Tuesday, February 18, 2025

LycoRogue's Reading Corner: February

Est. Read Time: 40min
This Month's Font: Itim

Looks like I'm two-for-two with publishing my LycoRogue's Reading Corner update on time. I'll give myself props for at least getting it done in the correct month again. Baby steps.

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What hurts is that I was actually keeping pretty on-schedule to be able to get this published on the 15th, as intended. Then I tripped at the finish line. Naturally, there was Valentine's Day on Friday, and you probably know by now how my husband and I are big mushes. Granted, we didn't celebrate ON Valentine's Day since we were both busy, but we then made a point of spending time together after work on Saturday to make up for it. Either way, it meant that I was focused on something other than this update because of V'day. Plus, as I mentioned, I was busy on Friday, so that day was a loss as well.

The main distraction, however, was entirely of my own making. Literally. I'll discuss it more in my writing update at the end of the month, but I created a Discord server for me and my writing friends. I then distracted myself from finishing this update by working on/posting to that server for about two or three days. The entire time I thought, "I don't need to do this NOW. Work on the blog update." But then that little devil on my other shoulder whispered, "Nah... this is more important..."

Sooooooo.... yeah. Whoops.

With regard to reading, I have been focused exclusively on WEBTOON the past month. Zenmisery hasn't updated any of the stories she had been working on. Which.... fair. It's been extra rough for a lot of us Americans since the newest administration took hold. I get having different priorities than working on fanfiction. 

Not that there's a shortage of other fanfiction for me. Besides the thousands of fics already published to AO3, there's been a big resurgence lately. After over a year, season 6 of Miraculous Ladybug has finally started airing.

Except.... I haven't been watching any of it because the release order is even more messed up than normal.

For season 1, the release/watch order didn't really matter. The show was episodic. You could watch in whichever order and you'd be fine. The only stipulations were (1) keep the two-part "Origins" episodes together, and (2) have "Volpina" be the season finale.

For season 2, the story started to get a bit more serialized. Most of it remained episodic, but there was starting to be an overarching season-long plot. If you watched some late-season episodes before some early-season episodes the character development might feel off or you might get a minor spoiler.

Season 3 is when the watch order really started to matter. It's also when I decided to exclusively watch the series in production order, as opposed to the random toss-out of episodes that was the air order. Mostly because there was a pretty big spoiler in an episode that aired at least 9 episodes ahead of production order.

Even so, season 6 is, as I've mentioned, by far the worst. At least with the previous seasons, the two-part episodes aired back-to-back and in the correct order, the season finale was the final episode(s) to be aired, and - with the exception of season 1, when it didn't really matter - the first episode of each season was indeed the season premiere.

Until now...

Hacker Girl
Facebook sticker
by Birdman Inc

Four episodes have already aired, one of which was the ELEVENTH episode in production order.

We are still waiting for an air date for THE FIRST EPISODE OF SEASON 6! Whyyyyyyyy?

Supposedly, you can watch season 6 in any order, just like season 1 or 2, but I'm probably still going to wait until at least the FIRST EPISODE IN PRODUCTION ORDER is finally aired before I jump into this new season. Which means a LOT of spoiler dodging for a little while. So.... I'm just going to step away from new fanfiction as well....

Most people are kind enough to tag spoilers, but some? Eh? It's just safest to step away.

Not that it matters. I am apparently determined to have my Webtoon nightly reading list be long enough to take up my goal of 1hr/day all on its little lonesome. Which means I've continued my habit of just subscribing to any promoted series that have a logline and artwork that intrigues me, even if I don't read the synopsis then-and-there to see if I even want to read it. I have so many of these that I still need to vet....

Anyway, that brings my subscription list count (excluding stories I've completed) up to 74 stories! Well, 90 stories, if you include the 16 Canvas series I'm also subscribed to.

Just so you know, I haven't even read the preview chapter for 62% of that subscription list.... But I get suggested pretty pictures and romance isekais so.... *hits subscribe button* I'm such an easy mark....

Regardless, I am still actively reading 16 Webtoons Original stories (the ones that are updated weekly, with official editors, yada-yada). I also regularly read 3 Webtoons Canvas stories (the ones where the creators are self-regulated and post on their own schedule) as they update.

That doesn't include 3 more Webtoons Original stories or 2 Webtoons Canvas stories or 3 Comikey stories that I might periodically bring up to read. I just need to be in the right mindset for them, though.

Point being, I started tearing though last month's reading schedule pretty quickly again. I had bouts of insomnia, and I was craving more content. This time, I at least went to that long subscription list I already had, and pulled some new options from that. 

First was the series You Can't Kill Me: The Secret Bride of the Black Wolf. 

Yeonwu Chae, a talented yet lonely composer from Korea, finds herself and her family trapped in the underworld after a car crash. In her first life, she marries Hyojo, who ultimately kills her. In her second life, she takes revenge by taking her own life in front of him. But despite her desperate wish for an end, she’s given another chance at life. However, this time, instead of encountering Hyojo, she is discovered by Hwita, a mysterious man with a black wolf as his guardian spirit. Can Yeonwu break the cycle and find true safety in this treacherous underworld?

    - Official Webtoon Summary

Honestly? This was a case of "Pretty pictures; instant subscribe" and I didn't even read the summary before checking out the series. I just saw the title, the gorgeous artwork, and it was giving the same vibes as, say, The Dragon King's Bride. So, going in relatively blind, I started up the series.

It opens with Yeonwu committing suicide in front of Hyojo as a sort of a "You cannot have me! I will be free" message. She did so on his birthday in front of the attendants, no less, to really drive home that Hyojo is so horrible that she'd rather die than have him touch her again. 

