Loving the art so far and it's good that the pacing is fast. So, Prince ML looks like Lucas (WMAP) with blue eyes and Oscar looks like a washed-up version of the ML from Elise. It looking like there's gonna be no competition.
I read the novel. It's okay at first but ultimately very boring. The story spends ages and ages on Oscar, only for the MC's scheme to fail. Boring. She also takes millions of years to find out Asher's identity. Seriously, even after she attended the meetings, she still didn't realize? 1st meeting they talk about Crown Prince. 2nd meeting they discuss how the Crown Prince did what they decided on 1st meeting. Royal portraits exist... Boring. Too long and drawn-out. She embroiders a handkerchief for her dad, then for Oscar, then for her friends, then again for her friends, then Sarah embroiders stuff, then Miele embroiders... you get the idea. It's things like this that repeat a lot that bore me. There are so many chapters devoted to Annie even though her actions are always on repeat: Annie is a material girl x100. Boring. I was on chapter 120 already when I got bored with the slow pace and started skimming ahead. Kain/Cain (the brother) died of poison that was meant for MC. Count was crippled by crazy!Miele and all his money was stolen by his prostitute wife. Miele lost everything and was executed. Count killed himself on the same day Miele was executed. I'm also confused about why Aria was surprised when Oscar got engaged to Miele. She already stated that in the previous timeline she had many male admirers who were madly in love with her beauty. They gave her "everything"... but got married to noble ladies because they had to do what was expected of nobility. So she should know better than anyone that lust will never triumph over a noble's duty. There's a good story in the novel but it was too slow and full of filler. I think the webtoon will be good if it cuts down on all the repetitive stuff. Faster story = better story (for this novel).
I read it too and I have to skip chapters coz the details for me were so boring. Hence, I kinda liked the webtoon coz its a little faster. Re:Oscar engagement. My theory is the reason she clung to Oscar was to irritate and give panic attacks to Mielle. For a time, it worked. Oscar kinda fell in love with her or maybe he loved the idea of her. Nevertheless, he was a pawn she can play against Mielle until he was no longer useful. In my mind, she was stringing him along just as others have strung her i.e. what you said about people loving her but not marrying her. As far as I read, I don't think she is gonna fall for somebody (she already knew the treatment she will receive in her mother) even though the cover tells me it's the crown prince. How she does it with a Duke's daughter as the fiancee of the said Crown Prince is one thing I want to know and curious about.
Okay so, I began reading this since 11 am and stopped at 3am, yeah craaazyyy! But I had pauses in between since I was at a Birthday party. Anyway tho, I am at Ch119 and I think I will stop there, and since I feel very generous today, I'm going to spoil you guys! Here are the most memorable moments that I both like and dislike. Like: *The cutest moment that I found in this novel is how she befriended Sarah aka her home tutor who is from a Viscount family, but in the future would turn out to be the wife of a Marquis. Although Aria had ulterior motives at the beginning, wanting to use them as her back up plans if she ever needed help. She at the end wished for the couple to be happy sincerely from the bottom of her heart and cried for the first time, and this is a character development right here, since she didn't bother to cry when both her and her mother got executed. *She gets compared to Mielle alot, however I like it when they portray her beauty as something more alluring and mature, since that makes her a little bit inferior than that person, a true villainess look for short. *The novel portrayed men as more inferior than women, but guess what? Aria is that bitch , she decided she wanted to make business (very rare for women to do so), therefore she went to the casino with 100 golds in hands, won alot of monaay for 3 days straight (using sly tricks tho) , and went home with a check of 50,000 golds . Since she knew about the future and the fact that sugar was going to be highly requested, her first business went smoothly like this, she went ahead and bought lots of sugar for low prices and when the timing was right, she sold them off for 20× times more than it's worth, stirring up them rich folks wallets and also to those that had sugar cravings seeking for diabetes! Some aristocratic families went bankrupt one by one thanks to her too. *As far as I can remember, she had 3 sweet mother and daughter moments. 2 moments from her father, one sidely though. 