LycoRogue's Reading Corner - Inaugural Post

Est. Read Time: 45min
This Month's Font: Handlee

Welcome to the inaugural post of LycoRogue's Reading Corner.

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It's fitting for me that I wanted these to be published on the 15th of each month and I'm posting the first one late on the 19th, huh? Whoops. Does this still count as being mid-month? We'll run with it....

Anyway, as I mentioned in my last update, I'm hoping this will streamline things a touch this year. I'm proud of how much I've been reading lately, but such a huge chunk of my normal blog post updates - which are supposed to be about my writing progress - have been taken up by me gushing about my latest reads. As I've previously said, it's not necessarily a bad thing. Writers should also be avid readers. Talking about what I'm reading relates to my writing progress. Just... talking about my reading AS much as I've done this past year does feel A Bit Much. I mean, what if some of my readers don't really care? Maybe they switch off at that point. Maybe they just scroll past that part in hopes that I get back to discussing my writing progress after. Maybe they don't have access to or any desire to get an AO3, Webtoon, or Comikey account, and therefore will never read what I'm talking about anyway. So, to help those readers out, I'll be holding back my gushing about what I'm reading in my main posts, and save that infodump for these Reading Corner updates instead.

On the flipside, if you actually enjoy those portions of my updates, it will be easier to get to that stuff!

Huzzah!

Obviously, if what I'm reading influences what I'm writing, I'll still talk about it in my main portion of my blog, but the meat-and-potatoes of me talking about my latest reading will be here now.

Cool?

Cool.

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I had informed you all in my previous update that I have a small handful of fanfics that I'm reading over on AO3. The main one is Intensity by Zenmisery. I am hyped, though, that she also released a surprise update of Dressed to Confess just before Christmas. Totally awesome! Greatly appreciated. Especially since I know juggling multiple stories at once can be challenging - or, maybe it isn't? I'm not quite "ADHD enough" to manage it, but I know a lot of ADHDers who ONLY flourish if they're juggling multiple projects.... Maybe Zen is the later? Either way, I'm excited to get updates on either story; hopefully both. And I do still have her Fallout/ML crossover fic as well to start! Watch me get addicted to that one too and itch for THAT to update as well! Plus, there's another one of Zen's stories that she unofficially abandoned in 2020 - In the Dark - which I'm hoping she also returns to, just like with Dressed to Confess.

Separate from Zen, there is also the 30k+ word Harry Potter/ML crossover that my friend wrote. I'll give you more details once I actually crack that one open.

If you couldn't tell, I am currently very much well-fed when it comes to fanfics, and I don't even have to branch away from my friends/authors that I already know I enjoy.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch Pancake Meme
Edited by LycoRogue

As the above image implies, my feast isn't simply on fanfics. I also have professional content via Webtoon and Comikey. My Webtoon Originals subscription list alone is 65 stories long! Granted, that does include six stories that I've already completed, but still.... (Also, yes, the vast majority of that list is in my To Read pile; I haven't actually started them yet) Add in the Webtoon Canvas stories, and you've got another 16 tales to pick from. Hop over to Comikey, and that's another 10 stories. Not including any others that ChibiSunnie might suggest in the future.

So that's - math, math, math - 85 different stories that I can flip between! Holy hecken!

How many on that list am I actively reading? Why - pause for counting - 18 over on Webtoon (22 if you include stories like Lore Olympus, Mythic Item Obtained, ATLA: The Promise, and Growing Up Gerudo where I got a significant way into the story, but haven't read it in a while. 24 if you also include Dark Water, which has been on hiatus for 8 months, and Loving Reaper, which is episodic). Then there's another two over on Comikey; 4 if you again include series such as My Housemate Sano-kun Is Just My Editor! and From General to Bride: Marrying My Strongest Rival which I haven't read in a while. In part because I can't; there hasn't been any further updates for From General on Comikey yet.

Even with that MASSIVE pile of stories that I am both already reading and have in queue to read, somehow some way, I am STILL looking for more content to devour on Webtoon. Constantly. Sure, I could turn to my long subscription list, but I'm also addicted to ENDLESSLY adding to said list! 

See, at the start of December, I started up a bad(?) habit. I was going through my daily updates too quickly for my liking. I had started reading Webtoon in bed as I unwound and prepped to go to sleep. I found that an hour or two was the magic number. Fantastic for my goal to read at least 15min per day (which is largely why I increased it to an hour)! Problem was, I would complete all of the available free content in only about 20min on my slower nights. I was craving more content without spending money on Webtoon coins. To try to remedy my problem I started just sitting on the home page when opening the app. There's a banner across the top of the page that promotes a handful of comics, and it seems to change daily. I decided to just click on any/all promotions that caught my eye. Bring the story up. Subscribe to it so I don't lose track (I think I've added 20 new stories to my subscription list in the past month this way). At a later date, I'd go back to read the series' preview. I'd then decide if I want to stay subscribed or if the art/writing/characters just don't vibe with me. If it ends up being the later (has only happened once thus far), then I just unsubscribe. Easy-peasy. No harm; no foul. If I decide to keep the subscription, then the story officially goes into my To Read queue, and I'll go back to the Currently Reading list.

That is, until I went back to read the preview portion for Maybe Meant to Be. I know I've said this a few times already for other stories, but this one is so delightfully unhinged!

Jia Han, a 32-year-old freelancer with no work, is tired of her parents nagging her to get married and finally move out. When she runs into her childhood friend, Mincheol Jin, who is also feeling the same pressure from his parents, she blurts out that they should just get married to solve both of their problems. Little did she know he’d accept her suggestion, and she suddenly finds herself thrust into marriage. A story of an unexpected romance that’ll have you scrolling for more!

    - Official Webtoon Summary

That closing line in the summary is not kidding. I INHALED this story! I easily binged multiple episodes (roughly 30min of read-time) EACH DAY. I tore through season 1 so quickly that I actually had to double check that I didn't talk about this story yet in my November blog update. How could I have not talked about it? OH! Right! I hadn't READ it yet! It had only just come back from a long hiatus and was starting to be promoted around that time (more on that later). I barely knew of this series' existence when I published my November update. That just feels so wild to me now that I'm in this post "I've read Maybe Meant to Be" world.

Despite gushing about this story with both Hubby and ChibiSunnie, I have yet to get confirmation from someone who is actually autistic, so I could be off base. However, the male lead Mincheol reads as adorably autistic-coded (if the character himself isn't actually meant to be autistic). There's just so many things that Mincheol says or does that reminds me of either Hubby, or Chibi, or one of my other autistic friends, or just something they all point out as a common autistic trait. He's also just this big teddy bear. He originally comes across as a meat-headed gym-bro, but he's also so sweet and sincere and so madly in love with Jia. He's attentive and protective and constantly brings up things from their shared childhood that Jia has long forgotten.