She hoped she was finally free and could pass on to the next life, only to wake up as her past self right after the fateful car crash. She was terrified. The past two times she lived through this moment Hyojo was the one who found her, and he declared Yeonwu as his.

The artist is SO GOOD at drawing the physical depictions of stress and panic. You could practically feel her shaking through the screen. My own heart races a bit, and my breath becomes shallow whenever Yeonwu panics about Hyojo. It is terrifying, but in the best way. I didn't need to know more. I was locked in.

The next episode, you officially meet the titular Black Wolf: Hwita. Yeonwu isn't sure what is different about this life reset that Hwita is there instead of Hyojo, but she is grateful. She instantly throws herself at him. If he takes her as his lover, maybe that will keep her away from Hyojo!

Understandably, Hwita is beyond confused as to why this person he has never met before is practically begging him to take her to bed. He seems to pick up that she's doing so out of fear, however, and does agree to take her in to protect her. He lets her know that he has no intention of sleeping with anyone he's not in love with, however. Either way, Hwita does still agree to present Yeonwu as his lover, and makes sure to have her room set up beside his so that even his servants will believe the rouse. 

Next comes the major hurtle: Hyojo is the son of the emperor, and Hwita is the emperor's distant relative; a high noble within the Underworld. He's frequently called to the imperial palace, and he can't hide Yeonwu away for too long. The moment Hyojo sees her, he wants her as his own; just as he's always wanted in Yeonwu's past lives.

Now Yeonwu has to push back against trauma and fear, and avoid the constant advancements and attacks from Hyojo (thankfully, Hwita is a very protective "lover").

Also.... Hwita has an alleged twin named Yuta, who is the Grim Reaper.... See, I say "alleged" because we have yet to see the two together. People refer to the Reaper as Hwita's twin, even Hwita's servants seem to have known the twins when they were young. However, there's a decent amount of evidence to suggest that maybe Hwita IS Yuta? That they just kind of cohabit Hwita's body, and that he transforms into Yuta whenever he takes on Reaper duties????

For instance, people talk about how The Reaper only has his powers at night, and so, the only times both Yeonwu and the audience ever sees Yuta, it's at night... when Hwita is conveniently not around. And, when Yeonwu was brutally attacked, Yuta later goes after the aggressor claiming the aggressor put his hands on "My woman" (implying Yeonwu is in a relationship with Yuta, not Hwita). 

On the flipside, though, Hwita, while talking to Yeonwu about her first encounter with Yuta - in which he saved her from thugs - mumbles "I can't believe my brother was actually useful for once." He also seemed put-off when Yeonwu commented on how similar Hwita and Yuta were: "I thought you two had a similar aura." Later, when he was alone with one of his most faithful servants, he notes that Yuta wears a mask because "he hates that his face looks so much like mine" (being twins and all). 

So... it feels like Hwita believes Yuta is a separate person, an actual brother/twin. Which SHOULD confirm that Hwita and Yuta AREN'T one and the same.... On top of that, in the most recent free-release episode, Yuta is seen attacking Yeonwu's assailant while Hwita is busy recovering from being poisoned. Does this confirm that they are two different people? Or is the the story being told out-of-order and Yuta attacking the guy happens AFTER Hwita's recovery, not before/during it?

Flipping back though.... In the opening scene of the series, when Yeonwu commits suicide at Hyojo's birthday celebration, she sees a man crying over her death. She can't tell who it is, but, after I went back to reread this scene, it's now obvious that the person crying over Yeonwu's suicide is Hwita. And Hwita is magically there before Hyojo when Yeonwu is again reverted to the moment her family crashed into the Underworld.

Did Yuta - as The Reaper - cause Yeonwu's life-rewinds? Did he also direct Hwita where to go to find Yeonwu? Did he do all of this for his brother - whom he seems to have a negative relationship with? Especially considering Yuta apparently considers Yeonwu HIS woman? OOOOR, does Occam's Razor suggest that Yuta HAS to therefore be Hwita during the day, when he loses his Reaper powers? In his daytime form (Hwita) he saw his love (Yeonwu) committing suicide to try to get away from Hyojo. He wants another chance to save her and maybe even be with her, so, in his Reaper form (Yuta), he rewinds time as far as he can control: the car crash (he, presumably, doesn't have the ability to alter anything that happened in the Overworld, aka, the world of the living). He then tries to get to Yeonwu before Hyojo, but, it's daytime again, so he has to arrive as Hwita.

Seems compelling... until you realize that - iirc - Hwita has visited Yeonwu at night, and has even specifically told her that he'd escort her if she needed to go anywhere at night since it's so dangerous.

EEEEE! This whole mystery behind Hwita and Yuta, and why Yeonwu is stuck in this time loop.... I love it all! I'm hooked just on that. But then seeing how tender Hwita is with Yeonwu, and watching them lowkey flirt with each other??? Beautiful!

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All-in-all, this is an awesome story. Definitely in the top among all the ones I read/have read. The artwork is gorgeous and really pulls you into the skin of the protagonist. Hwita is the softest of beans, but goes BEAST MODE when he feels he needs to protect Yeonwu. Which, surprisingly, is both a LOT and not as much as he'd think? Like, she's attacked. A LOT. But she's also learning that she can hold her own a lot more than she thought. So Hwita doesn't need to rescue her as much as you'd think.

Also, as I mentioned above with Hwita crying over Yeonwu's suicide, there's hints that maybe Yeonwu and Hwita interacted more in her past lives than she lets on, and/or that maybe Hwita is also aware of the time loop and has been in love with Yeonwu for a while now? The "aware of the loop" thing would explain how he'd know where to be to get to Yeonwu before Hyojo this life-reset, assuming it isn't some Yuta/Hwita shenanigans.