1 from her step brother Cain, although it was kind of weird , and none from that two faced bitch Mielle since they were half heartedly. *The crown prince seem like a combination of tsundere , masochist , with a little bit dash of yandere. He is pretty cute in his own way, however Aira can have him. *She became a great influencer to the people with small businesses since she invested money in them and made them succeed and overcome bankruptcy, she is under the name as 'Investor A'. Dislikes: *She had a few sweet moments with Oscar ( Miele's fiance aka Aria's target who is going to 'defeat' Miella for her), who is also from a Duke family- but he is not worth to mention since he is the definition of a real tsundere and a weak character who can't go against his sister. And I oop- (Besides, he didn't help Aira from Ch1-119) *Aria's mother is really something else, although I mentioned that they had some sweet moments together. There were many times she turned a blind eye on Aria, would not defend her against the count and her stepdaughter from harassing her real daughter on broad daylight, she have never showed her face on Aria's birthday (as far as I can remember), but always there for Miele's. *The stepfather of Aria aka known as the count, is a good father in disguise, in reality, he shows no favor to Aria, only towards Miele. Do you want an example? During dinner, the count spoke about his business affairs, and wanted to hear some opinions about what would be in fashion during the upcoming seasons, Miele suggested leather, however, Aria decided for fur, since who doesn't like fur??? (no animal fur tho, I'm against it!) The count liked Aria's idea (for the first time) and wasn't displeased either with her statement 'that the princess bought fur not so long time ago and that anything that the princess wears would become a fashion hit'. He expanded a great fur business thanks to Aria, but guess what that idiot of father did?? Gave the credits to his piece of shit daughter Miele instead and he was caught red handed, however, he did not feel a little bit sorry for it. *Aria got so many hints that the strange dude who pops anywhere is the crown prince, I mean people around her drew to conclusions about it, people are aware of it+him, even he, himself gave out a few clues, she is a smart bitch in different aspects but when it comes to love, she is somewhat a fool. That was it from me, if you wanna include something more juicy about the things that you liked or disliked, please do reply to this comment of mine! Since it will be alot of fun hearing from others opinion too! Hope you enjoyed and agree some of my likes and dislikes, as well as my handpicked emojis hehe Thanks, and farawell from now. - C
Ah, here's another spoiler: Her hourglass appears on her bed after she turned back time after her execution but it was broken. She has it repaired. Once it was fixed she can turn it over to turn back time. Limitations: Only once per day. Only 5 minutes of time can be reversed. Side effects: She gets really tired when she uses it and sleeps for days on end sometimes. She also seems to age when she uses it. One time she grew by 7 inches in a few days. She uses the turn back time 5 minutes to do over a conversation if it doesn't go the right way the first time. For example, she asked Oscar to exchange letters with her like a friendly penpal. He refused the first time so she took the hourglass and turned it over. The second time she acted pitiful which made him accept. She also used it to cheat at a casino.
Would like to know what happens to Oscar in the end, since his fiancée went crazy and be executed while mc engaged with the crown prince and have a bright future
He was implied to be pardoned thanks to his role as a cooperative informer, but there is no more mention of him or his fate after that.
Any news on Oscar's sister/Crown Prince's wife? Isis, IIRC. She was Mielle's ally. I keep being weirded out because people keep calling her Crown Princess when she still isn't married to the character.
After the executions, Isis and her father, the former Duke, headless corpses were hung on the Imperial Castle's walls for a month and Oscar was pardoned since he had no direct involvement and told the Crown Prince everything. However he lost all power an became a commoner. Asher, the Crown Prince did wanted to execute Oscar because he knew about the scandal b/w Oscar and Aria and figured that Oscar still had feelings for Aria but as the Crown Prince he knew he shouldn't abuse his power. Isis was called the Crown Princess because everyone, including the commoners, knew that she was going to marry Asher as she had the most power since she's the main figure of the Aristocracy Party. The A Party was heavily implied to have the real power and the Imperial family were just puppets, causing the Emperor to rarely be seen and forcing Asher to deal with them at a very young age. In the original timeline, Asher failed and became a puppet like his father, officially giving all control to Isis and the A Party but in the second timeline, thanks to Aria, he defeats them and brings the power back to the Imperial Family.
