Spoiler: The former king's announcement & beef with Winterwald Judith assumes the former king crashed the party to meet Luca, his first great-grandchild, so she is flabbergasted when he marches up to her and hugs her in front of everyone. Everyone around her is equally flabbergasted. It turns out, Judith's grandmother 'Greta' whom she inherited her purple eyes from, was actually 'Princess Margaret', the beloved sister of the former king. The viscount (who is clearly a puppet of Franz, at least to Judith & readers) tries to stammer out that Judith is even deceiving the former king - but the former king is like, do you really think I would announce this without having confirmed it? Apparently, after their meeting in the garden, he researched pretty thoroughly and has proven it. This immediately resolves the 'Judith deceiving the imperial family' problem because now it isn't 'fallen noble lies to royalty' it's 'minor family squabble' (this is why Judith is sympathetic to Isabella - she realizes if it weren't for basically sheer dumb luck, she'd have been hauled off right alongside her, and for having more or less the same goal - better life for the kiddo they're guardian of) . This has also resolved the 'Rudiger interest in brother's love interest' issue because it's now out in the open she was not Jonas's lover. However, the duel is still outstanding. The former king is like, so, this worm who is shouting nonsense (viscount), what's the deal with him? Rudiger very smoothly informs him that the viscount insulted Judith's honor (while completely bypassing the whole deception thing leading to it) and that he has challenged him to a duel. The former king is delighted with Rudiger for like 30 seconds, going ah, what an upstanding and properly thinking man, to defend my grandniece, what's your name, and Rudiger gives a very formal and serious introduction (as a future son-in-law would give to a guardian to try and prove himself worthy) and the former king flips. Turns out, the former king loathes Winterwald, because they took away his precious daughter (Vanessa), and hastily bundles Judith off, announcing she'll stay at the palace from now on. He also tells her to call him 'Grandpa' which completely floors everyone - apparently even Josephine & Victoria (his actual granddaughters) don't have that privilege. So, two hurdles cleared, one new one raised. Poor Judith is surrounded by bulldozers hahaha. Spoiler: Princess Margaret AKA 'Grandma Greta' Judith ends up having tea with the former king (just gonna call him Grandpa-king from now on) and a pretty lengthy conversation, the gist of which is: He disapproved of Greta falling in love with Judith's grandfather and said very harsh things --> Greta subsequently ran away--> Grandpa king's pride kept him from looking for her until Vanessa's death made him realize how easily he could lose Greta as well-->but by the time he began to look, over 20 years had passed, and Greta had already passed away-->He is relieved that, according to Judith, Greta lived happily, but he is still clearly full of grief and regret. Judith, through this convo, has a few realizations herself: Her grandfather was ~such a loser~ that despite marrying royalty, the third generation is broke, lost their title, and living in poverty in a village, so what the heck did Greta see in him...the answer is....HIS STUNNING GOOD LOOKS (that are the root of Judith's inferiority complex). He was that pretty. And Larissa took after him, as did all of Judith's relatives except for herself, who resembled Greta (who was pretty, obviously, but not the level of insane pretty Grandpa Maibum apparently was) Just like Sophia's 'love' for Jonas was actually more 'using Jonas as substitute for Vanessa', Grandpa king's love for Vanessa -- and Judith -- is implied to be less love, more 'using them as substitute for Greta'. She finds this incredibly sad for all involved. She also realizes Grandpa king has trauma from the Greta vanishing act, and this is what leads him to be so overprotective, but he either doesn't realize or doesn't care that his whole 'confine loved ones to castle so they don't vanish' thing is probably the exact thing that drove them all away. Spoiler: Tea with royalty, part two So, Judith spends a few days cooped in the castle, wondering where Rudiger is and why he hasn't come to see her, since she was planning on returning his confession with an affirming one of her own. Victoria (princess in red, one who wants to be ruler and stay single) shows up to have tea with her, and they have a super long conversation that covers a couple of topics: Judith is everywhere in the news right now. She is the most eligible bachelorette in the kingdom - Judith is wigged by this and doesn't understand why (because hello, Victoria & Josephine?) but V explains to her that it's because she has the obvious backing of Winterwald (a la Rudiger defending her honor ina duel, and Sofia getting the princess to be her chaperone)is guardian to Winterwald's heir, and has the elusive backing of Grandpa-king. Judith is like, well, even if a bunch of folks press their suit, there's still no better prospective husband than Rudiger, so I'm sure it will be fine. Victoria is--as far as I can tell through quick MTL re-read--floored and amused to learn Rudiger's affections are returned. She was apparently pretty flabbergasted to watch him fall in