So.... yeah! I spent HOURS just binging this story on one of my days off, which then meant I was caught up and had to wait for the next free release. Boo. At least You Can't Kill Me is now an exciting addition to my weekly reading line-up. Bonus: It updates Sunday night in the US. Which means I finally have new weekly content on Sundays, and not just Daily Pass unlockables! Whoo!

Finally finding something for my Sunday evenings was exciting, but it also meant it didn't help me fill my nightly reading cravings. Still on the hunt to bulk up my nightly reading list, I got introduced to a brand new series: Lock Me Up, Duke!.

When doomed to get the bad ending, everyone would try to avoid it no matter what, right? But, that’s not the case for A-Min Kim. Reborn as Jayna Blake, the main character of her favorite game: “How to Fall in Love with the Obsessed Man”, A-min Kim is determined to get the locked up ending. Free food, limitless sleep, and no need to work! Who’d refuse that? At least, not Jayna!

    - Official Webtoon Summary

Not only was this story being promoted on Webtoon's rotating home page banner, but it was also being promoted at the end of Seabird and the Wolf. Seems the same publishing company in charge of Seabird and the Wolf is also translating and publishing Lock Me Up, Duke! I had some faith after getting into Seabird, and I liked that the publishing company Kisai both left amusing author's notes at the end of each episode and was relatively active on Webtoon itself. They keep up with the creator blogs to promote their various stories. That's neat to me. Plus, the concept for Lock Me Up, Duke! is so bonkers to me. I HAD to see where the story would take it.

I was not disappointed.

First, a little note on the in-story game "How to Fall in Love with the Obsessed Man". It is a unique dating sim that is notorious for it having FIFTY different bad endings! For context for non-gamers, typical branching-pathway games MAAAAYBE have a dozen endings TOTAL. Granted, there are some, such as Baldur's Gate III or Fire Emblem games, that have far more ending options. The main difference there is that you typically have dozens of potential romanceable partners, and so each pairing results in a different ending option. For the purposes of this in-story game "How to Fall...", the main character Jayna only has the ONE romance option. And yet, there's still 50 BAD endings, not including any neutral or good ending options! That is a DETAILED game. No wonder it's isekai fodder! Wonder if that will come up later in the series....

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Anyhoo... Lock Me Up, Duke! starts with A-Min getting the locked-up ending in "How to Fall...". While A-Min is playing, the reader can tell the video game character Jayna is scared and isolated. She's being hand-fed by the game's love interest/antagonist Theoris Lee Akrana. He drapes his cloak on her, noting how she must be cold. He then refuses her request to let her leave the room, and it's revealed that she's chained to the floor of her lavished bedroom. Theo then leaves, stating with an evil smirk how much he loves Jayna. She screams for him as the door closes behind him and he walks away. The scene concludes with a pop-up noting that A-Min got the locked-up bad ending.

A-Min disagrees with the 'bad ending' classification. Not taking into consideration the mental and emotional abuse of living imprisoned like that, A-Min thinks this locked-up ending is paradise. You get a lavished bedroom. You have gorgeous dresses. You can rest all you want. Eat delicious food all you want. AND a gorgeous man (Theo) personally takes care of you? What's not to like!?

The woman clearly has a bit of a warped view of the world as she laments her small apartment, no job prospects, no family, and no romantic options. The only things she has going for her are her near-encyclopedic knowledge of "How to Fall in Love with the Obsessed Man" and a stray cat she sometimes takes care of.

That is... until the cat runs out into traffic, and, in an attempt to save the cat, A-Min gets hit and isekai'd into Jayna. She awakens in a dusty attic bedroom. In your classic Cinderella-style treatment of unwanted and/or illegitimate children, Jayna was hidden away with only the barest necessities until the day she could be useful via her arranged marriage to Theo.

Knowing her life will be worlds better at Theo's castle than it could ever be locked away in a dusty attic at her father's estate, she gleefully packs. Who cares about Theo's cruel reputation? Based on the video game, A-Min knows Theo becomes obsessively devoted to Jayna. She knows she'll be better protected and better taken care of with Theo than her parents. 

She gives them both a cold and rude farewell - why should A-Min care? It's not like they were HER parents, and they clearly treated Jayna cruelly - and goes on her merry way to Theo's estate.

Once there, Jayna (A-Min) is startled by how minimalist, bleak, and filthy the castle is. She knew that Theo was an illegitimate son of the late empress, exiled into the perilous demon-infested lands to the north (because of COURSE there's magic and monsters...) by the jealous emperor. Still, she wasn't expecting something that resembled Dracula's castle! Theo's castle wasn't so terrifying in the game!

As she approached her new home, Jayna (A-Min) is stopped by what appears to be a pop-up similar to the kind in "How to Fall..." It's a disclaimer:

Will you play this game?
      Yes                 No

WARNING
Before you finish the game, you might be killed by the Male Lead. But if you proceed with caution, you will reach a happy ending.

Again being dismissive about the "bad" ending options, Jayna (A-Min) clicks "Yes". Upon which, a new pop-up appears.

WARNING
There's no turning back now. We pray for your safe journey!

The pop-up then vanishes. This is creeping Jayna out. This is nothing like how the game played out! Doesn't matter though. She has no other place to go and no funds to find her own lodging and food. She trudges forward. 

As she approaches what was the first decision you could take in the game, a pop-up of options appears for Jayna. She's relieved to see the options, that way she doesn't have to worry about potentially forgetting a choice option and picking the wrong ones. She doesn't care if choosing wrong might result in Theo killing her. Instead, she's afraid that the wrong choices won't lead to her getting locked up.

Anyway, she tries to select one of the options just as she clicked on "yes" in that first pop-up. Nothing is clickable though. Instead, she "selects" an option by just... doing it!