On the flipside, Jia is pretty much the definition of an ADHD disaster. She's flighty. She overthinks. She's self-destructive. She CONSTANTLY loses track of time. Her train of thought constantly derails. When she is in her head, she either pictures it as a Zoom meeting between her current and past selves, or she'll re-live a moment as if watching a drama unfold, complete with a director yelling at her. It's delightful. Along with that kooky charm, Jia is charasmatic and friendly and a glorious ball of energy. She's witty and sarcastic. She is flirty without even truly realizing that she's flirting with Mincheol.

Which is part of the unhinged part. The way Jia and Mincheol react when they realize they are flirting with their spouse is fantastic! Jia catastrophizes in some of the most hilarious ways possible. There is a side-couple who slept together in a moment of weakness, only to admit later that it wasn't a "moment of weakness"; they truly did want to be with the other person. Problem being that they had been friends for about a decade, so now they don't know how to act differently "as a couple" compared to "as friends" since their platonic relationship was nearly as intimate as a romantic one anyway. (As someone who married her best friend, and who had the "we're not dating, we're besties" talk a LOT in college... I feel them)

Anyway, it's hard to explain exactly how this series is unhinged without bringing up over a dozen specific examples. This update is already belated and long enough as it is. So... trust me. It's delightfully unhinged.

The thing that really hooked me, though, was that it STAYED unhinged. While other stories like The Duke's Teddy Bear or My Husband Changes Every Night started off wonderfully unhinged, they quickly became a serious story about regency-era politics and/or a world-ending villain that needs to be stopped. Not MMtB, though. By the end of season 1, the story is just as unhinged as the first episode.

This might be in competition against Marry My Husband, Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story, and Retired Demon King (another delightfully unhinged story that stays unhinged) for my favorite series on this platform.

Honestly, when I saw that people who were reading MMtB in real time had to wait over A YEAR before season 2 dropped (which happened Nov 28th, 2024), my heart sank for them. It was a satisfying enough ending that the story could have concluded there, sure. I'd still want more. I think I'll always want more of Jia and Mincheol. However, it was a good stopping point. But to KNOW that it wasn't a concluded story? And to STILL have no new content for that long? That's rough, buddy. I don't know how those readers handled it.

That said, I know I can't handle having to wait A WEEK for the next free update of season 2 (given the cliffhangers the author leaves us with in each episode). So, I have set the story aside for nearly a month now. I'm trying to let season 2 build up a back log before I dive back in (since, as I said, the season 1 finale was a satisfying stop point).

But... DANG... I didn't start reading this series until I published the November update on Dec 4, and I stopped reading it nearly a month ago?! That means I tore through 80 episodes in just 2 weeks!!! I told you I loved this series!

Moving on though, using the same tactic that I did to find MMtB, I ended up starting another regency-era story: My Child Will Have a Different Father.

“Fate, save my unborn child…!” These are the last words of Princess Hinael as she plummets to her death at the hands of Count Chetaire, her unfaithful husband. Little does Hinael know that destiny will grant her a second chance, as she awakens two years in the past, shortly before her marriage. With her knowledge of what’s to come, Hinael attempts to rewrite the stars for herself and her future child. And what better way to achieve her ambitions than to court her kingdom’s former enemy, the dark and stern Prince Lutz of the Empire of Triekas?

    - Official Webtoon Summary

We'll ignore the logical fallacy that if Lutz is the father of Hinael's baby instead of Chetaire that it won't be the same kid. We'll pretend that the soul of Hinael's original child (with Chetaire) will return to the new body created from Hinael pairing with Lutz instead. Ergo, Hinael's child will have a different father.

OK, now that all of that is out of the way, I am already loving this story. It reminds me a bit of Leveling Up My Husband to the Max. At least, the VERY first part before we know more about the titular husband. The part where the female lead is pregnant and is killed and has been traumatized by her husband. Those initial beats play the same. Even watching Hinael shake whenever she's around an unknowing Chetaire feels very real and also similar to Leveling Up and how Amber initially reacted to Carlyx when she first went back in time.

The big differences are the timing of when the female lead rewinds to. Since the lead of Leveling Up is revived on her wedding day, it's already too late to change who she's married to. Instead, she focuses on changing her husband, which leads to them having a wonderful romance. On the flipside, Hinael revives shortly before her engagement, so she has time to change tactics. 

While being with Chetaire was Hinael's dream match in her first life - and Chetaire even went through the whole courtship wooing Hinael and practically pleading for the King to grant Hinael's hand in marriage - the marriage turned sour almost instantly. She was abandoned by her husband, who picked up paramours. Then, when he wished to marry one of his mistresses, he decided to murder Hinael. Not even the knowledge that she was close to birthing their child gave him pause! While Carlyx did what little he could to try to spare Amber's life, Chetaire was the direct cause of Hinael's death. There was NO coming back from that. Hinael was not going to chance the possibility of changing Chetaire so he'd be a devoted husband.

Instead, she set her eyes on Lutz. Hinael's kingdom of Salle was in a long-standing war with Lutz's empire Triekas. As tribute to the victorious Triekas empire, Prince Lutz was to pick a bride of his choosing from Salle's five princesses. In Hinael's past life, one of her half-sisters of finer breeding was chosen. She wasn't in a terribly loving relationship, but she was still respected, safe, and powerful upon Lutz taking over as the new emperor of Triekas. Hinael wasn't particularly close to any of her half-sisters (most of whom would look down on her as the child of a palace maid), so she decided to usurp the life of Lutz's original wife.

You can see that Lutz is instantly intrigued by Hinael upon their meeting. Maybe not in love, but definitely curious and possibly a bit infatuated. He also quickly noticed how uncomfortable and even scared Hinael was around Chetaire, and Lutz frequently went into PROTECT MODE to make sure Hinael was never cornered by or otherwise left alone with Chetaire. And the way that Lutz tried to play up that he's always desired Hinael so people don't question why he didn't pick a princess of higher standing? Bro is a masterful flirt and so damn suave. 

HOWEVER, Lutz is aggressively protective of an "almoner". Now, despite dictionary definitions of this word being "a person whose function or duty is the distribution of alms on behalf of an institution, a royal personage, a monastery, etc." in this Webtoon, an "almoner" is a sort of relic. Some weird translation error maybe? But it seems to be an oval stone with a goddess carved into it and framed with sharp dragon-like teeth. Lutz ends up purposefully cutting himself on it before getting splashed with holy water. Presumably as a way to prevent the ill-effects of the water on him. 

So, taking bets. Is Lutz possessed by a demon? Is he a demon himself, disguised as human like in Retired Demon King? Is he some sort of dragonborn like The Dragon King's Bride? Does he suffer from some form of lycanthropy or vampirism? Has he been cursed or otherwise tainted by black/dark magic despite never weilding the magic himself, like in The Duke's Cursed Charm?

