I have read the available translated chapters, and what I can't understand is, why dafuq the emperor doesn't get jealous when his beloved concubine gets close to other men, while he rages when someone so much looks at Navier? Could it be that he actually loves Navier, but doesn't realize it, and then gets blinded by the beauty and white lotus personality of Rashta? Whatever, but I hate him so much. And Rashta too. He wants a loving and caring wife, not a strong empress, but when he got one, he regrets leaving the strong one. Like dude, first decide what you want, then go for it. You suck, Sovieshu, god knows how you will manage the empire without Navier. If only you had been cooperative from the beginning and not sided blindly with the stupid, foolish beauty.
Al Also, Heinly was the one who invited that duke to Shovieshu's country, with a plan, and he had warned Navier against this duke in advance. So, I think it was his plan to use Navier in the beginning, before he met her, but then changed the target to Rashta, for obvious reasons.
Did i scare anyone??? His age hasn't actually been mentioned from what i know, but he did say he wished he was born three years earlier or so to pursue Navier before she was married or something like that, so he's actually probably about 16-18 somewhere in there.
Yah, 16-18 years old is much more believable. Honestly, I thought Heinley was in his early 20s and Navier (and by extension Stupidshoe) were in their mid-20s.
*snickers* it would be alarming if that was true. I was curious because of the illustrations. I guess others got curious too. Spoiler: Age post https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView.n...833&targetKeyword=&targetRecommendationCode=1 For those without the Googs: Soveishu: 25 years (revealed in ch:208) Navier: 23 years Heinley: 20-21 years Rashta: 18-20 years Nian (Duchess of Tuania): 41 years Rebetti: 17 years With this, Heinley's rant about how he wished he was born 5 years earlier so that he could properly be married to Navier makes sense. After all if he was the same age as or nearer in age to Soveishu, he would have been a proper suitor for Navier and an equal rival that Sovieshu couldn't easily disparage in any way. Because if that was so, Sovieshu would only have a singular advantage as the crown prince whereas Heinley wouldn't (I think?). This also clarifies Soveishu's derogatory sneers about "this kid", "that boy" and so on when he confronted Navier at the Troby mansion post divorce. Also how irritating Heinley's rejoinder (probably with a hint of triumph and smugness because he got the girl!) about how "this boy" and Navier have all the time to get to know each other now. But I did like the fact the author went with a younger ML. It's an interesting dynamic because of the age difference. Heinley is smart, politically savvy, but his young (impulsive) adult reactions are telling (*visiting Navier at the academy/getting proposed to right after he was crowned king, threatening his nobles when the openly protested Navier as new queen, etc). We could say he was wise to marry an experienced queen, and as it was a coup to get Navier. But the fact she was a reigning monarch at the time he fell in love was a bit reckless...or Navier caught him off guard without even knowing.
I don’t get their ages. How can this Duchess of Titania be 40 years old? Spoiler What is her beauty secret I need to know
The MTLs for chapter 109-110 are pretty messy, so I'll give a cliff notes version again (obviously with lots of details and nuances missing). Spoiler: Cliff notes for 109-110 Chapter 109: aftermath of Soveishu's confession. Both returned to the Western Kingdom after the wedding, but Heinley is in a somewhat depressed-black mood ever since Navier's ex visited them and has been downcast for days. He's anxious about their infant relationship because of Navier's deep ties with the Eastern Empire and how she pretty much uprooted everything to marry him. Navier is aware of his bad mood and tries hard to think of a personal, meaningful way to cheer him up. She gets inspiration from her temp lady-in-waiting. Once it's done she gifts it Heinley. He's curious because he's like a big kid and shakes the present to see what's inside. Navier is pretty anxious and urges him to open it. Once he gets over his temporary surprise at seeing the present he starts laughing. Surprise! It's a one of a kind, hand-knitted, eagle sized snuggie!! Of course he has to try it on and transforms into Queen. Navier helps him dress and thinks he's cute. After that, Heinley is in a good mood. So good that McKenna accuses him of being a manic depressive with his extreme mood swings. They discuss his public reputation and image. *...at this point the mtl gets extremely messy and confusing so I will only say it involves Koshar and his apparent popularity in the Western Empire. Also he openly, publicly honors Navier in this section. It ends with the arrival of exotic Ghent carriages and the return of Grand Duke Kapman. ----- (*on an unrelated note; Koshar has not shown himself to be an idiot like most accusations complain due to the abortion pill incident. Most of the portrayals of him give him a golden retriever like mentality because the audience sees him seemingly rampaging into volatile palace situation like a bull in a china shop with no forethought. *Navier noted that most of Koshar's bad reputation in the Eastern Empire was due to Sovieshu (though ch109 mtl is unclear if that was prior to Rashta or not. Clearly the emperor exacted social revenge after the incident). Navier is also subtly implying that there is a massive political tension between her house and Sovieshu's. Hence their