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This is an interesting story! The FL is extremely timid, partially due to her personality but more due to past trauma. It will take her some time to overcome her fear. Her character growth is just the right pace, not too slow and not too fast.

ML is a typically "cold duke" found in fantasy stories. Without getting his view, I can only speculate: he seems to struggle with expressing himself correctly. This inability to say what's on his mind in an honest manner causes misunderstandings between him... more>> and the FL.

If I have a criticism with this story, it's that the FL has zero reasons to show mercy towards the ML considering their history. The author could have done something, anything, to give the FL a real reason to have some small affection for the ML of the past that could carry over to the current timeline ML. But did they? No. This is a common flaw in FLs written by Japanese authors: FL like ML just cause, even when the circumstances should make her hate his guts. I find this trope extremely annoying.

That said! So far its been properly paced and well written that I can forgive the glaring logical flaw. Translation is well done, with only a few misspellings and first-third person mix ups.

I recommend this for anyone interested in character growth. 😊 <<less

Not a satisfying story. I read this very much piecemeal, bit by bit, through the Royalty Writes translators. I was perfectly happy to do so until they started paywalling the last couple chapters and only giving you a chunk of it for free. Not cool. It's one thing to offer advance chapters (not that there still isn't still risks involved), but to make it so you absolutely have to pay to finish the story, no matter how much money, is unreasonable and quite frankly steps on the toes of the... more>> original writer and publisher. Translations should be passion projects at their core, this kind of thing where it's more about money than sharing something good with a wider audience is what gets translators DMCA'd.

The story itself was okay but didn't really have a good payoff. I felt like the pacing didn't lead to enough and it was overall bland but did string me along for quite some time. <<less

Ortansia, at least in the 22 translated chapters I've read, is one of those tiring Japanese cowardly protagonists. There's a particular style of Japanese LN/WN cowardly/low self esteem protagonists who have extremely circuitous thinking and exclaim in onomatopoeia (hee! Ahh!!) in their thoughts.

I have nothing against cowardly protagonists but I personally don't enjoy the way Ortansia is written. While I understand her cowardice and fear is both nature and nurture, she is also s*upid which makes for an all-round tiring pov. You would think someone who was framed an excecuted... more>> would be a little more suspicious of men with burlap sacks before they shove her in them.

I also do not understand her motivation and conviction in her foster brother who literally let her be innocently executed because he didn't believe in her. Of course the novel might elaborate but I don't feel like slogging till there.

I'm being harsh but I simply did not enjoy existing in Ortansia's head. <<less

I really enjoy this story, even though parts of its storyline aren’t new. I stumbled upon this series through its manga version first, before digging around and found the Japanese novel on Syosetsu site.
I agree with @draw2much on her/his review, with exception that the author does drop hints later on and along the way as to why Ortansia (FL) cares for her foster brother Girard (ML). (Full disclosure that I’ve read up to Chapter 97 of the Japanese novel). From her 1st life, she really looked up to, respected and admired Girard for his righteous character, his intelligence and well-rounded talents, as well as how he lived his life seemingly with dignity and courage. She contrasted this with how she perceived how she had lived her own life - which was one filled with reclusiveness - her own inability to let others in and ultimately one of loneliness, sadness and regret. One of the regrets was her inaction or inability to make friends (including with Girard), enlarge her circle of influence and her mind. The other regret was the death of her foster father - the Duke of Verite - and ultimately her inability to help her family. In her 2nd life, Ortansia is determined to do her best to live with courage and have a positive impact to address these regrets to help her family. She is not perfect the 2nd time around; she is still afraid of taking the first step at times - but she is learning to get comfortable in her own skin (including with the gifts of blessings that the Goddess has granted her), and learning how to calm herself down as well as when to rely on others to get things done. I really enjoy reading about her growth both in the manga and in the light novel. The manga’s style is a bit “raw” in its simplicity - but I really like how it conveys more of the characters’ emotions without too much adornment.