Whatever the reason for his "dark aura" - which is why the officiating priest splashed him with holy water in the first place - after the wedding the prince quickly retires (separate from Hinael) and then claims an emergency in Triekas, allowing him to depart for home alone. Lutz's best friend and aide Evan privately tells Hinael that Lutz was trying to hide that he was poisoned in order to prevent the end to the hard-won peace between their nations. Hinael and her lady-in-waiting Deia are then escorted to their new home in Trieka. 

This is a relatively new story, first publishing on Dec 6, 2024. Which, sadly, means I caught up on the free releases fairly quickly. As of the latest free release, Hinael was kidnapped by Chetaire on her way to Trieka. Lutz discovers that his new bride has gone missing and orders Evan and Deia to keep this quiet (again, trying to not break the uneasy truce). He decides to go off to find Hinael on her own. Meanwhile, while slowly freezing (she was kidnapped from her bed, so she is NOT properly dressed for the snowy mountains), Hinael realizes that Chetaire brought her to the same ledge where he killed her in her past life! She manages to break away from him, but he and his assassin he had hired for the kidnapping are in quick persuit of her. We'll see how well THAT turns out for everyone!

All of that said, I've still only talked about a series I devoured in record time and then purposefully avoided reading the rest. Then another that all-too-quickly became a weekly update to queue up with the rest of my weekly updates. Neither really helped me with my goal to have more to read daily so I could get closer to at least an hour's worth of reading per day.

That's when I decided to add in Daily Pass series I Abdicate My Title of Empress. This series is currently up to 84 free episodes available, and I'm only up to episode 27. Even with me cranking out 7 episodes for every 1 new one releasing weekly, I'll be halfway into March before I catch up. That should tide me over for a little while, at least.

In the meantime, it's an intriguing plot that definitely keeps me coming back for more, but has satisfying enough endings to each episode that I'm not frustratingly left on a cliffhanger.

Once Crown Princess of the Empire of Kotrov, Adelheid is reduced to a political pawn by her own mother when she is married off to Emperor Karl Ulrich Echmont of the faraway Echmont Empire. Expecting little from her new life, the reality she faces is even bleaker; not only is her new husband distrustful of her, but Adelheid must also contend with the jealousy of his concubine Diane. Thus begins Adelheid’s journey to gain allies in court, while also using her hidden mage powers to combat a rising threat…

    - Official Webtoon Summary

As is common in these styles of manhwas, there is a faint magical undertone for the series. There are these towers that will randomly spawn and descend from the sky like a computer game in ReBoot. Demons and other monsters will then flood the area from these towers, and mages are pretty much the only ones strong enough to deal with them. Knights and other melee warriors can combat the flood of monsters, but they are merely trying to hold back the flood. Deal with the symptoms instead of the cause, and all that. This then becomes a political chip for the emperor and his cronies. One that the new empress Adelheid is keen to remove from play. Her husband, however, more-or-less forbids her, and so she has to try to keep her own mage powers kiiiiiinda-sorta under wraps and resist touring her new empire to take care of the towers herself.

How did Adel get into this situation? Well, because of some mysterious not-yet-disclosed happenings at home. She saved her younger brother, and, for some reason, she had her position revoked. The title of crown-heir was passed to her brother instead, despite Adel being in her late teens/early 20s and her brother being about 14 or so. Their mother then realized that while Adel might be willing to bend the knee to her beloved brother and accept him as her Emperor, a lot of her allies or Adel's future children may not follow that same mindset. Adel's mother claimed that marrying her off to a faraway emperor and severing her ties and all claims to the Kotrov empire was the only way to remove any attempts on her brother's life. There would be no other successor aside from him.

Adel couldn't really fight her mother's wishes, the uneasy alliance her marriage to Karl would provide, or the safety this would afford her brother. Reluctantly, Adel complied.

This isn't a story of the "cold and distant tyrant of a noble is secretly a big puppy waiting for someone to pour his love over" like the other stories: The Dragon King's Bride, My Husband Changes Every Night, Leveling Up My Husband to the Max, The Duke's Cursed Charm, The Duke's Teddy Bear, etc. This time the emperor truly is an arrogant, entitled, and whiny ass.

His mother was a handmaid to the former Empress. When he was born, since he was the former Emperor's firstborn son, he was adopted as a legitimate child and heir to the thrown. This meant ripping him out of his mother's custody and handing him to the Empress instead, who was then forced to raise him as her own child. Naturally, she was cold towards him, favoring her daughter instead, who was originally the Emperor's only legitimate child. Karl only learned that the Empress was his stepmother when he was 6 and his birthmother was more-or-less on her deathbed. I haven't gotten far enough into the series yet to know if this is just Karl's view or if it's fact, but he at least believes that the Empress purposefully made her handmaiden's life a living hell after giving birth, and that drove her to her early grave. That, coupled with the cold upbringing that the Empress provided, resulted in Karl understandably becoming resentful towards her.

HOWEVER! He doesn't simply have resentment towards his stepmother, but of the title of empress itself! He just assumes anyone who holds that title is as cold and cruel as his stepmother was. Sure. Whatever. That might have made sense as a child, but to be a full-grown adult and still hold onto that belief? *sigh* Trauma does weird things, I guess.

This is where Diane comes in. She is a complete manipulative bitch. She's the type to play the sweet, innocent, vulnerable damsel-in-distress that needs protecting, only to be the first to stab you in the back if you're not useful to her. She realized that she greatly resembled Karl's late mother - pale blonde, wavy hair; fair complexion; sapphire-blue eyes - and knew that Karl had a bit of a complex, so she set to seducing him so she could have the power of Empress. But... uh oh! While Karl fell hook-line-and-sinker, he REFUSES to marry his precious love and give her the title of Empress (re: his hang-up over the title)! At first, Diane doesn't really mind because she was able to convince the unmarried Karl to give her all the power and duties of an Empress since that position needed to be filled regardless.

Then comes Adel. 

Karl doesn't like her simply because she is now an Empress. Doesn't matter that she only has the title because she's married to HIM! Diane doesn't like her because Adel is rightfully trying to reclaim the power and rights of an Empress. This leaves the poor ally-less Adel fighting an uphill battle as she struggles to find a home in this new land. On top of all that, she's a warrior at heart, and good ol' Emperor Karl keeps telling Adel that all he wants out of his Empress - all he DEMANDS - is for her to be little more than a decoration. A figurehead. The position of Empress had long been filled by Diane already, but he still needed an official wife and someone to hold the actual title of Empress. MAAAAYBE he'll be willing to sleep with her one day so she can do her one duty of bearing him an heir. Maybe.