Should she (a) Knock on the door, (b) Ask who's inside, or (c) Open the door? Once she verbalizes that she's trying to click on "Open the door" her body goes into autopilot and literally just.... opens the door without knocking or calling out to see who is on the other side.

It's a really cool story mechanic for me, and ties into how action/adventure isekais tend to be written. The ones where the male protagonists get isekai'd into their favorite fantasy/action video games, and so they still have the Heads-Up-Display (HUD) as if they were still at home playing those games. It's also a similar set-up for the tangential isekai: the full-haptic VR story. Shows like .Hack//Sign or Sword Art Online or Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense. For an American take, you have the movie Ready Player One.

Point being, A-Min as Jayna has the same HUD concept where she'll get the action prompts (that only she can see) as if she were still simply playing the game instead of living through it. Very neat.

Panels from Episode 3 of Lock Me Up, Duke!
by Kisai Entertainment

Getting back into the plot, it seems that the emperor neglected to let Theo know of this arranged marriage. The emperor needed funds. Jayna's family had plenty to give to the empire, but only in exchange for nobility prestige. Both agreed that the arrangement would be mutually beneficial, but neither trusted the other and so they both decided to marry off their respective illegitimate children. Fun! Great parenting all around!

Due to Theo being blindsided by the arrangement, he offered to get it annulled. Not at all what Jayna wants! She tells him that she has nowhere else to go if he doesn't take her in. He again questions her resolve, reminding her of his reputation: "the notorious duke with 'evil blood'... Who shows no mercy to monsters or humans alike."

Going off-script, Jayna, knowing Theo via the game, knee-jerk responds with, "So what? Those are just rumors - I don't believe a word of it. People gossip about me all the time too, but none of it is true. I trust that you're a warm-hearted person."

That last line - I trust that you're a warm-hearted person - really struck a nerve and resonated with Theo. His whole life, he had been despised. While neither us readers nor Jayna (who was originally from our world) seems to see anything wrong with Theo's appearance, everyone born-and-raised within the fictional world A-Min has been isekai'd to (called Ellen) finds Theo (specifically, his silver eyes) revolting and unsettling. Which is why he typically wears a mask hiding his eyes and the upper half of his face. Add in how ruthless he has to be simply to survive in a place nicknamed "The Devil's Nest", and you can imagine how shunned and feared the poor guy has been his whole life. To now have this pretty girl forced to be your wife gladly taking on the role and saying she believes you're a "warm-hearted person"?

Well, naturally the guy is instantly smitten (although, he also fears that Jayna is a trap sent by the emperor, so he's cautious)!

Jayna is shown her room and.... it's practically empty, dusty, covered in cobwebs, and the limited furniture that is in there is far from well-maintained. She almost missed her dusty attic bedroom in comparison. Because of the dangers of where Theo lives, as well as how much the emperor hates him, Theo has virtually no servants. He doesn't have the funds to pay for them, and no one would want to live in such a dangerous area. Which explains why the castle has fallen to such disrepair.

Jayna sets to cleaning her room herself, and freaks out upon finding a spider. Without noticing that the spider is another of her game choice options, she screams. Theo runs back to check on her, and she instinctively hugs him out of fear. He then destroys the spider for her. It isn't until after Theo (over)killed the spider for her did Jayna remember that, in the game, Jayna would calmly and gently remove the spider from her room. Theo - in the game - would see video-game version of Jayna being sweet to the spider, and begin thinking more fondly of her. Mostly because she showed that she was "gentler and different from other women." A-Min's Jayna is now terrified that she ruined her chances by freaking out the way she did. Little does she know that she still proved herself "gentler and different" simply because she called him "warm-hearted" and she was willing to strip down to her undergarments in order to scrub her room herself with no complaint.

The problem, though, was that - again, due to his low budget - Theo has limited linens within his whole castle... and... Jayna threw away his only spares because they were gross and thread worn, and she didn't think they were worth the effort to try to salvage. Whoops!

Theo decided that their only solution is to have Jayna use his bed instead, and they'll sort out the bed sheets situation the next day.

And... that's more-or-less as far as the free episodes have gotten, with the exception of a bit more of Theo's backstory being revealed.

Also... fun note... while most other people will try to blend in as much as possible when they possess a character, A-Min is full-on herself. Complete with cursing like a sailor, which confuses poor Theo because he has never heard such words before. Love it. The main character in Her Wish to be Isekai'd does the same thing. Both women are hilarious for it. Never change!

Anyway, Lock Me Up, Duke! is another one that updates Tuesday nights in the US. So... My Tuesday nights are solid for reading. May even spill some of it over to Wednesday. Still doesn't help with my daily reads outside of Tuesday per se, though.

BACK TO THE LIST FOR ANOTHER PULL!

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Cropped by LycoRogue

This next one had me a bit wary, if I'm honest. The concept intrigued me, but the treatment of a neurodiverse-coded character left a foul taste in my mouth: At Your Mercy.

Getting transported into a novel once? Unusual. Twice? Welcome to Ji-an Han’s reality. Her second possession lands her in the body of a noble lady with an unfortunate reputation—the court fool. While still adjusting to this twist of fate, the enigmatic Crown Prince Iskan enters the scene with an unsettling proposition: "Take me as yours," he says, "I’ll become your most cherished possession." Between her reputation as a fool and a prince whose motives remain unclear, can Ji-an navigate this complicated new reality?

    - Official Webtoon Summary

First of all, the official summary is inaccurate. Iskan is the second imperial prince, and therefore a grand duke, not the crown prince. Still, you get the idea. He's the son of the emperor.

Secondly, I'm loving the artwork of this series. There's a lot of "pull your heartstrings" moments that the artwork really captures.

As for the characters? Well.... Iskan is awesome!

