Spoiler I will twist the neck of a sweet dog / 다정한 개새끼의 목을 비틀겠습니다

Such a good storyline tbh, the manhwa artist did a great job adapting the novel

 

Spoiler: Daria rejected Raymond

Daria was already in a relationship and rejected the 14 year old Raymond's proposal but after her parents died she asked him to marry her due to her Uncle's trapped. So be rest assured, nobody cheated on nobody in the story. Here's a snippet of Chloe feeling guilty -

"As you may know, Daria and I are in a thoroughly political relationship." "Is it because of me?""

"You don't have to be sorry for her. Divorce was also offered by the woman first."

Raymond frowned around his eyes as if recalling a point in the past. "But still..." If your Majesty suddenly offered a divorce because of me, it's a little......."

"On the day of the wedding ten years ago, she said 'I don't intend to be a wife for a thousand years' Of course, my decision to divorce cannot be said to be largely due to your influence, but it's a relationship that was combined by each other's needs from the beginning."

"So Chloe, don't feel any guilt. Even if it wasn't you, someday." I would have divorced her

Nevertheless, he comforted me who looked uncomfortable.

 

Thanks for all the spoilers!
Can you elaborate on how Chloe and Raymond’s relationship in the current timeline? How does Chloe realize her feelings / fall in love with Raymond? What about Raymond, what does he do?

 

Spoiler

Estelle grew up and became an adult in the previous timeline. While everyone else regressed, she didn't, instead she along with Brance jumped to the current timeline after Kylos turned it by black magic, she also cursed Kylos that he will be forgotten and will never be able to chase Chloe until her back is turned on him. She became a being that was blessed by Goddess so time didn't mattered for her and she also made Brance youthful. However due to her promise by the Goddess and oath to not reveal her identity which was broken, she was disappeared and was forgotten by everyone until Goddess returned her again, she was found in deep sleep by the Priest Michael who remembered her as he was blessed by the hoky power. He too loved her but have up due to her heart for Brance (who was adoptive father which I find uncomfortable).

 

Ok, another question.

What was Chloe's background story in terms of her parentage? Was the Count really her "father" and would the mother think
bringing Chloe to that house would be a good idea?

 

Spoiler: Some snippets about their love

Spoiler

"I don't love you because you're my taste." It's not just that I love you because you're beautiful. When I first met you, I was attracted to the appearance for a while, but that can't be all of my love." It changed like this.

I hated my foolish past, but I came to be positive together, and I accepted the love he gave me as mine completely, and I recognized my heart moving toward him that I could dare to love others.

"I'm just in love with you. Lee Da-ji loves your existence and your living and breathing existence."

I see. Raymond tried to suit his taste completely, and me now, who has changed significantly. You all love me. Just, you love me. You love me. Like I love him.

Just as my love for him was not an illusion, his love for me was also not an illusion. Long before going back in time. "You're a lovely woman, regardless of your taste, Chloe."

He's always been sincere to me.

Spoiler

"It's a sacred love that makes a woman like me enjoy the most abundant joy in the world..."...."

Raymond's love resembles the love of God Lana, who created all things in the beginning. Pure, blind, and dedicated. In front of his love like a sanctuary, I couldn't help crying.

"Oh no. I didn't mean to make you cry." He muttered in a grumpy voice looking at me. "Your Majesty's words are wrong." "Who doesn't love your majesty?"

A mixture of sorry and resentment came out together.

A woman who cries every time for a man I don't love? No. I'm not a warm-hearted woman like you thought.

I am the only cold woman who did not cry at the funeral of Marquis Young-ae of Rosaline.

Despite the collapse of the family that led to blood, I did not scatter a drop of sadness. Even in the face of my mother's death, which was the only one in my life, I turned my head.

Spoiler

This foolish man came to me as soon as he came to his senses even though his body had not yet recovered.

The rough fingertips patted my face affectionately.

"You're such a warm-hearted woman, Chloe. You cry every time for a man you don't love. Back then and now. You never pass by my pain coldly."

The pale lips, whose vitality has disappeared, tell me love regretfully. "I just remembered the 27th reason why I lovey ou.

I love you with such a warm heart

"It's because of me." Your Majesty was hurt because of me. Kylos... Because of me...." "Shh, don't cry".

The thick palms wrapped around my face and soothed me. The pouring tears wet his hands.

"What's wrong with you?" You just woke up after wandering around. But why... Why are you telling me love even in this situation?"

Spoiler

"How can I..."...."

When I was about to ask how I knew, I soon shut up.

None of the things that happen in this imperial palace has not been reported to him, did you hear it through his mouth just a while ago?

"You often enjoyed playing the piano in front of me to suit my taste of liking women who play the piano. In fact, when I wasn't around, you always played the harp for young Estelle."

"Of course I loved you before you went back in time. I loved the way you claimed to be what the Great Prince Ludwig created."

After closing his mouth for a while, he opened his mouth again.

But you, who came back in time, no longer forced me to gain weight, try to eat my favorite food together, or play my favorite instrument. I struggled to get away from the pressure on you, and found what you wanted to really do and wanted you to do it.