Meanwhile, you have the Minister of Defense, Captain of the Guards, and 2nd born son of Duke Baldur: Lionel Baldur. THIS guy checks all of the boxes of the other male leads in those "he seems cold but is truly a big teddy bear" stories. Obviously the intended love interest. He is instantly smitten with Adel when they first meet and she requests they take horses out for a ride because she had been cooped up in a carriage for the better part of a month. Seeing this firm, strong, independent, fiery, fierce woman takes his breath away. You KNOW he both respects Adel and accepts her exactly as she is. Buuuut, ya know.... new Empress and all..... So he keeps his respectful distance.

That is, until Adel decides she truly needs to build up allies in this new home. Just to poke at the bear that is the Emperor, Adel puts out a call for a personal aide. Apparently, it is common knowledge that an Empress's "aide" is akin to an Emperor's concubine. She knowingly causes quite the stir that the Empress is already seeking an aide barely a month into her marriage. This understandably pisses Karl off. Making him want her, if, for no other reason, but to force her to submit to him. In turn, this pisses Diane off because she's losing Karl's affections as he sets his eyes on Adel instead. All the while, Adel of course picks the man she (a) has a genuine connection with and (b) knows will be the one to piss off Karl the most: none other than Lionel Baldur. He understands the implications of applying to be the Empress's Aide, but also, he understands that she means for it to be a ploy (and... ya know... gives him a chance to at least play the part of Adel's lover....).

Let's see how long the "ploy" lasts before Adel just falls for Lionel....

The art for this series is so unique and gorgeous. I love how Adel is a strong, powerful, unwavering lead, but still is knocked down significantly and frequently simply because she doesn't have any power to wield. She has no leg to stand on. She is a growling, snarling, fierce guard dog that has been harmlessly chained up. Watching such a strong woman claw power away from the Emperor and Diane is so satisfying.

Alternatively, there's another series I read - The Fateful Invitation - where the female lead Princess Hillaria keeps monologuing about how difficult her task is to garner enough power to save her principality, but she barely breathes and everyone bows before her. She is basically the definition of a Mary Sue. I honestly still read that story for only four reasons, none of which include Hillaria's plotline.

1. It's so satisfying whenever Emperor Ebenezer OCCASSIONALLY getting an upper hand on Hill
2. The other women Hill surrounds herself with are tons more interesting for me and I want to keep learning more about THEM
3. I feel for Ebenezer's half-brother Nathan, who is being used by the Empress Dowager (Nathan's mother) as a pawn to wrestle power away from Ebenezer, and I'm hoping for a happy ending for him.
4. The artwork is gorgeous

Continuing with the trend of cold, tyrannical emperor husbands, though, I bring you Divorcing My Tyrant Husband. You may recall me talking about this being on my To Read list last year. It's been sitting in my subscriptions list for a while now. Back when I noticed the odd trend of the manhwas I was reading all consisting of regency-era isekais where the female lead had long, wavy, cherry-red hair and the male lead was a "cold, distant noble" with shaggy dark brown/black hair, actually.

So, it should be no surprise that this is the summary for DMTH:

Lim Jeongah used to be an ordinary grad student living in South Korea. After reading the novel “The Flower From Another World,” late into the night, she wakes up as Empress Robellia Le Castilla, the wife of the tyrant Alexandros the second. Though Jeongah had felt sorry for Robellia while reading the novel, she never wanted to become her. Alas, Jeongah must accept her new reality and find a way to divorce her husband. At first, she thinks this will be easy, as the emperor is always cold toward Robellia and only expresses affection to his consort in the novel. However, every act of trying to get Alexandros to agree to a divorce piques his curiosity instead. Will Jeongah succeed at getting the happy, solo life she wished for Robellia to have?

    - Official Webtoon Summary

Spoiler. Fans have been joking in the comments that an alternate title for this series should be "My Tyrant Husband is Actually a [Sub] and Simply Needs an Even More Tyrannical [Dom]."

Yup, Alexandros, the man Jeongah as Robellia is trying to divorce, is, in fact, the main love interest.

Also, I don't know if you caught it with the title of the book Jeongah is isekai'd into - The Flower From Another World - but this is another Double Isekai! Alexandros' consort Aisha was also isekai'd from South Korea. However, while Jeongah/Robellia is fully aware of this, having read the original story, Aisha is none-the-wiser that Robellia is also a reincarnation transplant.

Now, in the original novel that Jeongah read, as I mentioned, someone is isekai'd into the story's world and becomes Aisha. This woman now living as Aisha then becomes Emperor Alexandros' concubine and eventually his consort. Upon marrying Aisha, Alexandros - who had already been married to the submissive Robellia for three years at this point - starts to neglect his wife. Trying to win back his affections, Robellia tries to mimic Aisha. Since Aisha was originally from a humble background on Earth, even the smallest luxury in this new world feels like a wasteful extravagance to Aisha. So, she wears high-end gowns befitting her station, but they are still simple and relatively reasonably priced. She cuts down the number of servants she has since she doesn't need maids to help her do things like get dressed or bathe. The food is too rich for her Korean palate, so she barely touches the feasts provided daily. Aisha is then presented as this humble, kind, selfless woman who would rather the empire's money goes towards the people and the glory of the empire. This makes Robellia look spoiled and wasteful in comparison, so she also cuts back without really knowing how to live that way.

This makes the original Robellia look small, harmless, and incompetent. Alexandros neglects her further. To the point that Robellia is fearful to even spend money to fix the drafts in her palace or have more than a small handful of staff on hand. As a result, she ends up catching tuberculosis, has little-to-no staff to help her recover from it, and she ends up dying as a result. Leaving the position of Empress now vacant for the preferred wife and female lead Aisha to take over. The story ends with Aisha becoming a beloved Empress and equally beloved wife to Alexandros, and poor Robellia - who didn't even do anything villainous or antagonistic against the lead characters - is dismissed and forgotten.

Trying to avoid ALL OF THAT, Jeongah decides that her first step as Robellia would be to just get a divorce. Clear the way so that Aisha - who is already a consort when Jeongah gets isekai'd - can become the Empress without Robellia having to die first.

For whatever reason, however, Alexandros both refuses and seems confused as to why Robellia would want the divorce to begin with. It's early enough in the story plot that he hasn't become FULLY neglectful yet, although he has started pulling away from his bride of three years. Jeongah quickly realizes that her best strategy for getting a divorce (and hopefully not pushing SO far as to have Alexandros execute her instead) is to become the villain the original Robellia wouldn't. 

She starts off by moving into Aisha's consort palace so she can get the Empress's palace renovated (no qualms about spending exuberant amount of money to piss off Alexandros, plus, a good way to avoid catching TB later in the plot). Aisha obviously is not a fan of having a housemate, but also refuses Robellia's "kind" offer for Aisha to temporarily move into the much larger Emperess's palace during the renovations. Aisha gets Alexandros to step in, Robellia pleads her case and refuses to move out of the consort's palace, and Alexandros honestly looks amused by the fact that his wife has finally grown a bit of a backbone.