Yeeeaaah... much like The Fateful Invitation, I'm more invested in the story of the male lead than the actual protagonist. 

The actual protagonist can jump off a cliff.

See, Ji-an Han was isekai'd into a novel once before. She lived in the world of the Barkyan Empire before. Then, randomly, she was transported back to her original life on Earth. She lived her normal office-worker life for an undisclosed amount of time before getting isekai'd a SECOND time into the same novel. This time, as a new character.

Ji-an can't remember anything about her previous character possession, only that it happened and that it was definitely the same novel she was just re-isekai'd into. She also laments who she became this second time: "Delinda Schultz, the Foolish Noble Lady."

Aaaand this is when I almost put the series down. Ji-an recounts what limited information the novel provided of Delinda and the Schultz family.

House Schultz.

One of the great founding families of the Barkyan Empire, a noble house with deep historical roots. 

That was, until the birth of their only daughter Delinda Schultz marked the beginning of their decline.

The reason? Because the body I'm occupying was the Foolish Noble Lady! 

Until age six, she could barely string words together... and communicating her thoughts to others was a struggle. 

The Duke exhausted every possible treatment to help her function somewhat normally, but in the process, he nearly depleted the family fortune.

The scene then cuts to Ji-an in her South Korean bedroom, re-reading the novel and dismissing Duke Schultz's devotion for his daughter: "Tsk, tsk... a family falling to ruin because of their daughter..."

Like... oof! That's really gross, right? Add in later episodes where it's revealed that Delinda never learned to read (so, maybe dyslexic?) and had poor emotional intelligence. So, novel-version of Delinda was autistic and/or some other neurodivergent. Right? Suuuuuper gross how condescending Ji-an is of Delinda because of that (as opposed to Delinda being a "fool" because she's vacuous or vapid). A LOT of people in the comments called the story out on it. We all agreed, it would be one thing if the CHARACTERS from the novel all considered Delinda "a fool" because she wasn't neurotypical, but to have a modern-day representative such as Ji-an also think that way? Disgusting.

I had put this story away after reading that first episode. The dismissiveness towards Delinda just left too foul of a taste in my mouth.

However, nearly two months later, I still hadn't unsubscribed from the series. The whole "Ji-an got isekai'd twice into the same story as two different characters" hook still had me snagged. I kept reflecting back on that concept. 

Despite myself, I went back to this story a couple of weeks ago. Maybe the characters evolve past that prejudice against neurodivergent people.

Eeeeeh.... not really, but now I'm even MORE hooked by Iskan's story, and that of Delinda's father. 

Yes, there's still gross moments. Since Ji-an is neurotypical, when she possessed Delinda she didn't take on any of Delinda's mental struggles. She doesn't have the potential autism or dyslexia. She doesn't know what Delinda had to struggle with. She seems to have grown no sympathy for the poor character, which SUUUUCKS. Also, since Ji-an is neurotypical, her goal is to con people into thinking that Delinda "got better". 

She used an injury - to her shoulder, mind you - to convince the doctors that she was traumatized into her brain working properly????? Sure.

She's learned to read, and has asked for a tutor to learn "about society and culture... as well as history and philosophy." Her father is constantly praising her for her increased emotional intelligence as well, and tears up with joy and relief that all of the "cures" he's tried have finally worked.

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Again, the real hook, for me, is that duel-transmigration (the term they use in Korea instead of isekai) that Ji-an went through. As well as the mystery behind Iskan and his relation with Ji-an's previous vessel. I'm trying to push past the neurodivergence discrimination to get more on those story hooks instead.

Quick pause here to talk about how isekais typically work. This will be relevant in a moment.

You have four main ways to tell an isekai/transmigration/portal fantasy story.

First, you have the more "portal fantasy" style where the main character doesn't die. They just somehow get transported to this new world/reality. Stories like The Chronicles of Narnia or Peter Pan (wherein Wendy and her brothers are isekai'd to Neverland) or animes such as The Vision of Escaflowne or Digimon or Inuyasha. In these stories, the person gets sent both body and soul to this new world, and they (usually) have to find a way back to Earth/their reality.

Then there's the more popular version of an isekai in recent years: reincarnation.

The protagonist dies in the real world, but some benevolent or trickster god decides to reincarnate the protag in a new - usually fantasy - world. They are straight up reborn in this new reality. And therefore learn how that world works the same way any child would, thus avoiding suspicion that they aren't originally from that reality. As an added bonus, even as young children, these isekai'd reincarnations tend to retain all of their memories - and adult reasoning - from their previous life. Examples of this style of isekai would include animes such as The Saga of Tanya the Evil and So I'm a Spider, So What?

In a similar vein, there's stories like You Can't Kill Me or Leveling Up My Husband to the Max, where the protagonist gets sent back in time to re-inhabit their past self, but now with all the knowledge of the future life/lives they've lived. Classic time-loop style. The character doesn't have to learn anything about the world because they already learned it their first go at life.

Finally, you have the popular version for the stories I've been reading: Character Isekais, aka transmigrations. The protagonist knows a story, be it a novel, a webcomic, or a video game. The story in question may be their favorite; one they know by heart. Or it could be one that they just read, and so it's fresh in their mind. Or it could be one they were currently obsessively reading and maybe daydreaming about being a character within the story, even if they don't know how it ends. Either way, they die suddenly in the real world. Their spirit then possesses a character from the story previously established as significant to the protag. Surprise! The story world is now real, and the protag can affect how the plot plays out.

