I actually really love our morally ambiguous MC. It's understandable to me why she keeps establishing that she's using people and acting in sketchy ways. Understand in both lifetimes she hadn't experience real unconditional, selfless and loyal love until Sarah and Asher. While she uses people she knows will be helpful she still values them. This is evident at the end of the novel after the ousting of the main villains of the story when she takes care of those who stood by her. Even her mother who was cold to her, gave the impression that she blamed Aria for her life, and often jumped ship on Aria in the count household to curry favor with the others... Aria felt grateful to her mother for not abandoning her as an infant or when she remarried. She wished her mother to have real happiness. I feel like had she had a tiny bit of love from her step family and they hadn't framed her to die even if she was still discriminated against, she wouldn't have become a villainess OR bent on revenge. I loved how the story closes with her apprehension after meeting her kind biological paternal family and her mental struggles understanding affection. It may be an unpopular opinion but I think she did grow as a person. She may have never been able to let go of her hate for the siblings and accomplices that killed her in her previous life and her revenge WAS a lot but she brought good to a lot of lives through her actions. She was a major reason why the prince won over the oppressive aristocratic faction. She ended up using her wealth in the end to help normal commoners advance themselves despite having claimed she was only helping sure wins.

On another I find it hard to believe that nobody would've wanted to inflict her brand of revenge on people who hated her from the start for no fault of her own, tricked her into adapting a toxic mindset, framed her, killed her and the the next life tried it again? She did essentially the same thing that Mielle had done in the previous life. Mielle constantly portrayed her as an evil women and brought friends to the manor to ridicule Aria, then she tricked Aria into trying to harm her by using maids to emotionally manipulate her because she was deprived of any real love. Aria mentioned she always tried to compensate by seeking the company of men who fancied her but her looks would never be enough as they would leave her for women of good backgrounds even if she humored them. She framed Aria and used that to kill Aria and her mother. Then in her next life she tried to murder their father and blame Aria. I can't think of Aria as that terrible of a person for what she did.

and for those lovely folks who said everything went super easy for her they didn't all happen according to plan. She failed to steal Oscar from Mielle officially and never got the genuine affection of the count.

Jessie came to fancy a boy that Aria had helped on a whim, Hans. Though he was successful in advancing himself in Aria's institute she had no indication that he would rise up in success from her memories. It was strongly established that Aria tried hard to make sure he would succeed to make Jessie happy bc she was genuinely grateful to Jessie. When Aria finally meets her real family and is troubled and confused by their kindness and love she listens to Jessie's insight. She also defends Jessie and Annie (The other maid) from malicious social climber rumors after she becomes crown princess

This was a relationship of self interest on both parts but they did have a certain loyalty and fondness to some extent. Annie didn't genuinely care like Jessie but she knew that it would be in her best interest to always be loyal and help Aria as much as she can. Aria of course knew but she still paid Annie appropriately for her work by introducing her to a good partner (The first baron to join Aria's investment plan) It leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth that she didn't get punished for being a Mielle lackey in her last life but she was helpful to Aria and was an important part of her intel gathering, success and rise in fame.

Sarah is the kindness, sweetest, loveliest person in the whole story. She genuinely loves and cares for Aria more than anyone alongside Asher but it's a different kind of love. Sarah is like the mother/older sister Aria never had. Though initially Aria approached her for her future status she came to acknowledge Sarah as her most precious friend and truly wished for Sarah's happiness. They had a especially meaningful exchange during their weddings. Sarah's happened first, she asked Aria to place her tiara on her which was an honor meant for closest family. When Aria's wedding came she asked Sarah instead of her mother or her super loving and high status biological grandmother to put her hair accessories in. Sarah's kindness and love affects Aria's outlook significantly. At the end of the story Aria established a public hospital, school and library for commoners to use for free with the money she made through her future sight investment plan. And she put Sarah as principal of the school remembering that Sarah loved children and her dream was to be a teacher. As impure as her original intentions were it is a fact that Aria genuinely loves Sarah.