When that didn't piss him off enough to accept a divorce, Robellia decides to destroy her entire wardrobe and toss all of her jewelry. She then spends "the budget of a small city" on a new wardrobe and jewels, also purposefully picking out one-of-a-kind dresses that she knew the tailor had purposefully set aside for Aisha. Alexandros' cabinet argued about Robellia's sudden uncontrolled spending, but this only intrigued Alexandros further. He declares that his cabinet's worries make it look like they fear the overflowing coffers drying up, and that he wants to prove to everyone that they are the richest empire in existence. He then commands that someone find out which of Robellia's dresses was the most expensive and buy her one 10x that cost. Just to hammer home the point.

The dress arrives. Robellia is floored, but again tries to piss off Alexandros, so she tells her handmaids to just shove it in the back of a closet somewhere. Why would she wear something from a man she's trying to divorce?

This does catch Alexandros' attention yet again, but more amuses him than anything.

The more "villainous" she becomes the more Alexandros is like "YES! THAT'S MY EMPRESS! THAT'S THE WOMAN I NEED BESIDE ME!" as well as the more he gets bored with Aisha and her sickeningly sweet performative behavior.

This is such a fun series. Robellia is a delightful villainess because nothing she does is truly all that evil. On top of the above examples, she also slapped around a noble to try to cause a scene at a dinner party, but also as a way to secretly punish him for sexually harassing the palace maids. She went on strike from her duties as Empress as a means to punish Aisha for neglecting HER duties as consort, but, really, the work should have been split anyway and Robellia was being overworked to begin with! That sort of thing. "Villainous" acts that just adds to why you're cheering Robellia on. Plus, you get to see the tyrannical Alexandros slowly become a complete simp for Robellia. It's glorious.

Thankfully, this is another Daily Pass series, so I can read more in general daily, but I'm also forced to ONLY read one episode of this series daily. I'm only on episode 21 out of 103 (a LOT happens in each episode!), and the series concluded Jan 3, 2025. So, (a) I know how long this series will sustain me at minimum, and (b) I don't have to worry about ever catching up and getting stuck with weekly update waits.

Now that I've finished The Duke's Cursed Charm (more on that later), I've decided to move on to yet ANOTHER Webtoon adaptation of a Lemon Frog story. I was actually surprised at how many there are! Lemon Frog must be quite the renowned South Korean webnovelist - or otherwise has a partnership with Webtoon - because it looks like nearly EVERY webnovel they write has a corresponding Webtoon.  

I haven't found a Webtoon adaptation yet of Lemon Frog's debut webnovel Crimson Karma or one of their later stories A Slave Of Rubelfast. However, almost every one of the adaptations for Lemon Frog's webnovels has had its title changed slightly. For instance, Lemon Frog's sophomore and junior webnovels - The Devilish Duke Can’t Sleep  and I Thought It Was a Common Transmigration - were adapted into The Duke's Cursed Charm and Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story, respectively. Maybe that is why I haven't found an adaptation for those two. Who knows?

Anyway, continuing down Lemon Frog's bibliography, their fourth webnovel was The Age of Arrogance, which was - as evidenced by that link - yet again adapted into a Webtoon manhwa. It's also, funny enough, the only Webtoon adaptation that kept the original English translation of the title.

After winning a long war, Asha Pervaz is expecting the emperor to compensate her with money. Unlike her expectations though, the emperor asks Asha to choose her own husband from a list of nobles. Asha chooses Duke Carlisle Haven, the emperor’s eldest son and former crown prince. Asha expects him to object and pay an alimony instead, but the duke actually agrees to marry her! He even promises to help Asha rebuild Pervaz. What does the duke really want? And will Asha get what she wants without getting embroiled in the growing royal conspiracy?

    - Official Webtoon Summary

Oooooo, peeps! This one hooked me as much as NYTRS. I mean, Cursed Charm was good, but it didn't hook me quite the same way NYTRS did. AoA, however? I'm addicted!

Something about how Lemon Frog writes their characters. The complexity of them. While I appreciate the cartoonishly evil characters in some of the other stories I read, it's just wonderful to have more fleshed out characters in Lemon Frog's stories.

Asha is a completely no-nonsense kind of gal. She doesn't see the point of holding back. She was raised in a war-torn land. She lost her entire family to the war. She's lost friends to the war. She knows that there is no point to beating around the bush, compromising to comply with things you wholly don't believe in, or indulging in luxuries when the funds would be better utilized to improve someone's life. She also doesn't understand the cutthroat nature of politics. In Pervaz, everyone is a compatriot and you did all you could to help your neighbor. She doesn't even fully stand on formalities with her people because she has watched them fight her whole life and even fought beside them. They are comrades in arms, not her underlings.

Because of all of those beliefs and Asha's upbringing, she's also a bit naïve to the world outside of being a warrior. To the point where Duke Carlisle is straight up shocked that she didn't even imagine skimming off the top of her country's restoration funds in order to fill her own coffers. While nobles that Carlisle grew up with would make sure their lives were plush and posh first and foremost, and then spend just enough on the people to prevent revolts, Asha genuinely puts her people first. To the point where her castle was practically bare of all furniture (her family either sold it all to fund the war and help their people, or they burned it for want of firewood). 

On the flipside, Carlisle, as the former crown prince, was tasked to keep the nation's boarders safe against threat of demons and monsters. (Again, the random subtle magical undertones of these stories) Carlisle is also a warrior. One literally blessed by the god of war himself. However, Carlisle made a point of also paying attention to the political side of being a royal. He knows how to make power plays. He could build up alliances. He is favored by his people. This, in turn, frustrates his stepmother, the current Empress.

Naturally, the Empress wanted her son - the second prince Matthias - to become the crown prince instead. Her plotting started with sending her teenage stepson out to the battlefield in hopes he'd die and make way for her own son. Obviously, this backfired as it actually gave Carlisle a fierce but brave reputation. Her next ploy? She knew Carlisle had a spy network, and purposefully leaked information through it. Carlisle, thinking he was going to meet up with an informant, ended up entering the room where his father's favored concubine was currently undressing. Accused of attempting to accost the concubine, Carlisle was temporarily stripped of his title. He must provide community service for the next three years, and may potentially regain his claim as crown prince if the Emperor believed Carlisle properly repented. 

Which is where Asha unknowingly comes in. She was hoping to trick the Emperor into paying the compensation he had promised her father for their war efforts. Claim Carlisle as her intended husband. Have both he and the Emperor refuse her request. By the Emperor's own decree, from not a moment before, this would therefore force "the parents of the selected potential husband" - AKA the Emperor and Empress - to pay an alimony. She didn't calculate that Pervaz was a self-governing portion of the empire, and therefore was the perfect spot away from the prying eyes of the imperial family and their retainers for Carlisle to build up an army of his own. If his father would not reinstate him as crown prince, he would take it by force. Regardless, once he regained his power he would use his new secretly amassed army to remove his stepmother and half-brother as further threats to his power.