In this version, the protag keeps all memories from their previous life, including their knowledge of how the plot is supposed to play out. This helps them know the characters ahead of time, as well as the basic world-build of their new life. But only so much of any given character can be presented within the confines of a story. Because of this, when a "real world" person possesses a story character, any "behind the scenes" information about that character - things the character (now a fleshed out actual person) would know even if it wasn't presented in the original plot - tends to flood the protag's mind, quickly catching them up-to-date on the life of the person they now have to pretend to be. This way they don't cause suspicion when, say, they run into a person they should know, but that person was never given a name in the original story.

The way the "life download" worked in Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story was particularly good. Suna Choi gets overwhelmed by the new information about Edith that she wouldn't have known from the story alone. Then, less crucial bits of information - such as the dance styles for that world - are revealed to Suna as needed. 

Anyway, getting back to At Your Mercy, Ji-an doesn't get this character infodump. She only knows as much about Delinda as was revealed in the original story... which... wasn't much.... So Ji-an has to figure things out on the fly. Luckily, Delinda being categorized as a "fool" means no one bats an eye when Ji-an asks questions that someone her age should know the answers to already.

It's a weird twist to the classic transmigration/possession style of isekai: not gaining any new knowledge about the world or the character you inhabited. That, plus the mystery of who Ji-an was originally, how she returned to the real world, and why/how she was isekai'd a second time are all main reasons why I'm continuing with this story despite not liking the main character.

But also... the tall, brooding, emotionally wounded Iskan.

Delinda stumbles across him while he's finishing up an assassination assignment. His blade still covered in blood. She's understandably terrified, but Iskan's intrigued. There was a magical barrier up that should have hidden him and his violent work from civilians. How did she manage to literally stumble through it? He lets her leave, then follows her home to try to sus out who she is.

The next day, Iskan swoops in as a financial backer for an investment Duke Schultz is trying to buy into in order to restore his family's finances. This gives Iskan the perfect excuse to interact with Delinda more. She's understandably nervous, wondering if he was there because he changed his mind and decided to kill her after all.

He corners her, to try to talk to her more about what she saw and ask her about her power to pass through the barrier. This causes her to fall into one of Ji-an's nervous ticks. A nervous tick she clearly did in her previous transmigration as well. One that Iskan instantly recognizes.

It felt very Disney's Aladdin with Jasmine piecing together that Prince Ali is Aladdin between the "Do you trust me?" pose and how he tossed her an apple.

Disney's Aladdin (1992)

Much like how Prince Ali asking Jasmine "Do you trust me?" raised a flag for her, the apple toss trick all-but confirmed he was Aladdin, and Jasmine officially confirmed who he was by asking him about Abu, Iskan went through the same journey.

First was a nervous tick that Delinda had when he cornered her. That was what raised the flag for him. He asked her, "Have we met before?" meaning her past life, but she thought he was referencing when she stumbled upon his assassination job.

Ji-an has allowed a few more of her personal mannerisms to temporarily bleed through into how she presents Delinda. The more Iskan spots those glimmers of Ji-an, the more he's reminded of her previous transmigration. He keeps asking Delinda, "Are you sure we've never met before?"

Her past life in Barkyan is slooooooowly returning to her, but she's desperate to keep that hidden. She learned that her previous vessel Ruyan was killed, and she fears that it was because they discovered her possession. Ji-an can't guarantee that Delinda dying will throw her back to the real world again, so she's fighting to keep her possession secret.

Especially when one of Ruyan's memories is of a crying Iskan telling her, "Then I'll be the one to kill you," followed by the memory of being choked to death. While Iskan seems kind and protective of Delinda, Ji-an is constantly wary of him, unsure if he plans to kill her in this life as he (presumably) did in the previous one.

Honestly, given how heartbroken Iskan looked in that memory, I'm assuming Ji-an grew tired of living in Barkyan, and discovered a way to return to Earth if Ruyan dies. She probably confided in Iskan, who couldn't stand to see his lover die. However, Old Yeller style, if she HAS to die, let it be by his hands so he can at least be there until the last moment with her. However, since Ji-an doesn't remember that much, it's understandable that she's misreading the situation.

That said... oof! For as much as Ji-an craps on Delinda being "a fool", Ji-an is the actual thick brick. I get that she's being cautious, but there's so many tells that Iskan means her no harm. In fact, her harm would cause him great grief. If Ji-an actually did have ANY semblance of emotional intelligence - for which Delinda is being praised for since Ji-an possessed her - Ji-an would notice how sorrowful Iskan is whenever she's being careless.

At one point, Delinda is up along her family castle's rampart. She has caught her betrothed - via arranged marriage - making out with her lady-in-waiting Rose. She gets distracted by Iskan approaching her, and she loses sight of the lovers. Delinda tried leaning forward over the wall to get a better look at where they could have gone, but poor traumatized Iskan gets a flashback to Ruyan falling from a ledge. (I personally suspect that Iskan caught Ruyan trying to commit suicide and that's why he offered to kill her instead) Anyway, Iskan instantly grabs hold of Delinda and pulls her back from the wall. We then get these closing panels.

Final panels from Episode 10 of At Your Mercy
by Team Lightsalt and Team honeybread

Like... COME ON! He yells things like THAT at you, and you see this mournful, heartbroken look in your memories...

Final panels from Episode 11 of At Your Mercy
by Team Lightsalt and Team honeybread

...and you still think he has ill will towards you?

Also, as I alluded to above, Ji-an (as Delinda) heard of mysterious cases of other people in the empire injuring themselves and it completely changing their personality. Thinking this is her best bet to hide suspicion about Delinda suddenly acting different, she tries numerous times to hit her head (at this point she assumes, as a possessed character, that she can't be hurt/killed). No matter where she goes or how outlandish her plot is to hurt herself, Iskan is right there to stop her, save her, and/or protect her (much to Delinda/Ji-an's dismay).

Like... COME. ON! And yet Ji-an thinks DELINDA is the simple-minded one? Please!