Spoiler

Chloe's mother was a married woman. She was the most beautiful woman in the entire village. In her own words, that beauty became her poison and she was assaulted by the Count which resulted in her giving birth to Chloe. She was a poor man's wife and herself a humble lady, she couldn't do anything. There was no reason written that why she brought Chloe to the Count's house but I'm guessing it was mainly because her husband died and she had no one to rely on. Count recognised her as the married woman he once had his eyes on or something, she was killed by his henchmen and Chloe was treated even worst than an animal where she used to crawl on all four. It was literally written this. Her stepbrother used to call her names, beat her and force her to crawl as an enjoyment. That's why probably she was so all over on Kylos and later when came to her senses said you picked me out of mud and pushed me into the fire.

Spoiler: Raymond and Daria before annulment of marriage

Little Raymond is all grown up and ready to take responsibility for his woman. I'm so proud of you."

"Who was small?"
Raymond frowned and made a straight face. Remembering his childhood, Daria folded the fan she was smiling and shaking.

"Ray, I know well that if you ask for a divorce, I have to accept it without saying a word. No matter how much the nobles refute, I will no longer be the empress of this country from the moment I sign the divorce documents. (Until here there wasn't any scheming or court proceedings which revealed that the marriage was farce, so they were planning to divorce) But since I was a shameless woman who took advantage of your responsibility, I'm going to ask you a little more brazen favor."

"As long as it's not harmful to Chloe, anything." Daria had to burst into a silent laugh once again at his unstoppable response.

Spoiler: Raymond when he come to know the real reason why Daria married him

"Maybe the purpose of Duke Caroline was not to connect with the imperial family, but to trap her in the imperial palace." Raymond recalled Duke Caroline, who was speaking enthusiastically with veins standing in the front row of the nobles. There must be another reason why he does not know that he is still so tough even though he has given land far beyond the Duke of Caroline as alimony.

He is such a sweet boy, he got taken advantage of by his childhood frenemy and didn't even knew the reason (she never revealed in fear of her lover's death). He never pressured Daria and took all the harm given to by her to him, that is what I meant that Raymond took responsibility for when was bounded by marriage to Daria (even if they were a showcase couple whose marriage was even invalid from the start).

P.S - Spoilers won't do any justice to the story, there is so much more to discover, I'll recommend giving it a chance. Usually spoilers curb the curiosity but trust me guys this one won't. So do read it once if you're able to. Also, avoid Volume 4 or Side Stories cause they're a turn off, especially the chapter of Lette's return.

 

Thanks so much for the spoilers!
I’m wondering now about the knight, does it mean there are 2 of them in this timeline?
And let me prize Chloe for growing up and having a thought that Empress might be unhappy about her husband’s mistress (even though in the end it turned out fine and no one is offended or left miserable). In the previous TL Chloe was so blindly in love with the uncle and following his brainwashing that she probably didn’t have time to spare on empathy and plans for future.
I’m also so glad that the Empress wasn’t poisoned to be infertile as the uncle implied. She suffered a lot for her real love and revenge.

 

No there is only one knight (who is an important character) the blonde, Sir Brance, unlike others he didn't regressed but jumped to the new timeline with Estelle, who also returned the old aged Sir Brance to the time of his youth (like the age he was at in the timeline when Chloe was 20)

Spoiler

It was her best friend that caused her miscarriage. She was best friends with Daria and Winstor. But Winstor and Daria became lovers while she cheered on them and gave up on her feelings (for Winstor), when Daria married Raymond, without knowing and thinking she betrayed their (her and Winstor) friendship, she gave her the medicine which miscarried her child. It was also provided her by Kylos. She was actually a goof women who did an evil did in a momentary fit of rage. When she herself was married and had a child after years of trying, she regretted on her past sin which was buried and Kylos tricked her to give poison to Daria and Raymond on the pretext of reversing her 'infertile state', even here, she didn't knew about the reality behind her marriage and was brainwashed by Kylos that they're getting divorced due to her 'incompetency' of having a hier and Raymond getting involved with Chloe. This was done to trap Chloe as the culprit but everything was able to solve. It's quite a big story but I'll just spoil this much.

About the Countess, this friend, well she was unable to get over her broken friendship with Daria and lost her child and became infertile herself. Her good husband also suffered and lost his status.

There is no one who was spared for their sins in the story.

Spoiler

Yeah, that's why he fell in love with Chloe cause he knew under the innocent girl who was being converted into a Marionette by her guardian, there is a thoughtful, lovely, kind and sensitive woman. And this woman which was suppressed by years of brainwashing was able to finally free herself.

Even though the Empress herself tried to get Raymond seduced, never thought him as her husband and barfed at the term, thought him as an annoyance and got on his nerves and never thought of him even as a man but a child, still Chloe was respectful and hesitating as she thought this situation might've hurt her, but Daria being Daria, what hurt her was Chloe didn't chose her over Raymond, so she kidnapped her, like literally, I ain't even lying. It was a mess. Hilarious! There was a reason she was called Witch of Caroline by Raymond. Also Raymond was her diaper buddy as her mother, the Duchess was Raymond's nanny, so there was no way, she would've felt something for the baby who used to poop in front of her. 5 years younger Raymond always remained a brat in her eyes.

