thank you for the spoilers Small question: Do all 3 of them continue to love her even now? Or any of them? How do they feel about their current wives?
The engagement was not set before the death of the Marquess. It was Shuli who made the engagement because it was what the Marquess wanted. Thats why in the current chapters Ohara's dad keeps telling her to get Jeremy's attention.
I stand corrected on the timeline of the engagement. Still, it's possible that negotiations for the engagement were already conducted between the families. Also, it migth be included in the last will so this might have encouraged Shuli to just follow it through. After all, old!Shuli thought that Jeremy and Ohara were happy together and she was aware that Ohara did some manipulation of her own.
Also, in the old timeline, considering she was been kept out of the loop and somewhat shunned, chances are that even if she had decided that Ohara was not a good match anymore due to changes in the political fabric of the empire, she did not have the insight, connections or political understanding to find him a better match.
A couple of surprising questions. 1) Nora's attempt poisoning - Who and why? 2) Elias went gambling - Did he get the shit beaten out of him? 3) Prove chastity? Uwaah? When and why? Thank you for your spoilers!!!!
I can provide a why. Incoming history buff ahead... Remember Shuli got married to Johannes, right? So, as his wife (in those times), you don't get sex before marriage. If the bride did it before the ceremony, she is considered 'spoiled.'. Grooms expect their brides to be virgins and because they need to be sure the child the wife carries is theirs. Nobody will raise their eyebrows if it was born nine months after the wedding. If it was born before the wedding, you can imagine the scandal. Now, on the possible reason for the trial of chastity, I believe this is a trial to further discredit Shuli. She married young and I think the Empress used this as way as payback because she's attracting the guys and the older guys got to reminisce the 'what could have been.'
That would make a lot of sense for the first timeline, but in the current timeline, while there would still be a need to discredit her, seeing as how she is not even remotely hooking up with anybody and has quite the decent reputation atm, I wonder if this is really it. Unless of course she's suddenly pregnant, in which case we need to have a very different discussion lol Or maybe the rumors about her and Jeremy take off? Although I am guessing that her virginity probably comes up due to the cardinal or something. Either way, she IS married, so expecting her to still be a virgin seems weird, seeing as how she would be allowed to consumate her marriage, no?
It puts me back on my earlier scenario of Elizabeth being jealous. I think she sees Shuli as the ghost of Ludovica. Sure, Shuli has no effing idea who Ludovica is and why the guys (old and new) are ...let's use protective of her. We,as spoiled readers, know that Shuli is not doing this. She didn't know the appeal of her resemblance to the previous empress. But seeing her, I think, reignited Elizabeth jealousy and worries. It''s a matter of perception - I think she thinks that seeing Shuli everything she gained will be lost to her and her son. I don't think she has any feelings for the emperor but he gave her a throne and he could take it back. Theo sees Shuli and he might prefer her over girl who looks like his mother. And to put more conspiracies, I think she allied with Creepy Cardinal with this. On the nature of the chastity trial: That baffled me too. Whether they did consummate or not, she is expected not to be a virgin. If she still was, she will not be seen as 'lawfully bedded wife' and her marriage is well, a sham. Or somebody provided the blood for the sheets? It's like on those stories I read wherein one person provides the blood for the sheets just to convince the people outside the bedchamber.
I think you might be onto something here: I can see this trial being triggered not by the empress, but rather by her late husband's relatives who know he never slept with her and are thus trying to get her un-recognised. I wonder though, we know there was a trial in the first timeline, maybe that was this chastity trial, and it does not actually happen in the current timeline because events have changed so drastically. The spoilers never said which timeline we are talking about.
I forgot about those guys (the marquess' blood family). I think the trial was egged on by the relatives on the sidelines but do not want to be seen as the active instigators. Nobody wants to be seen as that greedy family member but everyone knows they just upped by a young widow. So you got - wealth, power, title, shame, and humiliation as motivators. And there is a good chance they are still seething and looking for loopholes.
I can't believe Elias tho. He know what a pest and troublemaker he is and blames himself for it, yet he keeps making trouble. He even stole money from Shulli... clap clap clap
Well, to be fair, yes, he's pretty dumb, but at the start of the story, he's like.... 10? so by the time Jeremy got married, he would have been maybe 16? 18 at most. Find me one boy that age that makes sound and logical decisions and is not a general pain in the butt. Teenagers are a pest and do not make sense in any time period or culture lol Edit: just checked, 9 years pass between Shuli's marriage and death, so she died at 25. At the time, it seems like Jeremy was 23 and the twins were 14. Elias is never specifically mentioned, but since he's younger than Jeremy, he'd probably be 19-21 at the time of her death.
Ahh sorry guys I should have been clearer. There is actually 2 trials in the story. The first trial happens in the present timeline. There will be an upcoming Christmas banquet where Shuli dances with the Prince. However, she trips and falls over. The Cardinal (main antagonist) sees this and tells Jeremy that the Prince was harassing Shuli. Jeremy gets angry and beats up the Prince. Now he’s in danger of having his head cut off because he assaulted the Crown Prince of the empire. To avoid this from happening and to allow Jeremy to claim a duel judgement of honor (basically to save him), Shuli is ready to give up her position as head of the family and calls in another priest to prove her virginity. She proves that she did not have relations with her husband for more than 500 days, and declares a cancellation of marriage. Empress Elizabeth, who was hostile to Shuli at first was surprised, then asked for a retraction of the trial. That’s how the first trial ends. Also, something to note that during this time period, it is not possible under the imperial law for a woman to claim a divorce, but if she proves that she has not been in a relationship with her husband for more than 500 days, under imperial law, she can apply for the cancellation of marriage. The second trial occurs in the present timeline but I’m not sure if there was a trial for this issue in the past timeline. I can’t remember if it was stated anywhere in the novel but most likely, it occurred in the past too. In the present timeline, this trial occurs after the 3 years time-skip. This one happens because Shuli and Jeremy was accused of being in an “incestuous relationship”. The Cardinal is the one who started this whole mess. During the trial, her mother is a witness against her (although she just sprouts a bunch of ridiculous stuff), Jeremy is prevented from coming, and Nora is knighted for the duel of honor in his place. Theobald also stands as a witness for Shuli. Anyways, this trial was long, and I didn’t get some parts of it. But yeah, that pretty much sums up the two trials.
I read it on KakaoPage, which is pretty annoying if you want to MTL it because their novels are picture formatted. And unfortunately, as much as I would love to send it to you, KakaoPage has a limited time rental period when you open up the chapters and my rental period has expired long ago so I no longer have access to the trial chapters :/ Although, let me go back and double check just in case.
There’s a lot haha. There’s a whole side story about their honeymoon after the wedding which was pretty cute ^_^
The side story was told from the Duke’s POV so we really only know his side. The Duke was still in love with her after marrying Heidi (his wife) but eventually, he accepted it and moved on. I’m sure he loves his wife because he was really happy when Nora was born. The Emperor still love Ludovica a lot and so he and the current Empress don’t love each other. Then Johann was stated to love the former marchioness (it was stated by the maid in former manhwa chapters) but they didn’t really focus on him so not really sure how he actually feels.
1) The Cardinal is actually the main person who is behind Nora’s attempt poisoning, although it is hinted that the Prince may be a part of it when Shuli sends a letter to the Duke informing him of this incident. As for the reason, the Cardinal is obsessed with Shuli so he pretty much tries to get rid of everybody near her. 2) He got into a lot of trouble for sure. 3) This question I answered in a post above.
Concerning the first trial: As she had to prove that she never slept with the Marquis and gave up her position as head of the family, who took over? Jeremy would have probably been too young, no?