Have been absolutely loving the Manhwa and will be following along the novel translation too! (Hopefully it doesn’t get dropped partway through >.<)

so I read about 60 manhwa chapters, all the mtl'd chapters, and went through the spoiler thread.

I'm about to go on a 5 paragraph essay rant here, so if you don't wanna read all of that, skip to the very last paragraph for my general summary and rating lmao

The plot itself is not really anything new or original. The characters themselves are also not really that unique. I became very quickly irritated at how FL is sometimes smart and cunning, but other times naive and overly trusting. She was... more>> reborn AND is the literal creator/author of this world, but her childlike innocence at times is very unrealistic and strange. Her entire character and personality very clearly stem from misogynistic ideals, but the author tries to pass it off as "oh, she's so smart and innovative for doing all this hard work for the duchy and creating these business opportunities!" While at the same time making her submissive and innocent to the ML. When I say misogynistic, I mean stereotypes often seen in Asian novels where women are expected to be smart and fall into that "independent and fierce" trope we so often see, but also the still problematic parts where the female lead ends up being tamed by a man and is obedient in the relationship, often being soooo apparently high IQ in everything but romance/s*xual stuff bc she's still gotta be "pure".
What makes this even more ridiculous is that at some points, the ML himself notices how wishy-washy she is, literally going on to say how contradictory she is. The author is AWARE of what they're doing.

Onto the whole sibling issue... I personally don't enjoy in*est, and people fight a lot about whether or not step-sibling relationships are considered in*est. To me... not really? Step siblings are siblings because their parents married, not half-siblings who actually share blood because they have 1 shared parent. One is a matter of legality, the other is biological blood. In this case, ML and FL are step-siblings, and many people argue that it's even less "in*est-y" because they didn't grow up together so they don't have that familial sisterly/brotherly bond. Partially true, but I'll get into that later.

So, theres the issue of r*pe in this novel. In the spoiler threads, there is so much chaos and poorly translated paragraphs/chapters and general misunderstandings, but there was a lot of confusion over whether or not the FL actually got r*ped. To my understanding, no she was not. There was an attempt from her cousin in law, but the ML saved her in typical damsel in distress fashion. I'm not sure if r*pe is brought up again later in the story, but I'm pretty sure there was only this one time attempt towards the beginning of the novel and thats it.

anyways, the ML is what makes me feel weird. The premise of the story is that FL takes the head of the ducal house position temporarily for 2 years because the ML isn't of age yet, but she promises to give it to him rightfully so when he turns 18. This means the whole plot basically starts when he's 16. The romance is a bit slow to start, but they start having mutual feelings while the FL is still the duchess. This is predatory behavior, and I'm very surprised to see that NO ONE has mentioned this. Like, hello?? He's still a MINOR. She's 20+ years old. I say 20+ because she transmigrated into the novel as a child, so she has extra mental years, lets say she's pushing her early thirties. She's technically twice his age and falls for him? What the f*ck.

still think this isn't predatory? Well, before she even actually does feel romantic feelings for him, she strangely always makes weird comments about his body. How much he has 'grown' and his muscles and height or whatever. Girl, why does this get brought up every other chapter? This is weird and makes me super uncomfortable.

Anyways, back the the in*est problem. It's not technically in*est, but why does the FL constantly refer the ML as "brother"? I know this is common in korean culture to say oppa or whatever, but it gets constantly brought up that ML says he has "never seen her as family" (a half hearted attempt to make this whole thing seem less in*esty), but she continues to call him brother anyways, even when they're married later in the novel. Every time she introduces him, she introduces him as her younger brother. Don't you see the issue? They SAY they've never seen each other as family, but their actions say otherwise. People say since they didn't grow up together it's not weird at all and they're not rlly true siblings but... they met plenty of times as children, and the glaringly obvious fact that the ML is still a child (16 years old) when this romance begins soooo..

My final verdict? It's not TECHNICALLY in*est, but if you have to emphasize the word 'technically' to get that point across... that itself is a problem lol. Do with that what you will. And yes, there is predatory behavior that everyone for some reason pretends doesn't exist in this novel.

Apparently this isn't the first step-sibling romance novel this author has written, so while the romance isn't technically in*est, this leads me to believe the author has some sort of in*est fetish or WHATEVER weird idolization is going on. Why else would they write multiple stories with the same trope that focuses heavily on romance within family? Something is up for sure.

I know i've criticized this novel a lot, but it has a lot of underlying issues that seriously need to be addressed. I didn't really talk too much about the plot itself other than it being mediocre, or mention other characters that do have a significant role in the story, but I think just focusing on the ML and FL is enough to get my opinion across. I guess I liked the explanation of FL's transmigration into the novel (it's not a novel, she's actually a prophet who wrote the future of some parallel word or whatever), but it also was a lazy explanation and just some half assed mystery attempt.

2.5 stars. I don't really recommend reading it but... its ok I guess. Due to my dislike of the character inconsistencies, in*estual and predatory undertones, and suspicious author, this novel is all around grey area and very weird. Tbh, it's only saving grace is the manhwa itself, which I will probably keep up with. It has updates as of now while NU is dead, and the art is also absolutely stunning. Other than that, I wouldn't waste a f*cking sneeze on this shit. <<less

Peak shoujo before chapter 100, then it turns out the be a mess. SO, sorry about this chaotic review, after all that I don't have the will the organize my thoughts properly.
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Read the MTL and it was a quite good and clear read. Chapters are LONG so the story felt like 300 parts instead of 150. Which is a good thing, I love long stories.
The pacing was godly, never bored and slowed me down. The story was also very rich in writing, here are some examples: poisoning, wars, power struggles, royal family stuff, elves, dwarfs, monsters, magical technology, assassinations, harsh weather conditions.... All of them was perfectly balanced and didn't feel rushed at all.
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Comments about some characters:

- I found ML too much of a wall in the beginning, well the reasons were given so I understand why he was written like that. His mother said some crazy things while he was young. He is a bit serious kinda type but there is this small and sweet actions like correcting FL's hair. He takes care of her really elegantly.
-Ah the 2nd ML sendrome... I wanted to hug him so bad.
-I was afraid that OGFL is going to be evil but didn't turned out that way. Sina was lovely, some of her lines made me even chuckle.
-Rapey Crown Prince and his Crown Princess was scary, they were out of their mind.
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-The writing went downhill after the chapter 100. All of a sudden there was no heaviness left in actions. Example: There is a war declared by another Duke, some servant they know dies first and after that they're back to laughing.
Danger also lost its importance. FL gets injured everytime, well months pass between those events but with this writing it felt like all the important events happened one after another.

-Ah! My main complaint is this: The royal couple's ending felt SUPER underwelming. Like just before they weren't a main threat, author didn't show much importance to their ending arcs.

-The smut wasn't good... I don't know if I had high expectations but this wasn't it.

-I found the manhwa's style too soft for this story. So I read the novel instead of choosing to bleed my eyes.

I'm giving it a 4 because I really enjoyed between 1-100... That's it.

Its really good actually. I liked it alot, the FL is a lovely person and I can see why ML fell for her, shes really smart and her sense of duty of taking care of ML is really sweet 😭😭

I love how good she is at helping the duchy in her own way, she isnt ridiculously smart to the point its just another scheming FL everyone seems to rage for, its just Ran and her trying to make the best of her messed up situation.

The ML and FLs interactions are... more>> the most charming part of the story honestly, I recommend it alot!! <<less