Sooooooo yeah. Delinda/Ji-an is an annoying lowkey-condescending jerk parading around as the charming protagonist in a very similar vein as Hillaria from A Fateful Inventation. But the male lead is a sweetheart that I want to learn more about, and the mystery has drawn me in. So, we'll see how long I can stomach this story.

Not many free episodes out, so I again caught up in more-or-less one sitting. Another to add to the Sunday Update pile, at least. So... that's cool.

Let's try that long Subscription list one more time. What else can I add to my overall reading so I can get about an hour in nightly?

This time, I pulled A Savage Proposal.

When the ruthless Lord Tiwakan seizes the kingdom of Nauk, Princess Liene Arsac faces an impossible choice: marry her captor or watch her homeland crumble. But Lord Tiwakan isn’t just after power; he desires Liene, and his devotion stirs a mix of fear and undeniable attraction within her. With her former betrothed, Lafitte, still missing, Liene must decide whether to trust Tiwakan's promises or hold out hope for a rescue. As dangerous secrets come to light, Liene’s decision could change the fate of Nauk—and her own heart—forever.

    - Official Webtoon Summary

This one has an interesting, while problematic, concept. A coerced arranged marriage. Troubling, to be sure, especially when presented as the main romance. However, tales of women becoming wives as spoils of war are not new. Marriages being arranged as part of peace treaties is also not a new concept. Even so, I think the author is taking pains to show how rocky this marriage will be since the foundation is that of a coerced arrangement, and how the male lead is trying to make things right.

For instance, every time Lord Tiwakan (we have no clue what his given name is yet) is kind and gentle to Liene, and she starts to soften for him, she reminds herself why she's betrothed to him in the first place. She's mad at him, dammit! He set siege to the already dying kingdom of Nauk! He cut them off from supplies for two weeks, while slaughtering any knights her kingdom sent out to push back the invading barbarians. Just a single fortnight, and her people were already starting to starve. They could MAYBE last another month holding out for reinforcements, but how many would starve to death in the meantime? How many more families will lose sons/fathers/brothers as more knights are easily dispatched? Could any form of reinforcement even save them, or is it just delaying the inevitable? 

No. She had no choice in the matter. Nauk was no match for the Tiwakan army. No reinforcements were coming to rescue them. If she were the only cost to save her people, she'd easily pay that price. She wouldn't be happy about the end result, though. No matter how gentle and protective and handsome Lord Tiwakan was, she would not soften for him! Begone, lustful and nurturing thoughts!

Meanwhile, as Liene is struggling against her growing affections for Lord Tiwakan, you see how horrid the nobility of Nauk actually are. You understand why the kingdom was dying to begin with if these are the people at the helm. You see how dismissive and cruel they are to Liene - their sovereign! - compared to how compassionate and encouraging the Tiwakan are towards her. So, as she does start to soften for her attackers, you understand why, and don't necessarily hate it.   

For instance, we are introduced to Liene at the tail end of the siege of Nauk. She is an orphaned princess, the only remaining royal within that kingdom (presumably; we don't know what happened to Liene's mother). Why, if Liene is the last surviving royal, is she still a princess? Why is she not the queen? Given how backwards everything seems to be with Nauk nobility, maybe there can only be a king for the KINGdom of Nauk, and therefore, despite being a blood heir, Liene, at best, could become the queen consort. Sooo, she's still just Princess Liene when we meet her despite apparently being the reigning sovereign. 

She is at her wit's end. She cannot find a way to break the siege without aid from neighboring kingdoms, but everyone is too afraid of the Tiwakan army to intervene. Her council reminds her that her betrothed Sir Lafitte Kleinfelter has ridden out with a platoon of his family's personal knights in an attempt to get reinforcements. She rebuts that Lafitte promised to be back in 10 days, and that deadline has come-and-gone. Despite Lafitte swearing that he cherishes Liene more than his own life, she cannot rely on him bringing reinforcements. Something must have happened to prevent or delay his return. She has stalled as long as she could. She is begrudgingly accepting Lord Tiwakan's proposal in order to make peace NOW and try to end the suffering of her people.

Instead of acknowledging this sacrifice for her people, her council berate her about it! The nobility of Nauk now claim Liene is a naive, inexperienced coward who was never fit to rule. That she's a traitor selling out her own people to heathen barbarians. She has betrayed her beloved Lafitte; not having any faith in him. They talk over her, and try to plot and plan a way to betray Lord Tiwakan, threatening the peace Liene is trying to broker with her betrothal. It's so frustrating watching her being undermined by people who are supposed to be her subordinates.

Hits a bit close to home, am I right, fellow fem peeps?

Upon meeting with Lord Tiwakan to accept his proposal, Liene hears a commotion. A battle! Lafitte and his reinforcements were able to arrive in time after all! Huzzah!

That is, until a blood-splattered Lord Tiwakan enters the tent Liene is waiting in, and presents Lafitte's sword to her. He's not coming to rescue her. The reinforcements have been dealt with.

Again seeing no other option, she tries one last gambit. Lord Tiwakan made it clear that he knew the owner of that sword was Liene's betrothed. Liene bluffs, claiming that she and Lafitte had already slept together prior to their marriage, and she is carrying his child. She then declares that any children she might have with Lord Tiwakan will be further down the succession line than Lafitte's child, and Liene will defend this child with her very life. Lord Tiwakan's bloodline will never become the rulers of Nauk, so if that's what he wants he might as well withdrawal his proposal. 

Liene isn't expecting Lord Tiwakan to agree to those terms. He will allow Liene to carry Lafitte's child to term, bear him, raise him in safety, and groom him to become Nauk's next ruler. Now that that's out of the way, does she agree to marry him?

