Honestly Ludovica is like the source of trouble of half stuff in this novel. Playing the Emperor, Duke and Richest Marquess like a fiddle till the very end, even after her death. One hated his son because he wasn't like her, one abandoned his son for hers so he can play family with her, One sort of remarried her literal clone. but for reasons its prolly that, Lud prolly thought after her death, the second empress and family would gain power, leading to her son getting bad treatment due to her( Tho empress abandoned her own son for luds). She could have also known that emperor detested the son, for not being a daughter looking like Lud, so she knew emperor wouldnt treat him right, thus leaving her two options of Men who were still in her palm of hands. Marquess had sort of loving marriage with Marchioness and multiple kids, so prolly could be over her and much harder to give him her child off. Duke did have a loveless political marriage and they only had a single child (Dunno how was their rship back then within family), So she prolly thought duke would be easier to convince(And or manipulate) into 'treating her son as his own' knowing duke inner fantasies of making a family with her. And duke did played like a fiddle, since he abandoned his own son completely to play Daddy to Theo, Even heide recognises that Dukes future only had theo as "family" and no Nora. In a way, Lud was prolly the biggest manipulator in the story rofl, She had half the kingdom power holding people spinning in her hand like fools.
The whole Ludovica possibly being a manipulator aside, I don't think the Duke has loveless marriage. True, he loved Ludovica when she was still alive, and until now still has lingering attachment to her, but I don't think that means he doesn't love his current wife the Duchess. It's obvious that he cares for her. Most likely, after Ludovica married the Emperor, he and the Duchess gradually fell in love with each other. The problem is, he still has lingering attachment for his first love. It's possible to love someone while still have lingering feelings for a deceased person.
I mean idk. They killed shuli should cause she breathed the wrong way I dont think theyd led ludovic live if she really was such a big manipulator I mean if 3 people couldn't let go of a dead women even years later which led them to neglect there family that sounds like there problem
I am not denying the current Duke/Duchess pair is in love, They are since heildi did comment nora was a result of child they desperately wanted, but thing is Duke's lingering attachment is very strong towards ludovica thus passing on to Theo, even heildi herself recognizes it and finally confronts it last few chaps, further Heildi is shown to be extremely tame/meek demeanor woman, who avoids social gatherings and interactions with others and is vastly soft spoken, so she went along with duke decision of showering theo with love while deriding nora, till she saw shulli and just realized what the couple had been doing to their own child, over a lingering attachment of someone else. The author has portrayed the picture of Ducal Couple with Theo in arms multiple time over series just to emphasize this fact, that the ducal couple is in the end playing family with Theo. Duke due to Ludovica attachment, Duchess due to duke attachment. The fact that Duke prefers to trust unconditionally and love Ludovica blood over his and heildi blood, describes his unhealthy amount of obsession , He did not even take a moment to listen to Nora ever, but straight took theo side. Also The King/Duke/Marquess - Never even thought of harming shulli, infact shulli comments that even in last life despite her low image, the duke/marquess always helped her unconditionally, Sure you can say it was bond with late marquess, but it will be a big lie to say , Ludovica image in shulli wasnt one of the reason. Since after trial even, emperor comments that - this is the way of marquess revenge or something. It is there problem for sure. Ludovica may not be pure manipulator bitch, in the sense that she did stuff to make them fall in love with her or fight each other, but she did make ample use of their affections for her, she knew exactly of the feelings the Married Duke still held towards her when she was on deathbed and she used it to make duke Theo's babysitter, which we already see working well "You are the only man I can trust" comment was meant to manipulate duke into believing he had something special with Ludovica after all, and boi he fell for it. Even the unhealthy obession of characters is portrayed all over story. Emperor hating Theo for not being her, Duke Favoring Theo over his own son, Empress (Dukes Sister) favoring Theo for being Ludovica blood, Marquess - Shulli call, Emperor and duke favoring shulli and helping her, Theo simping for her, The pedo cardinal.