He had been struggling to figure out how to enact his plan, and Asha stumbled in like a gift presenting him the solution.

I personally suspect an ulterior motive from Carlisle, however. Or, at least, that he has a bit of a fringe benefit situation going on. For me, it was fairly evident early into the series that Carlisle - much like Alexandros from Divorcing My Tyrant Husband or Lutz from My Child Will Have a Different Father or Lionel from I Abdicate My Title of Empress - is intrigued and possibly infatuated with Asha. It's actually so precious how, even when the two of them are alone and he doesn't have to performatively present himself the doting husband, he still stumbles his way through flirting with Asha (and Asha does NOT pick up on it AT ALL... poor guy).

As a fellow warrior, he likes to connect with her on that front, but he's trying to put that warrior persona behind him, so he doesn't like to focus on it in front of others besides her. He knows she'd understand him on a level no other woman ever could. In that same vein, however, despite being handsome, confident, suave, available, and having a reputation of being a bit of a lady's man (which is partially why no one believed that he entered the concubine's room unintentionally), poor Carlisle has never actually had any dating experience. He just could never really connect with a woman like that. The closest he got was the former lead marriage candidate for him: Cecilia. Despite everyone believing that they were smitten and a perfect couple, Carlisle was fully aware that Cecilia was just putting on a performance in order to lock down the position of crown princess and eventual empress. He didn't hate spending time with her, so he played along and performed in kind.

With ASHA, however? Well, as they were traveling to Pervaz after their wedding they had to stop and set up camp a few times. He was shocked that Asha kept offering to sleep on the ground instead of joining him in the bed. He also declared that a wife's duty was to help her husband strip and dress for bed (one of his many awkward attempts at flirting). She apologized for not realizing, and then dressed him for bed with the same level of disconnected professionalism as a servant before wishing him goodnight and climbing under her blankets unfazed. Poor guy started to doubt any woman could ever find him attractive after that. Every time Asha misreads his flirting and acts matter-of-factly he gets so deflated and it's adorable.

Carlisle also tries to act aloof and in command, but is routinely just kind of strutting around like a displayed peacock hoping Asha would compliment his pretty feathers. Again. Adorable. And not something a guy NOT interested in his wife would do.

One of Asha's most trusted subordinates was also her former lead marriage candidate: Decker. We don't know yet as to why they didn't marry. Maybe they just didn't have time to before the emperor decreed that Asha marry a noble? There doesn't seem to be any romantic feelings between them, but they are incredibly close. Clearly best friends. Despite her being his superior and a countess, he has no problem joking around with her as an equal. Something she also has no problems with. Carlisle, on the other hand? He gets so jealous. Whining to his best friend and head secretary Lionel about how close and familiar Decker is to Asha, and how he could never get Asha to laugh and smile the way Decker does.

When Carlisle noticed that there wasn't a single portrait of Asha or her family within her castle (they didn't have the time or means to get portraits done!), he told her that they would have to make sure to get one done of the two of them. One to go to the royal archives (a record of their marriage) and one to hang in her home. Since they are planning on divorcing at the end of Carlisle's three-year probation, Asha doesn't see the point. Carlisle rebukes that it's a way for her to remember him. He then adds that she is forbidden from selling or burning the portrait, even as a replacement for firewood. Like.... bro....

In one of the episodes I recently read, there is yet another attack on Pervaz. As Asha bid Carlisle farewell before heading off to lead her troops she asked of only two things of him: Should she die, please take command as the margrave of Pervaz in her stead, and, should he have many children with another, please appoint at least one of them as the count of Pervaz to make sure the land and its people are still well cared for.

YO! THE WAY THAT MAN FIXATED ON AND WAS OFFENDED BY THE MERE MENTION OF HIM POTENTIALLY HAVING CHILDREN WITH ANYONE ELSE!?!

There's no way this man hasn't caught feelings. 

The best irony is that Carlisle keeps telling Asha "Don't fall for me" and she's just like "OK".
"No, really. No matter what I do, don't fall for me."
"Got it. I will not fall for you."
"No matter how charming I may be."
"Noted."
"No matter how doting or lovey-dovey I may become."
"It's all just an act to fool the imperial family and the nobles. It is in no way real. I understand. I will not fall in love with you. You have my word."

AAAAAAND now the prince is just all pouty and like "Why isn't she falling for my charms?!?"

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I'm only 15 episodes in, but I already feel like a lot has happened. There's currently 65 free episodes unlocked, but I fear I'll catch up to the weekly release wait fairly quickly.... 

**UPDATE: OK, I had this part written on the 15th. I then read some more before finishing writing up this blog post on the 16th. I didn't think it would matter to you fine folks that I had fibbed and was actually closer to 20 episodes into the story, so I didn't bother editing the above statement. Then, INSTEAD OF EDITING THIS POST - HOLY CROW IT WOULD HAVE ONLY TAKEN MAYBE TWO HOURS, WHY CAN'T I FOCUS!?! - I couldn't get this dang story out of my head. I had just read through a fairly significant plot point; a major change in Carlisle and Asha's relationship. Something that they DESPERATELY needed to talk about. I was on my lunch break at work anyway, so I thought "I just need to read the next episode. See if they talk about what happened." Spoiler... they didn't... "maybe the next one"... nope, instead the couple had to spend time apart for political/business reasons.

Well, now I have to see if they talk once they're reunited!

Next thing I know, I've spent nearly EIGHT HOURS (off-and-on) plowing through this dang manhwa! And now I'm friggen caught up!

D'oh!

Welp... there goes me using this series to try to fill in some reading time DAILY. 

Damn you, Lemon Frog, and your captivating stories!

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On the plus side, I've already finished my reading goal for January. Whoo-hoo! Another silver lining: The Age of Arrogance updates Thursday nights in the US. So, I finally have a story that updates on Thursdays now... weeeee.

Anyway, I WAS going to go back and edit the pre-written AoA section to reflect that, much like with Maybe Meant to Be, I had consumed this series like a glutton (seriously! I started reading it earlier this month!). This post is already going live later than I wanted though, so it felt easier to tag on an update instead of actually editing and potentially delaying even further. 

Soooo yeah. A LOT more has happened than what I left off in the above description. I now know why Asha and Decker never wed. Asha has also caught feelings. The miscommunication between Asha and Carlisle have only gotten WORSE! There is now the added complication of a corrupt priest lusting after Asha and wanting her to be his empress as he creates a holy empire. There were more wars that Asha and Carlisle fought in together. Their couple portrait is revealed and it is GLORIOUS. I could keep going but I don't want to give out too many more spoilers. This story is also now in my Top Five for this platform.