love in the first place and assumed it was unrequited. However, she warns Judith not to count on marriage to him as an out - Grandpa king hates Winterwald and is unlikely to let Rudiger take her away. This leads Judith to realize Grandpa king is the reason she hasn't seen Rudiger - he's been banned. There's more but I don't really remember specifics, but at the end of their chat, Victoria calls her cousin, and Judith--thinking about how Josephine ignored her, how Sofia & Malina are kind to her for the resemblance to Vanessa and former king is kind to her for the resemblance to Greta (this also hammers home why Rudiger--who is kind to her because she is Judith--is so elevated in her thoughts)--asks why Victoria is being kind to her. Victoria stares at her for a moment, then bursts out laughing and explains; why shouldn't she be kind to Judith? Judith is a blood relative of hers who isn't competition for the throne, and thanks to Judith, she got Winterwald's backing in her bid for it (Rudiger apparently agreed to back her in exchange for help wooing/protecting Judith). So, tl;dr - another bulldozer has entered Judith's life, but this one at least isn't interested in her in the same singular way as the rest? I'm definitely a Victoria fan, personally. It was good to see Judith gain a friend(?) who isn't after anything of Judith's, interested in her for her resemblance to anyone else, and and has such a big personality.
I’m currently reading the manhwa and in chapter 60 at then end an NPC (lol) shouted about how if the other chick was lying about her relationship with that trash pot man (Luka’s father)and her child’s legitimacy, then Judith (MC) is also lying. Is this in the novel? If it is, can anyone please explain what happens after and how they resolve the situation? Thank you.
Spoiler Luca is a regressor - the 'book' that Judith remembers reading is actually Luca's previous life, and he has gone back in time and remembers everything that happened. In that first timeline, Luca loved Rudiger and he was the one person who seemed to truly be on Luca's side. I don't remember the exact details, but before he died in that timeline, he told Luca that what he felt towards Luca wasn't love, but obligation and duty. So basically, the ONE person in that timeline who seemed to love him said he actually didn't, and he was a kid at the time so it probably hurt quite a bit to hear that, and so Luca isn't going to waste the effort to love/get close to him in this life. That's also presumably why he doesn't want Judith falling in love with him either - he doesn't want her to get the same 'I don't love you' kind of message. That said, IMO there's a good amount of evidence that Rudiger DID love him, he's just...extremely obtuse about emotions, as evidenced by current timeline where Judith has to explain these things to him. He comes around eventually! Though in a relatively still prickly sort of way. But you can tell from how often his mannerisms resemble Rudiger’s even in the start that Luca’s admiration isn’t completely gone — he’s more or less just being defensive to protect his heart.
It is amazing. With Jonas being such a piece of sh!t, his son Luka turned out to be perfectly well, the sweetest and most considerate boy in the world. Even in the first timeline when Luka had such a hard time, he did not blame other people for his misfortune or become a sociopath... while Jonas was 120% a true piece of sh!t.
Is it requirement that the FL has to have royal blood in her veins/a hidden special grandios origin to matter in the FanRomDraIse Genre??? For me it was already enough that she was the OG Judith all along who abused/mistreated her Nephew in the first timeline.
I was thinking the same. I did review the spoilers a long time ago so I completely forgot that Judith was royal and I came back when I saw that reveal/discussion in social media. In the beginning it felt wrong to have a FL abusing a child, but then I realized she wasn't even an adult when she suddenly lost her sister and gained a nephew, no father for this child on sight and full on debts. Being 16/17, struck with grief and financial problems, alone with a child.... Looks hard. I became more simpathetic of her situation, and I find it honestly relatable. The fact she is not able to process all the trauma at her age and without a support network makes sense, as well as her regrettable abuse to her nephew just to be clear, THIS IS NOT AN EXCUSE. Its a bit disappointing, it was a more interesting scenario than just being isekai'd into a traditional villainess, I think it would have been neat if they used it... But then... The way the narrative starts, with her fully aware that she was wrong, fully matured and detached of her loss, trauma and inferiority complex its convenient. We can follow her train of thought immediately. It also serves the purpose of the goblet, to make everyone happy. But.... I would have liked to see her "growth", if that makes sense. Like, see more of her inner struggle... Most of the conflict seems external and she having an understanding of Luca's life gave her instant insight on the rerun and now she is giving this insight to everybody else. I guess we got the same results (happy ending) through a shortcut on Judith's end, with her development happening instantly thanks to Luca's memories, since there were many more obstacles in other places.