marriage in the first place. He did act hot-headed that one time to be sure, but otherwise has shown that he is no less politically savvy than Navier. During that entire episode, Rashta blatantly goaded a battlefield hardened, hair trigger veteran fresh from the frontlines into action by acting out against his sister, the rightful empress. So it should be no surprise that Koshar lost his temper. Koshar is a military man. His role is to see a problem and deal with it. Political niceties mean nothing in the bloody real world. When he makes his grand entrance, he literally just returned from deployment and would still be in that same mindset, he's had no time to decompress (*ergo giving him space to adapt and absorb whatever trauma he's just been through). He's had no time to relax and switch mental gears to a civilian, political, aristocratic mentality. Visiting his sister should have been relaxing and allowed him to unwind in the safety of his sibling's house. Instead he literally walked into a minefield. A recipe for a disaster. So the situation he is walking into when he's visiting Navier is not at all what he's expecting. He was expecting to see his successful and content sister (Not exactly happy, but content with a purpose to her life). He's not omniscient (like the reader) and has to get spun up real quick. Though, unfortunately it wasn't fast enough. Imagine how surprised he is when instead of a tranquil domestic life, he sees Soveishu cheating with Rashta, is subjected to Rashta's overt manipulations and toxic victimhood, and witnesses her blatant disrespect of his sister. Any rational, loving sibling would lose their temper. Because, hey, his baby sister was literally sacrificed to be Sovieshu's perfect empress and he can probably sense that Navier's entire purpose for living being endangered (*cue protective sibling). Then the ex-slave went and provoked him, basically set him up, and served him to Sovieshu on a silver platter. What the reader doesn't really see until later is that there is also an element of pre-existing animosity between Sovieshu and Koshar and a clash of two dominant, strong willed personalities. To put spin this into perspective, Soveishu was constantly compared to Koshar growing up and always found wanting (toxic childhood and all) and probably viewed him as a rival (with something close to hate or strong contempt). He probably has a bit of an inferiority complex with a good deal of jealousy mixed in and feels threatened by this powerful, martially competant man. Then comes Rashta, the beauty who makes him feel masculine, manly, and powerful. Who strokes his ego, enables his to act in an unrestrained capacity, and provides him with relief from the pressure of producing an heir with her near instantaneous pregnancy. She must seem like a fairytale dream come to and the answer to all of his suppressed childish hopes and dreams. Then she offers up his greatest rival on a platter with feasible reason for him to act on his longstanding grudge, who wouldn't be tempted by such a prize? On the flip side though, in one fell swoop Rashta made powerful enemies out of the Troby family, Soveishu lost military power (this event does have massive consequences for the Eastern empire later on), and all involved lost political power. ----- Chapter 110: starts with Kapman's arrival. There is a tense greeting between him and Heinley (*the mtl is unclear if he is cured or not), and Heinley is cautious because he clearly remembers their last interaction (which was their competition to escort Navier...and Kapman punching Soveishu). Next scene is Soveishu receiving a specially sent wedding invitation from Heinley. He muses about the last meeting with Navier. Then the discussion with one of his officials turns to Rashta and her actions at the wedding, specifically her announcement of her philanthropic intentions. The closing scene is Rashta luxuriating in her new palace. She's excited about how she is now the mother of the heirs to the kingdom and her bright sparkly disney-esque happily ever after. She gloating that it's all hers now and it all going her way, exactly how she wants it, and that due to her brilliant public relations stunt the people love her...etc.
I wanna add some details to chapter 110. Grand Duke Kapman still has feelings for Navier (he talked to his magic teacher previously and he asked are you sure you didn’t have feelings for her? That might be the reason of antidotes not helping). Another thing is that trashta. She was gloating but her mood turned 180 the moment her lady-in-waiting (that was Navier’s before) said that parlour is supposed to be filled with welcoming/congratulating gifts. Trashta is furious (because the room is empty) and swears to only be friends with those who got her a present: the only gift she got was a ring from Duke Elgy. It was a glorious ending of the chapter. I thought we needed some sweet salt here haha
Great, I couldn't make heads or tails of that section of the mtl. It was Rashta and her mood swings, but the details are lost to me. But that end, as you added is actually a wonderful insight into subtle snubbing and disapproval aristocratic style. Finally we get to see aristocracy with tact!
Another thing that I really wanna pat Heinley on the back for: Inviting Grand Duke Kapman for trade reasons was Navier's idea and he approved it because he's not jealous trash like a certain stupid Emperor. And when they meet face-to-face, there's tension but Heinley reminds himself very hard that there's no reason to behave like a dumb jealous caveman (even if he might feel jealous). A+++ for maturity, Heinley. You're so young but so mature in all the right ways.