On the flipside of all of these grand, Webtoon Original series with SO MUCH happening each new episode that the wait between uploads feels worth it, there's the final new series I've started. A Webtoon Canvas series: The Prince's Private Servant

Because of financial problems, my stepmother sold me as a royal worker. Because my academic grades were quite good, the royal officer gave me the position as a the Prince’s personal servant to replace his personal servant who had just died, with a fairly good wage. He was known to be cruel and warlike. He lived in a separate kingdom, and according to rumors, many servants died there. Whatever happens I really need money. But, can I survive?

    - Official Webtoon Summary

Soooooooooo yeah. An interesting concept. Falls right into the tropes that I clearly already love and frequently read. I was so shocked by how absolutely GORGEOUS the artwork is I audibly gasped. The story is juuuuuuuuust slowburn enough that I'm being dragged along like a fish on a line until the two leads FINALLY get together.

Buuuut, this series is kinda false advertisement...

The main character Eloise herself basically tells the audience by the second episode that Prince Sebastian is nothing more than a big teddy bear who is all bark and no bite. Not only is there literally NO threat of him ever hurting her, but also he will actively kill to PROTECT her! She is his EVERYTHING. He is not subtle with presenting Eloise as his whole world. 

And yet!

Because of her lowly station compared to his, and the fact that she has been his assistant and companion since they were both children (the main reason he fell for her), Eloise believes there is NO WAY he could be interested in her, and his flirting is just his way of getting out of arranged marriages.

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She is so gloriously dense. He all but tells her "I love you and I want you as my wife", but I don't think she'll get his intensions until he says those exact words. On the flipside, you can tell he's resisting saying those exact words to her because he knows there's a power imbalance and that she might feel obligated to comply with his wishes. He'd rather know that she loves him romantically back and would want to marry him before saying anything. And I love Prince Sebastian for that.

All that said, though... ooof. As I already stated, the artwork (particularly on the background and outfits) is breathtaking and incredibly detailed. I can imagine how long it must take the lone artist to complete each episode. HOWEVER, compared to the plot-heavy and relatively-lengthy episodes you get on the Originals side of Webtoon (takes me an average of 7min to read and they're updated weekly), this series has laughably short episode reads (less than a minute most times) and an inconsistant upload schedule. Some times it's only 3 days, others it's a little over a week. Even when the uploads are relatively frequent, the minute-long read each time just breaks up the action too much. Sooooo many comments are just people practically begging the creator to take more time between uploads so each episode can be a full chapter. As is, there's an average of about 8 of those minute-long episodes per completed chapter. Which gets exhausting. Thankfully, I have such a massive backlog that I can binge pretty much a full chapter in one sitting so the action isn't broken up TOO much. That said, I'm officially 109 episodes (individual uploads) into this series, which is only 19 chapters! On top of that, aside from getting a recap of Eloise's childhood as Sebastian's servant, not much has actually happened in this story yet!

We get introduced to Eloise who basically got "Cinderella'd". Loving mom died when she was young. Dad remarried. Dad died. Stepmom resents husband's child with is first wife. Stepmom favors her own daughter and treats stepdaughter as a servant. This time, though, apparently the stepmom tried to sell Eloise off as a concubine when she was only 8!!! The chancellor, thankfully, was like, "Ma'am, that is far too young for that kind of trade! But we do have more appropriate work available for your daughter if you would like." Stepmom then negotiates a contract where all of little Eloise's wages get instantly funneled to the stepmom like the world's worst child star Mom-ager.

That's when Eloise is set up as Sebastian's personal assistant. Poor Prince Sebastian was fairly isolated and his older brother feared Sebastian trying to dethrown him, so he avoided Sebastian as much as possible. Even forcing a TEN YEAR OLD CHILD (I don't think the author thought this through) onto the battlefield at the height of a fierce war in hopes that Sebastian would be killed in battle and problem resolved. Further showing the author's naïve hand, Sebastian - again, as a TEN YEAR OLD CHILD SOLDIER - not only survived the war, but he also (a) left the battlefield unscathed (at least, physically); not a single scar on his body, and (b) received a reputation for being a bloodthirsty warrior; a demon on the battlefield. AT. TEN. (Also to note, his child-king older brother is only TWO YEARS OLDER! THE NATION ALLOWED THEIR 12YO CHILD KING TO SEND THE TEN YEAR OLD SECOND PRINCE INTO WAR!!!) Like, sure, there's still, sadly, child soldiers in the world. The concept of a child king sending their child rivals-for-the-throne to war probably did happen centuries ago. Also, 10-to-12-year-olds are frequently reluctant warrior protagonists in middle-grade books, but... even with all that said, it still feels like a stretch within this story, is all I'm saying.

So, 8yo Eloise is now the assistant to 11yo decorated war hero Sebastian. Sebastian is understandably reserved and reclusive, but a stubborn Eloise, fearful of being punished for doing a bad job (in which her job was to force Sebastian to do HIS daily duties), easily wins over Sebastian within the first day. He quickly caves to her prodding and only lightly rebels against her demands. As they got older and Sebastian - now a teen - is expected to attend social events, he manages to weasel the ultimatum "If you want me at the party, I get to bring whomever I wish as my guest to keep me company." His plus-one is ALWAYS a protesting Eloise.

Fast forward again to their current ages of 18 and 21. Sebastian is clearly head-over-heels. Eloise is oblivious. Eloise's stepmother is now demanding more funds since Eloise's stepsister is now of age to be presented to society and therefore needs a budget increase to maintain a certain standard of living. The stepmother threatens to sell Eloise's familial home in order to fund the stepsister's upbringing (again, a very "Cinderella" move). Eloise is distraught and begs Sebastian for a raise. He offers to just buy her familial home himself and gift it back to her so the stepmother can't hang it over her head anymore. Eloise refuses the "handout", so Sebastian compromises by offering her more work instead so she can earn more and hopefully manage to purchase the home herself.

Then there's a small bit of the stepmother and stepsister threatening Eloise at a party, actually going so far as to slap Eloise. Sebastian quickly went into PROTECT MODE and Eloise had to stop him from executing them both right then and there. And there's the briefest of tension as the king wishes to meet with Eloise - something Sebastian is fighting tooth-and-nail - and Sebastian sabotaging all of his potential marriage candidacies despite swearing to Eloise he'd take this part of his royal duty seriously.

Aaaaand... that's it. Sorry for the spoilers, but that is the entire plot thus far... 19 chapters and 109 episodes in.....

Alternatively, if this were one of the many Original stories I follow, that much plot would probably be handled in the first 5 or 6 episodes.... Even other Canvas stories have more plot progression.

And yet! Sebastian's dedication to Eloise and her complete obliviousness to his feelings for her has stupidly gotten me hooked...