Shocked and unsure how else to get Lord Tiwakan to withdrawal both his proposal and his troops, Liene submits. Now she has two new things to worry about. For one, she has to figure out how long she can milk the fake-pregnancy before faking a miscarriage to avoid being found out. Either that, or get Lord Tiwakan to impregnate her soon enough that she can pass his child off as Lafitte's. Which brings her to problem number two: Tiwakan now believes she's not a virgin, so she has to hide any pain she has when she does lose her virginity, and she has to act as if she knows what she's doing while having sex.

Understandably stressed beyond measure, Liene carved into the palm of her hand with her thumbnail via a repetitive nervous twitch during the marriage negotiations. Lord Tiwakan notices the wound, points it out to Liene, tells her to put ointment on it to make sure she fully recovers, and then tenderly kisses her wound. This is the first show of compassion and gentleness we see from Lord Tiwakan, and it confuses the heck out of Liene.

Now the nobility of Nauk and all of Liene's handmaidens believe she is pregnant, and try to use it as further proof that she can't submit to Lord Tiwakan. How could she forsake Lafitte like that? Especially when, upon Lord Tiwakan graciously returning the bodies of Nauk's fallen, Liene discovers the body believed to be Lafitte isn't actually him. Lafitte is probably still secretly alive! Maybe he's planning to mount a surprise rescue! She has to have faith in her former betrothed!

Problem THERE, however, is that, while walking the gardens with Lord Tiwakan, a hidden Lafitte shot an arrow at them. Here are some panels from that scene. 

Final panels from Episode 3 of A Savage Proposal
by Lee yuna and team IRUKA

Given that Lord Tiwakan tucks Liene in front of him so he can shield her, a lot of readers are wondering if (a) Lord Tiwakan was just overly cautious and Liene would have been fine, (b) Lafitte is a bad shot and Lord Tiwakan knew that the arrow would miss him and hit Liene instead, (c) Lafitte was aiming at Liene under the guise of trying to assassinate Lord Tiwakan once the barbarian leader was hit instead, or (d) that arrow was perfectly aimed at Lord Tiwakan (given that he had to pull Liene back in order to pivot her properly to shield her) and Tiwakan is using his shielding of Liene as a way to earn sympathy points. 

Regardless, to try to appease the Tiwakans, Liene makes sure that Lord Tiwakan is well cared for and bandaged up. When the lord begins to have a fever due to his body trying to heal the wound, Liene reluctantly offers to sponge his sweat away. To which, Lord Tiwakan gently teases her and asks how long his bride must find him repulsive. 

The two have a conversation, resulting in Liene willingly participating in a fairly hot make-out session. One that the lord pulls away from first, noting that he's unsure what he'd do in his fevered state, and so they should probably stop. It's then that Liene realizes that maybe she didn't want them to stop... only to berate herself because OF COURSE she should want them to stop! She shouldn't find Lord Tiwakan attractive and alluring!

She then reflects on how Lord Tiwakan waved off the arrow shot into his shoulder as if it were just an inconvenience. Reminded me of someone having their menstrual cycle: "Yeah, this is annoying and I'll feel like crap and it hurts and I may get a low-grade fever, but just give me a few days and I'll be right as rain again. No worries." Liene then compared that to when Lafitte had scratched up his arm on a branch while horseback riding. He whined about how much pain he was in and clung to Liene's hand, rubbing his face against her sleeve while he was being bandaged up. She equated it to a small child dealing with pain. Here's her thought bubbles from that flashback:

Time sure is flying by quickly...
How long do I have to be here?
His wound doesn't even seem that big.
There's so much to be done...
When will he let go of my hand?
I wanted to tell him so many times to let me go.

Clearly, even with her original suitor, it was an arranged marriage that Liene wasn't emotionally invested in. Lafitte may have been devoted to her, but it certainly wasn't the other way around. Aside from potentially losing an ally, there was little love lost when Liene believed that Lafitte was dead.

It then gets worse. While trying to discretely inform Lafitte to go into exile, and warn his uncle Grand Chancellor Lyndon to do nothing to prevent Liene's marriage to Lord Tiwakan, we see how deranged both men are. They are dismissive and abusive and clearly think of Liene as little more than an object to either use politically or keep as a trophy. 

The readers quickly realize that Liene dodged a MAJOR bullet now that she's forced to not marry Lafitte, especially after seeing - even when Liene isn't in the room - how warm and caring Lord Tiwakan is with regards to her. 

Really makes us question why he bothered with the siege at all instead of simply attempting to woo her away from Lafitte. Did he know that the nobles would stop Liene if she wasn't backed into a corner? (I mean, they tried to stop her even THEN soooooo)

I'm quite curious to see where this story goes. However, just as with the others, I again caught up with the weekly releases fairly quickly. At least I have my third Sunday Night Update story, right?

So.... I failed at my original goal to find more Daily Unlock stories that I could add to my reading rotation in order to lengthen my nightly reads. However, I DID add to a few more of my weekday reads, so each day should have close to an hour's worth of reading regardless now. Especially Tuesdays! I just need to bulk up the back half of the week, and find something for Wednesdays....

Which means my weekly reading schedule now looks like this:

On top of that list, I can also sprinkle in the Webtoon Canvas stories as they are uploaded. These are very scarely updated though, so I rarely know when I get the next installment. And Punderworld is the only one that gives significant story chunks when it updates. The others are pretty short reads. As I've previously mentioned, The Prince's Private Servant in particular usually only takes a few seconds to read each time....

Let's see how long this reading list satiates me before I dive back into that long subscription list and I add more to my reading schedule. Here's hoping for something other than those two daily pass reads on Wednesdays.

Generated by Bitmoji

Catch you all at the end of the month for my writing update! Take care!
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