It was very shocking and also refreshing to see Judith as a very flawed not innocent woman in her first life/og timeline. But I got annoyed that she's got quickly the princess treatment by her ML and Nephew becoming more and more protective of her. It's a shame we couldn't see more of her inner conflicts and character development after her true origin was revealed. She as a fully formed FL has to dedicate her entire existence to save a little prince because this is how pretty motherly caretakers become worthy fairy tale princesses/queens. By the way, family trees in the FanRom Genre can be very soap opera confusing
Thank you so much for saying so! I'm glad. I try and write what I like to read, but I tend to end up rambling haha! +1 to all of this. Original timeline gives us hints but it would have been really interesting to me to follow along with that Judith! Especially since-- Spoiler Like, we learn eventually that original timeline Judith gave Luca her only picture of her sister/his mother when she sent him off, and while she got wrapped up in Franz's schemes in part because of her greed, she interfered with his plans to hurt with Luca even though it got her killed (we see this in her nightmare in chap 34 of the manga) . Luca learns this at some point, and esp after Rudiger's inability to recognize his own emotions leading to Luca misunderstanding him, that leaves Judith as the one person who acted out of love for him in original timeline. Original!Judith was flawed, she undoubtedly neglected him, but like you said - she was a teenager (the part of the brain that processes consequences doesn't fully stop developing until out twenties, fun fact) who didn't exactly have any good examples herself, and as she grew up some, imo her actions demonstrated that she was getting her priorities straightened out and trying to do better. That's a redemption story I'd want to follow, futile as it ended up being in that timeline. But flawed people trying their best to better, even when it doesn't end up in their favor - it's a story I can really get behind. I also sighed at the royalty reveal, because yes, it would be nice to see it - though it makes some of the parallels / proxy / replacement affection stuff work in this story so at least it kind of has a reason, but wow it makes figuring the family tree a headache!! Also, re, family tree - I swear this image should be included with each chapter to make it easier LOL
So the OG ML/Nephew Luca is not blood related to the Duke Winterwald Family and the ML Rodger/Rüdiger/Rudy is actually adopted... Right?
Half correct! Nephew Luca is not related to the Duke Winterwald family, but it's Jonas who was adopted (although Duke is probably the only one who knows this), Rudiger is the blood-related son by second marriage. Princess Vanessa, who married the Duke W, slept with an unknown man sometime before/after, and her son Jonas was raised as the Duke's son, but was not blood-related to him (Duke didn't care lol, he and Vanessa had a deal - they would get married so she could get away from overprotective dad, and Duke could be near Vanessa's maid Sophie, who he loved. No expectations of fidelity). Vanessa passed away shortly after Jonas was born, and Duke W remarried Sophie, who raised Jonas as her own, and they had Rudiger together. Sophie probably doesn't known Jonas wasn't related to the Duke. So Rudiger and Jonas were raised as half-brothers but they're not actually bloodline related. (also as a kid whose family is very blended and hasa mix of adoptions and half-sibs, the 'we're not related by blood so we are not family' trope infuriates me most of the time so I was actually happy to see 'yeah that's my son' from the Duke) ....although Spoiler The Duke DOES end up murdering Jonas to keep Sophie safe sooo....that didn't entirely work out. But hey!
I hope in the manhwa version, he have someone to be married with or show his love interest even in one panel
Ok I'm fully cleared about all otgr characters except Franz. I read it in a spoiler where he said that he believes rudiger and the duke to be evil because he saw his friend (Jonas, that pure ) getting murdered by assassins send by the duke and which is actually the truth! (Revealed later and with reasons why jonas was killed). He always told that the duke and ML are not good ppl and doesn't deserve to be the head of the dukedom. Was he really trying to get revenge or was greedy to become the head ofhof the dukedom himself?