I have a few more stories staring me down, demanding I start reading them too, but I think that might be a decent amount where I'm currently at. For now, at least.

My weekly schedule has expanded to:

• Sunday:
• Daily Pass Unlock only:
• Divorcing My Tyrant Husband
• I Abdicate My Title of Empress, at least, until I catch up with the free releases
• Any series from the previous week that I need to catch up on
• Binge fully-free stories until I catch up with the free releases
• The Prince's Private Servant
• I'll be honest. I alluded to this earlier, but I kind of fell off reading the final season of Lore Olympus. I could probably shift that one back into the reading rotation again.
• I can also use this time to catch up on Comikey mangas I started ages ago
• Double the Trouble, Twice as Nice
• The Lady Likes a Nerd over Princes
• My Housemate Sano-kun Is Just My Editor!
• Monday:
• Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story
• Seabird and the Wolf
• My Husband Changes Every Night
• Daily Pass Unlocks:
• Divorcing My Tyrant Husband
• I Abdicate My Title of Empress
• Maybe Lore Olympus again
• Binge-stories
• The Prince's Private Servant
• Any of the Comikey Trio listed above
• Tuesday:
• Office Romance from Hell
• I Will Live the Life of a Villainess
• The Dragon King's Bride
• Rental Hero
• Daily Pass Unlocks:
• Divorcing My Tyrant Husband
• I Abdicate My Title of Empress
• Lore Olympus?
• Binge-stories
• The Prince's Private Servant
• Comikey Trio
• Wednesday:
• Daily Pass Unlock only:
• Divorcing My Tyrant Husband
• I Abdicate My Title of Empress
• Lore Olympus?
• Catch up on any missed episodes thus far that week
• Binge-stories
• The Prince's Private Servant
• Comikey Trio
• Thursday:
• The Age of Arrogance
• Eventually, I'll also get back into reading Maybe Meant to Be once I feel I have a safe backlog built up
• Daily Pass Unlocks:
• Divorcing My Tyrant Husband
• I Abdicate My Title of Empress
• Lore Olympus?
• Binge-stories
• The Prince's Private Servant
• Comikey Trio
• Friday:
• The Fateful Invitation
• My Child Will Have a Different Father
• Daily Pass Unlocks:
• Divorcing My Tyrant Husband
• I Abdicate My Title of Empress
• Lore Olympus?
• Binge-stories
• The Prince's Private Servant
• Comikey Trio
• Saturday:
• Obsidian Bride
• Daily Pass Unlocks:
• Divorcing My Tyrant Husband
• I Abdicate My Title of Empress
• Lore Olympus?
• Binge-stories
• The Prince's Private Servant
• Comikey Trio

My completed series list now is up to:

• FLOAT
• Leveling Up My Husband to the Max
• Answer Me, My Prince
• Marry My Husband (now to check out the K-Drama adaptation on Amazon Prime!)
• The Duke's Teddy Bear*
• The Duke's Cursed Charm**

*I used the coins I earned playing the one advertised game to unlock the final 3 episodes. Trying to earn those coins was tedious, and I didn't even realize that they EXPIRE a week later!!!! So frustrating! Never going to bother again. Should have just tossed the buck at the app and call it a day. Either way, I was able to finish off DTB. It was a nice ending, but it did feel rushed and almost as convoluted as Leveling Up My Husband to the Max and Answer Me, My Prince. I'm sensing that a lot of Webtoons creators don't really know how to end their stories.....

**I just finished The Duke's Cursed Charm on New Year's Eve. 

Yeah. I mentioned it above, but I no longer have The Duke's Cursed Charm on my reading list. I finished it. Beware of vague spoilers, that aren't even really spoilers if you know the general vibe/tropes of the romance genre....

Maybe it's because this story was adapted from a webnovel, but the ending did feel a bit more satisfactory compared to other completed Webtoons that I've read, such as Leveling Up and Answer Me. Although, it did still somehow seem a touch rushed. The first 70ish episodes of this 80-episode series were a nice, slow build as you got to know the characters and world-build lore. Then, abruptly, you crest the hill, and you just full-tilt sprint into the final act. It read more like a well thought-out TV series rushing to put on the ending they wanted after discovering they were cancelled.... You get the same vague "and they lived happily ever after" as all the old-school Disney fairytale movies. The only true glimpse into the main couple's future you get is one of the production team members drew a picture of the couple with their kids as a "thank you for reading" within the story's epilogue. There's vague comments about wrongs EVENTUALLY being righted, a primary political position EVENTUALLY being filled (don't worry about it *hand wave*), an antagonist is on the right road for redemption (but hasn't technically redeemed themselves yet), and the empire is PROBABLY going to survive the massive shake-up that happened in the climax (again, don't worry about it).

It wasn't a bad ending, but, like I said, it felt rushed. Like when Pushing Daisies or Castle rushed back to reshoot their season finale cliffhangers when they realized the show was cancelled instead. Or when Game of Thrones seemed to nosedive in the back half of its final season because said season was half as long as all the previous ones and the showrunners no longer had the time to develop the plot beats they wanted to show. Although, I will say that the ending of Cursed Charm was definitely not as disastrous as GoT.

It's a shame that we didn't get more time with Carhel and Lena before the story concluded. I alluded to this earlier when I talked about The Age of Arrogance, but I don't know if the Webtoon adaptation deviated from the source material, or if Lemon Frog also had that relatively-abrupt ending. Maybe I should just check out the fan-translated English versions of the webnovels. See how close the adaptation was. 

I'm just trying to gauge how NYTRS - another Lemon Frog story originally - might end, and I'm hoping it's EXTREMELY satisfying, like with Marry My Husband. Especially after all of the time dedicated to this story. I mean, I've been reading it for nearly a year (honestly, so much has happened in the story, I'm surprised I only just started reading it last March)!

Unfortunately for my experiment of gauging how satisfying the endings of manhwa adaptations of Lemon Frog's stories, The Age of Arrogance is an on-going story, just like NYTRS. In fact, out of all of the adaptations I was able to find of Lemon Frog's works, Cursed Charm is the only completed series thus far.

Oh well, it's not going to stop me from reading the others. I'm already reading NYTRS and AoA. Chronologically, the next on my list should be What the Evil Dragon Lives For, and then the adaptation of Lemon Frog's latest webnovel: Duchess in Ruins. Although, Duchess in Ruins JUST started publishing November 3, 2024. It's still heavily advertised in that home page banner I talked about at the top of this post. There's only 12 free episodes as of right now. I am definitely going to wait until there's a much more substantial backlog of free episodes first. I now know better when it comes to these Lemon Frog stories!

While I'm waiting to get more NYTRS and AoA content, I guess I'll have to work on my next blog post. Catch you again in a couple of weeks for my normal blog update, and around February 15th for my next episode of LycoRogue's Reading Corner!

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