The two, Oscar and Cain are similar in some ways. Both are important parts to Aria's revenge plan against Mielle.

Cain: Cain of course was the man who scorned Aria and her mother and eventually with the urging of Mielle killed Aria in her first life. However during her time in the first life and initially in the rebirth life he is not over the top with his dislike and did not harass or scheme against Aria. In the second life Aria accidentally seduces him now that she is acting mild mannered and bc she's drop dead gorgeous. When Mielle tried to kill Aria via her poisoning with her most precious maid (Mielle's mother figure), Aria acts pitifully and Cain takes the side of Aria due to infatuation. Eventually he goes a little mad with his obsession with Aria and jealous of Asher's overt display of affection to Aria. He carries on with the aristocrat rebellion plan against Asher (the prince) and he went along with Mielle's plan go frame Aria for killing their father the count (He ends up crippled and partially paralyzed and knows Mielle did it) despite knowing Aria wasn't guilty and it was Mielle. Why? Mielle tempted him by stating that he could pardon Aria in the trial and force her to stay confined by his side instead of leaving with Asher. When the rebellion (which was actually a trap set by the prince) fails and the traitors are executed Aria pretends to forgive Mielle and Cain. They are spared death and reduced to commoners and while Mielle is an idiot and thinks all is good and she can get live a good noble woman life off of Aria's kindness Cain reacts differently. This is the reason why he is pretty pitiful in actuality. He is grateful to Aria for helping the two of them and accepts his place, trying to urge Mielle to do the same. He resolves to work hard as a low paid disgraced service boy to take care of the crippled count who was abandoned by aria's mother as well as Mielle. He ends up being poisoned to death by Mielle who was tricked by Aria because Mielle was mad at the maids that harassed her now that Mielle was a common maid. He dies in tears knowing that his sister did it and that she never learned from her mistakes. I can't bring myself to blame him after everything. He was a product of his environment and he honestly wasn't that horrible.

Oscar:He was the man that Mielle loved the most in both timelines so naturally as revenge Aria went after him. She used her looks and sad puppy dog face to do it and she succeeds. He initially tries to politely refuse because he was obligated to Mielle due to his family but Aria pushed pretty hard. He didn't even know she was purposely doing it. He never ended up in a formal relationship with her though he showed he favored her and did wish to be with Aria instead of Mielle after they had exchanged gifts and spent time together in the garden. Mielle who was jealous contacted Oscar's older sister (The duke's daughter who married the prince by force and took the power in the first life and was the biggest princess candidate so she had tons of power in noble circles) to get Oscar. By the way Oscar had no real power in his family and had no connections in society to back him. His sister threatens Oscar that she will harm Aria if he doesn't go with Mielle. Oscar agrees, he literally sobs and begs his sister not to harm Aria. At this pont Aria wasn't even super powerful yet so this gesture might've really saved her to some degree. He felt love towards Aria that was well intentioned and though he was attracted by looks like every other guy in this book it his feelings seemed genuine. He then tells Aria via their regular friendly letters that Aria had suggest earlier in the book that they should not be contacting eachother anymore and tries to avoid her. Aria clearly didn't love him and was just upset she couldn't steal him from Mielle. By the end in the aforementined aristocract faction rebellion he pleads for his father and sister to stop and not do it but he is dragged into a room and the doors are blocked so he cannot leave. When the hoax rebellion ends he quietly offers the prince that he will testify for the prince in order to repent for the family's actions. In his mind he mentions that he still loved Aria but knew that she had made herself a success and found Asher so she wasn't in his reach anymore. The prince who is jealous of Oscar's past with Aria is pretty petty with Oscar without provocation. In the end Oscar watches his whole family beheaded for treason with sad eyes because he did love his family despite everything. He is demoted to be a commoner. Even Mielle who claimed to love him was pretty eager to jump ship and go after the young foreign king. (Who was pretending to help the aristocrat faction under Asher's orders) Well he never did show real love to Mielle and she kind of knew he was coerced into it but.... I genuinely felt bad for Oscar.