Also I did like the fact that Aria didn't discard Jesse and Anna after her revenge even though they were of no use to her anymore and even secured them a higher status, putting them on the level of nobles with their marriages to Hans ( Director of Aria's businesses; Jesse's) and Baron Burboom (Aria's first investment and he helped Aria build a network; Annie's). Aria publicly spoils them, as well as defends them, even stating that had Jesse not fell for Hans, she would had married her to an Aristocrat higher than Annie's. I really thought that Aria was going to get rid of Annie a few times because in the past timeline, Annie had tricked Aria and Aria had said she was going to get revenge on everyone who wronged her like how she helped Berry escaped execution, but she personally sentenced Berry to a fate worse than death: Berry is abandoned in a maze forest and eaten alive by wild beasts. But turns out that due to Aria's past traumas, she actually likes characters like Annie because they are more likely to survive versus Jesse who believes in true love and is loyal no matter what. Regardless, Jesse would always be Aria favorite of the two. I think the hardest time both faced due to Aria, was the case of Mielle after the executions of the A Party. Because Aria wanted Mielle to suffer even more, she made Meille a maid under Annie's supervision and did plan on Mielle to become Annie's maid after she becomes the Baroness, reversing their prior roles as Master and Servant. Annie was enjoying herself in having Mielle do manual labor for the first time in her life, and pushed her to the point that Jesse felt bad for her former mistress and acted as her friend. Aria figured Jesse would do that due to her kind heart and set her final plan in motion and the stupid Mielle really believed that Aria would protect her. Aria set up Meille and Annie, putting them in the same carriage, ruining Annie's alone time with her man. After Annie publicly shamed Meille at Sarah's wedding, Meille runs to Aria for help and Aria "encourages" Meille to give Annie a stomach ache with a potentially dangerous (if used wrongly) herbal called, Inducing Flower. She knew that Meille would be greedy and try to kill Annie so she invited Jesse to teach her a lesson how why she shouldn't be so kind. In a twist, Aria makes it appear as if Meille had tried to kill Aria and not Annie, with Cain being poisoned in her stead. This leads to Meille being executed despite being 16. Jesse becomes really depressed as she trusted Meille but she recovers eventually.
I think this is one of the best things that came out of the story. For me, yes, Aria did use her maids when they were in her employ. But the thing is, she didn't just discard or forget them even when she got her ending. I like to think they are friends or even fellow women who had to survive together. Even if it was just Aria's circle. she gave them a chance to prosper. Masterful. Revenge is best served cold, as they say.
Hi, the link to the translation is dead now. Anyone know where I can read the raws of the novel? For free...