To add to the "Things Heinley does right"; 1) he's been courting Navier from the moment she was divorced. He sees her as a woman to be loved, a queen to be respected, and a wife to be cherished. Hence he's a far more successful lover and is targeting Navier's affections and heart. It's actually quite fun to see a ML romance his chosen partner the way Heinley does Navier. It's an actual pleasure to read even with all the chaos going on around them. 2) he's determined to have an equal partnership and marriage with Navier as both husband & wife and ruling monarchs, flat out tells her she will be his one and only and vice versa. He's very clear about this from day one. He wants Navier the person, it's just a bonus she's a competent ruler as well. 3) he listens to her, respects her opinions/judgments/political acumen, and supports her (she does not have it easy in either the east or the west). 4) *here's the big one*: he treats her family well and with respect. Navier compares his treatment of her family to Sovieshu's and find her ex wanting. 5) Heinley has the ultimate Navier cheat ability, literally. If they ever have a marital disagreement, all he needs to do is turn into a feathered fluffball and cute his way back into Navier's good graces. In essence, Sovieshu had a tool and business partner in Navier and treated her as such. She was his property. Heinley sees her as his beloved, though he is uneasy and does have perfectly logical and reasonable doubts because of how their 'justice of the peace' civil marriage came about, but never takes it out on her. Rather he deals with it (or Navier does) and moves on.
Thank you for the age clarification! I was relying on allusions to it rip! - Heinley also took the time to understand how Navier reacts to things and what her cold shoulder can translate to other than just, "fuck off" It's very cute to read about him powering through Navier's ultimate adulting composure mega resting ice bitch face abilities. And then most disagreements between them can be solved via Heinley turning into a large golden bird and making cute faces / gestures until Navier is sufficiently buttered. Couple goals, really.
Wanna just praise the author a little. We all hate Stupidshoe and Rashta, but I do actually like how the "villains" actions match with real world behavior. Stupidshoe is basically just a toxic partner. Somewhere, deep down in his subconscious, he knows he's being a douche and feels somewhat guilty. Sadly, instead of not being a douche, he's reacting with childish deflection and anger. Read real life anecdotes about cheating partners. His being incredibly touchy in the first chapters, not even telling Navier about Rashta even though its perfectly legal, is pretty obvious deflection. His wild jealousy and accusations of cheating is also typical behavior of cheating partners. Lastly, probably most infuriatingly, is the gaslighting. He childishly wants Navier to absolve him of guilt. He keeps pushing her to basically play nice happy family with Rashta, like she isn't the other woman. And whenever he gets pushback he turns it around by insisting that Navier is being cruel and cold. Definitely not that, ya'know, him wanting her to accept his mistress with open arms and a smile is patently ridiculous. She's not allowed to react negatively to his actions, completely invalidating her feelings. And any time anything goes wrong it must be Navier's fault. Because of course she cruelly just doesn't want him to be happy. How could she not? (because, again, somewhere deep down he knows he's done something wrong (and also it can't possibly just be his mess up)) As infuriating as Rashta is, her behavior isn't too far outside what can be seen in highschool. She's a grade A manipulator with a victim complex. Her life was bad, and that excuses any actions she may take. She's also sadly short sighted and way too interested in catering to her own ego (really, she's going to snub ALL of the nobility and only be "friends" with those who gave her prezzies?). The constant need for praise and validation points pretty strongly to a low self-esteem, which would be sad if her reaction wasn't that anyone who doesn't give her that praise and validation must pay. It's good to read a story where the villains aren't just Snidely Whiplash, or manic psychotics or anything. They're just really sucky people.
Exactly. You guys have deep insight of this whole-bunch-of-mess-relationship, kudos! Both Navier and Stupid Shu loved each other. Before Koshar’s return to Eastern Empire, Stupid Shu asked Navier how could she being cold-blade regarding his firstborn child. I mean, if she didn’t pull herself together of being composed and cool, how could she survived when her husband humiliated her over and over, both publicly and privately. That was a toxic relationship indeed. Anyone knows in which chapter Navier-Heinley’s wedding will be? Spoiler: Wedding invitation Can’t wait specially because Heinley sent an invitation to Stupid Shu with a pinch of salt, “For our friendship”.
Spoiler: BABY SPOILERS IN THE CURRENT NAVER PAY FOR READ VERSION, NAVIER HAD THE BABI... IES!!!!!!!! Twins!!! I think, i kno theres 2! Dunno the genders except there's a boy for sure, maybe 2 boys but i'm leaning towards 1 boy 1 girl i think. The names are!!! Lars Lazlo Caesa Laszlo But, Caesa might be Caesar, was translated as that in a different line rip. Oh well.