Onto the two most terrible people... Both of them hate Aria because of her background. Mielle does it because she is jealous of Aria's looks and hates peasants. She is also motivated by her superficial infatuation with Oscar. Often mocked Aria because she wasn't raised as a noble. She was the one that caused Aria and her mothers humiliation and death in the first life. Her specialty was trying to portray Aria as a bully and often organized parties where her friends would mock Aria in earshot. (See the Cain spoiler for what happened to her) Unlike with Cain I felt no sympathy for her. The count always loved her unconditionally and even pretended Aria's acheivements were Mielles but to frame Aria, Mielle pushed the count down stairs intending to kill him but ended up crippling him and didn't feel guilty at all. When Aria pretends to save her she assigns Annie as Mielle's boss while pretending to be kind to Mielle. Annie eager to please as always harasses Mielle in a petty way by pointing out a bunch of minor faults in her work overdramatically and embarrassing her at a party using her wicked woman reputation. As I said in the Cain section ends up accidentally killing Cain before she's executed. A fitting end for her... If it was only Aria being angry about the past life framing and execution considering she was a real villainess I would've said her revenge was a bit too much but with the trying to kill her father who unconditionally loved her + Aria framing incident I find it harder to feel bad. Call me a vengeful woman...

Next. Isis is Oscar's older sister and the one with real power in the family and social circles. She was the one everyone believed would be the next crown princess and was in the last life (see Oscar section) She hated Aria simply because of the fact that she didn't want to be in laws with a prostit**es daughter bc she was going to push Mielle onto Oscar for the count family's money. She openly hated on Aria and tried to threaten Asher (who thanks to Aria changing the timeline was a major threat and in a strong position) and he just laughed it off. The aristocrat rebellion was a trap set by Asher and she ends up executed.

Anyways... He is the crown prince that was called the aristocrat's puppet in the first life because of unfortunate circumstances. In the second life he is by chance (Aria) luckier and shows that he is very much intelligent and competent. For a long time he doesn't reveal he is the prince and acts mysteriously to Aria. One thing to love about him is that he is in LOVE LOVE with Aria. He's practically a lovesick puppy a 1/4 in and it's only for Aria. He does big romantic gestures and does everything he can to help Aria. He saved her big time when Mielle tried to frame her. He can be kind of petty and possessive towards Aria but not to an unhealthy extent. He is pretty humorous and a tease too but strangely kind of innocent towards Aria oftentimes. He is actually really cute.

Also bonus points to Asher... He reacts to Aria's reveal as a mysterious investment boss, her reveal about her powers and her past life incredibly well despite feeling a bit upset. He had also crossed some personal space boundaries and kept secrets and it was good he wasn't hypocritical and didn't take her reveal badly. Actually I kind of find his falling in love with Aria believable. He initially is interested in her because she appeared smart when they first met, then she gains the approval of his close aid, then they end up meeting and finding out they have compatible personalities, can speak easily to eachother and have similar motivations. They can be their malicious unmasked selves around each other. Then they become closer through connections with Aria's investment business faction and aspirations to start up public service institutions. One may argue that he is male mary sue but I love me some fluff. I for one have witnessed the transformation of insensitive aloof man into love s*aves/wife idiots 3 times having older brothers and cousins.

I didn't appreciate his nighttime room creeping even though he would only show up to leave flowers... that wasn't good. Well at least Aria liked it -_-'
Aria had it bad for him too. Though she was a real fox in her first life she was often really embarrassed about Asher's flirting and concerned he'd ever come to hate her. She works hard after marriage to make sure she can help him and trusts him almost always unconditionally throughout the whole story. They're super lovey dovey and I loved it.

Also I'm going to just say that I'm 99% sure the ML is the crown prince, but so far he doesn't seem that attractive to me. But then neither is MC.

