Story starts off focusing on the family dynamics and intrigue after the funeral of Ophelia and Alexander's parents. Why so much focus on this when the serious is barely 30 chapters with the side stories? I get it. She needs a reason to stay after the funeral, but if you're going to limit your story's chapter count so much, this should have just been a summary. Uncle Adrian's little arc is way. Too. Long. (Also who tf is Catherine? Alexander's cousin? We didn't get much info on her even though she slapped the taste out of Ophelia's mouth)

There's a three-year time-skip, but no one went anywhere to excuse it. The Ophelia and Alexander stay in the duchy, and we don't get to see how they got closer, but they suddenly are. All that family drama could've been spent here. It's been three years and they found themselves closer with time? Would've been nice if we saw it too....

Alexander'a diary makes no sense other than to serve as a red herring. The entries look so weird. No one journals like that, Author-nim.

What's the story behind the syringes? I dunno. Maybe it's explained in the last few chapters, but who cares? Because literally what did it contribute to the plot? Absolutely nothing. Mom used/had syringes for something shady, but nothing that would've contributed to the "mysteries."

Henrietta's just... why...? Why did she think Alexander favored her, when he didn't? But while he doesn't favor her, why bother remembering her name? Also her reveal as the actual mu*derer is so lackluster and unsatisfying because we learn it from HER POV. NOT BECAUSE ANYONE SOLVED ANYTHING. Those lines essentially boil down to "im the mu*derer uwu pwease punish me, master." And when she said she confessed to the killing, Alexander didn't believe her. At least not until after she died?? Or was that a fake belief, and he still suspects Ophelia?? NO CLUE.

And then there's f**king Claude/Cain. What was the point? He didn't add any layer of interest or intrigue to the main mystery. I thought he was somehow involved in the mu*der of the parents. That he was someone who held a grudge and was able to trick Henrietta into melting the carriage spokes years ago, but he's just a separate, bitter case who had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ACCIDENT, EVEN THOUGH IT WOULD'VE BEEN GREAT IF HE MASTERMINDED IT SOMEHOW. He hardly show's up after his intro, barely any suspicious activity that could've foreshadowed him STRANGLING OPHELIA. He just gets the one quip "you look familiar, " and then he gets like zero screentime until his big reveal as the biological bastard of the knight her mom married, who was sent to an orphanage prior to the wedding, but still got visits from dad, then was completely abandoned after the knight and mom's wedding.