEAR OLD SON kills the villain.
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lyn012618
lyn012618 rated it
October 11, 2022
Status: --
I'm liking it so far. Kinda hate the ML how can he hate his own son. Even though he did not love the mother the child is innocent he doesn't deserve to be hated.
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