Also, her OP cheat with the hourglass that can turn back time... was that really necessary? 1 chapter into finding out is usage and she has began to physically torment her sister and then reversing the time. Which really serves no purpose except probably using up more of her life force and momentary satisfaction in abusing her sister. Her villain goals are very low.

She even managed to steal her evil sister's fiancee. I was like wow, her sister never used that low method but here we have the petty MC trying every dirty trick to harm the sister. I gave up on the story when she discovered this magical hourglass that turns back the time. At this point, everything just revolved around this evil Sue MC. She also takes advantage of her teacher's kindness and exploits her to get opportunities to show off.

If I was a frustrated and a salty victim of bullying I probably would have liked this sort of victorious revenge heroine. But I'm no longer a child. Irl, revenge lead to nothing good. Thus that it is why I found the story and ending unbelievable and unrealistic in the very sense of the word.

If I have to sums the heroine and the ML I would say plot armor, OP, beautiful but also rotten.

"I'm gonna pretend I'm nice... I'm gonna make them pay harder than they deserve" a sort of mentality I don't encourage anyone to take or sympathize.

borderline a sociopath.

Ex: how do you not realize the dude in the hood is the crown prince? More frustratingly, how does she not realize the hourglass turns back time? And dude, Lane is so obviously the Crown Prince's man. So. Many. Hints!! And much reason to not disregard them & think them over carefully. And yet...

The FL decides she needs cash so she can stock up on goods that will face a shortage in the near future, so she can sell those goods at a markup and make money. That's a fine idea. She also decides to use her time travelling powers to win big at the casino. That's also a fine idea.

The issue is that she isn't subtle in the slightest way at the casino. She goes, plays one game and immediately wins a jackpot, then leaves. She does this three days in a row without considering how much she stands out for coming in, playing one game, and making it off with absurd amounts of money. And to make things worse, she's playing in the casino as a minor, so she wears a disguise to avoid being caught. Despite this, she spares absolutely no consideration to say, playing a few games of pure luck to take some losses before and after a big win to make her seem like more of a regular customer who just so happened to get lucky.

On her second-last day at the casino, she faces some consequences at least in that other patrons want her money, but she's immediately saved by the ML. And her solution to avoid other customers from mugging her after she wins is... to wear a different disguise, but otherwise do the exact same thing. Somehow this works.

So her brother Cain and her sister Mielle are sentenced to beheading along with a load of other nobles for the crime of treason. The FL, however, steps in and lightens their punishment to be servitude at the Imperial Castle (for Cain) and becoming the FL's maid (for Mielle). The justification is that this is all a way to make them suffer more.

"Making them suffer more" in the end turns out to be... Mielle working as a maid for a couple weeks, then being manipulated into poisoning her brother to death when she meant to poison her supervisor maid who was harassing her. The poison is fast-acting so Cain doesn't suffer that much, and he already knew Mielle was the type of person to kill their father, so did he really feel that much more betrayal at being killed by her?

Mielle's final punishment for the murder is... beheading. Just like she would've been if the FL hadn't stepped in. What was the point of that interlude? Since it was basically Mielle's fault that Cain was also tried for treason, she would've felt just as guilty if not more so if she saw her brother being beheaded at the original execution scene. All the FL did was make it so Mielle can blame the FL for everything (since the FL explicitly manipulated her into poisoning her brother, including providing the poison) instead of blaming herself.

one of scenarios was about a casino. Her sister said something like "Oh put a statue of our prince in front of the casino in honor of him" and her response is "Oh but seeing prince while in casino will make the people mad and blame him if they lose." And that just like blew everyone's mind like "??? Wow amazing, she's brilliant, not like her sister"

getting revenge, marrying into a high position, getting rich, and being loved by everyone.

issue of MC's lineage is revealed, which was the only interesting thing about her. It would be nice to have read about MC going from someone of the lower class and genuinely making her way up and having to deal with her lineage standing in the way but the author makes her royalty in the end for the sole reason of ensuring MC has a perfect ending. Lame.