P.S - There was no mistress situation cause they only confessed their love and right after this, Raymond told Daria about his decision to marry Chloe which relieved her at the same time annoyed her as she got rejected by her girl crush.

 

does the adult estelle get to meet cloe and the emperor?

 

I love how brazen this Daria sounds. I hope she is reunited with her lover in the future. It was funny in the first timeline she accepted the divorce but was like "yeah, I'm happy for you beau but I want a nice settlement too" and even Chloe was thinking "wtf" when she heard how much he had sacrificed just to get a divorce. When in reality their "marriage" qualified for an annulment but he was desperate to get remarried he wasn't thinking.

 

Daria is super interesting and funny! Can’t wait to see her in the manhwa.

By 2 knights I meant that the older version of Brance from the 1st TL who jumped together with Estelle into this TL and the original Brance of this TL were present in the current time and space at the same time.
But correct me if I’m wrong Estelle has jumped with her “goddess-like” adult body, while Brance basically regressed back to his younger self keeping his memories for a while?

 

No there were only one sir Brance, there was no mention of what happened to the Sir Brance of the regressed timeline. What I'm thinking is he may have ceased to exist due to the disturbing with time. But there was no such explanation about it.

I think yes, what you're saying might've happened cause there was no mentioning of how Sir Brance went back in time after Estelle made him younger and they tried to deal with Kylos (in the previous timeline), he may have regressed with all the memories and Estelle would've been the only one to jump with her blessed body. Sir Brance also took care of Estelle in the regressed timeline and was present to help her and her mother Chloe, his love. Too bad that the author hinted his pairing with Estelle and he was the only one who regained no memories after Goddess Lana sent Estelle back.

Indeed she is.

Spoiler

She was quite ashamed and fearful that her lover may not want to meet her or might've married someone else and started a family. When Chloe and Daria were all drunk one day, Chloe berated her about her unnecessary fears and Daria on the spot ran towards the land of west (or whatever it was ) where her lover was banished, riding a horse while royal guards tried to chase her. Few days later she came back with a handsome man seated behind her.

Daria is an embodiment of strong woman in the book. She is also tough and knows how to use things and people that are at her disposal. She didn't even spare Raymond, all the babysitting and Raymond's nagging which she went through in the past, he used to chase her with wooden sword just like his elder twin son who challenges her daughter for a duel to save the younger twin from the Witch's lair she profited all she could from Raymond with interest.

Yes and she became the heir to the throne, it's in the previous spoilers.

 

Most of these stories have an age gap bigger than this. "The Villainess Lives Twice" "Please Throw Me Away" and "I Am A Child Of This House" for example. If you're reading this story than I'll assume you read those. Do you feel the same way about those ml's also?

 

To be honest i used to read 'please throw me away' and 'the villainess lives twice'. In both of these stories the MC is reincarnated with the knowledge of her past life so their ages aren't really the same. I get why you would say that this is a very similar situation since the ML doesn't know that they're not actually this young, but Chloe is obviously so naive about the world that as a reader you can't help but sense the keen power imbalance that's created by Chloe's general inexperience and sheltered life especially in comparison to the damn emperor himself.

Also one could argue that in 'the villainess lives twice' and 'please throw me away' the whole thing starts off as a temporary arrangement to get the FL out of her family's clutches, it's not really starting out as a real romantic relationship.

 

I agree 100% with that. Oh and by the way I wasn't trying to be a douche to you so I hope you didn't take it that way. If you did then I apologize.

 

You didn't come off as bad at all <3 I love having discussions about stories and I'm sorry if i came off as agressive as well.

 

As well as the empress I don't like the daughter or the Goddess. The daughter is amused by her mother's circumstances? And the Goddess makes it impossible for people to tell the truth and thinks that's awesome?

 

Ew that side story sounds super crusty. I guess I'll just read it and pretend Estelle's ending never happened.

 

What the actual f**?! Man I was loving your spoilers of the story and them Boom. What the hell is this? Why ruin such a great story with the weird add on? I think I will just stay with the spoilers after reading this one. Couldn’t the author just I dunno create a friend for Chloe that will heal the knight’s heart? This is too weird. I usually don’t care about age difference plots since I have a lot real examples in my life (my aunt is married to a man 15 years older than her; my sister bf is 7 years younger than her; one of my friends dates a 8-year-older guy since we were fifteen….). So yeah it’s common waters for me hahahahah. But this us just beyond me. ANYWAY. Thank you so much for all the spoilers.
I just wanted to ask (maybe you already answered this and I just passed right by it): so it was lette whi turned back time?

 

No, it was the Duke who turned back the time via black magic but Lette was able to track him at that time as she wanted revenge on him and cursed him that unless Chloe doesn't turn to him, he will never be able to either hold her or follow her, he will be forgotten and spent the rest of his life imprisoned in misery.

And yes, it's not just about the age gap, it's also about how they turned such an innocent, healthy relationship between a guardian and a child who considered him as her father into a joke. (even weirder than Tyrant was raised by the Witch)