Since so many people have spoiled it I wanted to add. Oscar didn’t do anything bad for anyone who cares to know. And he really did have feelings for Aria. It was a combination of being attracted by her looks and feeling bad for her circumstances but I think they were real feelings. It was definitely purer than Cain. In chapter 76 he was threatened by Isis (his older sister) implicitly that she would do harm to Aria if he didn’t comply and go along with Mielle. If anything he protected Aria from Isis while she wasn't yet very powerful. Poor guy sobbed miserably and begged Isis not to harm Aria. During the rebellion (a set up by Asher) initiated by his sister, family, Mielle and the other aristocrat faction members he tried to get them to stop too. They ordered for him to be dragged into a room blocked off so he couldn’t leave. He never had real power in his family at all. It’s mentioned briefly in chapter 217 when he is taken in after the rebellion after agreeing to comply with Asher that he still likes Aria but has acknowledged she made herself powerful, had Asher now and was out of his reach. The way Asher spoke to him was also pretty petty since Oscar didn’t provoke anyone. The one and only time I felt a bit of sympathy for Isis is in her last moments (chapter 226) when she expressed that she was glad that Oscar wouldn’t be dying. I feel bad how things turned out for him. I support Aria x Asher with my whole heart but I feel bad for him. I do love how they handled the reveal of Aria’s secret to Asher though. He is such a lovestruck puppy. (Just for Aria bc otherwise he’s quite serious) I love the guy. As for Aria I love her the most. She is the perfect balance of malicious and likable. I really loved her relationship with Jessie and Sarah. Jessie really stuck by her and believed in her. Sarah is the sweetest person ever. Literally. The gesture Aria made for Jessie before her wedding made me tear up a bit. She scolded Hans for working and not escorting Jessie. She then added that Jessie is her favorite maid. And Sarah. Sarah asked Aria to put her tiara on for her wedding as a special gesture and when Aria’s wedding game Aria asked Sarah to put her hair pins in. (Tiara reserved for Asher due to tradition) I could cry. I love them so much TwT Bonus add on: King Lohan of Croa (The one who helped Asher with the scheme) is a huge troll and hilarious. (Edit) If anyone wants more spoilers I spoiled practically the whole thing under my review in spoiler tabs on novelupdates.
Chapter 136-7, Asher came in her room while he thought she would be sleeping. She already knew he does this because of the constant fresh tulips in her room but he’s super flustered about being asked. He tells her he was worried about her but couldn’t have anyone see him. Then he’s like you’re really beautiful! And she’s thinking that she should be creeped out but strangely isn’t. Chapter 145 Asher sends Aria a ring with a letter telling her not to forget him because he’s busy. She is happy and reads it again and again. Chapter 158-9 Asher goes to the Roscent mansion to see Aria and makes a huge spectacle on his way there all over town with golden wagons with gifts of a bunch of precious metals, in the fanciest imperial carriage, dressed up as a fairytale prince in a white and gold suit (he usually wears more subtle black clothes). Then he goes up to the count and countess with excessive flattery. He deliberately keeps talking about how wonderful Aria is and makes Mielle uncomfortable. God I love him... Chapter 180 Aria tells Asher her heart feels funny around him and he’s super flattered+embarrassed. (Turns red) Chapter 209 They smooch and Aria is like “So this is lubbb~” Chapter 228 Aria calls Asher her lover. Asher turns red. The young king Lohan trolls and offers to be another one of her lovers. Asher threatens to call off his peace offering. Chapter 240 At Sarah’s wedding Aria quietly tells Asher she wants a blue ring. (The colour of his eyes) Chapter 260 Aria is a bit drunk she snuggles against Asher’s chest. Asher is slightly panicked then he’s like “Well I’m not passing this up” then Asher puts Aria in his lap. Chapter 262 Asher’s grand wedding prep comes through. While Aria was away he decorated the whole outer wall of the capital in tulips to welcome her back for the wedding. I recommend you just read the whole thing after this because from this point it’s ALL insanely sweet and fluffy and amazing. Highlight moments, Asher designs sets of wedding clothing for her to wear though he also has the designers prepare like hundreds for her to choose from. Aria of course picks what he made without considering anything else. He couldn’t wait until the wedding and kept trying to find excuses to see her, eventually he ended up picking her up for the wedding instead of waiting at the altar. After the wedding the two run off and Asher awkwardly tells her that it’s customary to be watched during their first night. Aria is like WUTT M8!?! Hell naww! And the two escape off to Asher’s villa. After they get married Asher is often complaining he can’t always stick to Aria.
Looks like we have a happy ever after all. I mean, not exactly for the designated vilalins but I can be satisfied in this... No oppositons to the marriage? Apart from Isis and the party? I would love the webtoon to go as far as this...