Welp... so ohara did not even believe in incest rumors if we go by manhwa... but was a petty insecure bitch... Your husband to be confides to you before marriage truthfully about one small wish/regret of his, when he could have done the same post marriage alone without giving a shit about explaining to ohara since he is the head, and asks you to understand it since it is their whole family regret right now. And what do you do? Trample over the confidence and trust your husband put into you over your own insecurity and be a vindicative petty bitch to his mother. Sasuga ohara, truly a shitter. Tho finally happy we getting the past chaps now. This should cover the siblings interaction and maybe even death news at marriage. Hyped.
I ALSO WANNA EXPRESS MY DISAPPOINTMENT IN HER!!!!! I just read the manhwa update chapter 57 today. I just really wanna strangle her because that's so mean of her . I mean I get it that she is afraid of the possibility of repeating/having the same future based on what happened to her mom but I believe that didn't justify her actions at all. Still waiting for the updates regarding the past life as well as to who might have be the reason for the murder (is it truly coincidental?) and other stuffs
Did u notread spoilers here? Murder stuff is already disclosed here Spoiler Cardinal, ohara family, neusw head knight have her killed and iirc head knight goes personallyto kill her under disguise. Shulli body is mutilated into pieces and spread all over valley and her head is beyond recognition to point nora doesn't let children see her dead body. Cardinal is obsessed with her with lines of if she can't be mine, she can't be of anyone and to push civil war Head knight considered her stain on marquiss house and a slut/gold digger Ohara family , to pretty much usurp marquis household and they made deals with church to create civil war Anyway ohara is fucking dumb, she herself wants a loveless marriage, then whines if jeremey gets to love someone else , gurl fuck u want? And to fact that she thinks it could be his mother he would elope with... yikes this gal brain
I see thank you~! I must have missed it.That's pretty messed up wth Ohara also has a pretty messed up brain I just wanna yeet her
https://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/a-stepmothers-märchen.90525/page-29#post-5992708 Yet to update it,but that should be last made spoiler toc, so go see stuff u missed.
can anyone tell me how nora and the dukes relationship change in the 2nd timeline? i feel like their relationship is talked about a lot but i don’t think anyone gave spoilers on if it improves
Not as bad as first timeline where Nora effectively rejects being his heir and goes to join police force thus basically under the emperor wing and stops going to dukedom at all (Seen when duke was saying he should come sometime since his mother misses him) But even in second timeline, Nora has more or less gave up on having a fatherly existence, and just expects nothing from him anymore as he tells shulli. But heldi opening up and supporting him will make him stay in the family atleast as their son.
Spoiler: What Cardinal want her? Shoot , i always thinking cardinal hate Shuli because she is a powerful woman just like Ludovica (you know, they have similar face and Ludovica has 3 powerful man in her hands).
Manhwa got an update today. Question: in the manhwa raws, are we getting an adapted 1stTL Shuli death? I wonder hiw far the series is gonna censor it? As for Ohara, I'm honestly surprised since I haven't been able to reread the thread but I honestly thought Ohara's involvement to 1stTLShuli's death to be this more... meaningful? At least, I'm surprised as opposed to earlier spoilers where it implied her father had some involvement but to think it had a semi-stupid reasoning, but a deeper one nonetheless. And in the end, she semi-reaped and won, she didn't end up with Jeremy but at the same time, she successfully managed to manipulate Elias
Yep this makes ohara not a bystander but an active participant. Since ohara family did not want them to make shulli leave (They prolly were waiting till jeremy kicks her out of house post marriage in that villa alone, since that was the public knowledge and only ohara knew shulli would stay in house thus not die essentially anytime soon... so she forced her to leave house imprompto with no security and gave her head to them on silver platter) Yep, Ohara is a murder accomplice now. Not just a poor lady manipulated by daddy.
The new manga update is driving me up the wall! I hate unfulfilled happy surprises I wonder how the reveal of Ohara's inner turmoil would affect the current plot especially since the Neusch family is more united now.
Reading chapter 58...That cardinal bastard and his no-good follower! Yeah, of course, they were the ones who entinced the knight to kill Shuli! I'm not looking forward for the next chapter...unless they're going to continue the flashback for another time and the next chapter would continue in the present time.