Showing posts with label A Savage Proposal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A Savage Proposal. Show all posts

Monday, September 15, 2025

LycoRogue's Reading Corner: September 2025

Est. Read Time: 21min
This Month's Font: Playpen Sans

Wait! Hold up! Am- am I publishing a LycoRogue's Reading Corner... on... time????

*checks date*

WOW! Look at me go!

I've done a fair amount of reading this past month too, between those Webtoon comics, Dracula Daily, and also my friends' writings!

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I had mentioned last month that zenmisery and I got back into chatting. While doing so, she sent me links to two original stories she was working on. One was the opening to a sci-fi time-travel romcom. The other was for the opening chapters to a Western enemies-to-lovers romance. The latter she has up on Inkitt.

By the time I published last month's LRRC I hadn't had time to read either of Zen's stories. I did, however, make a point of reading them pretty much as soon as my blog update was done.

I'm very much intrigued by the time-travel one, but it's still too early in development to even know the plot. I got an introduction to the three main characters – Female Lead and Main Time Traveler Wren, Tech-Bro Comic Relief Boston, and Young Billionaire Financier and Love Interest Gideon – and a vague understanding of what's going on. Gideon, for some yet undisclosed reason, is trying to get a private time machine working (in a future where apparently time machines are relatively common, at least, among the rich). He finds/inherited/invested in an older model, and has hired Boston to fix it up and modernize it. Wren is the history expert and human guinea pig testing if the time machine is working. Everything is very hush-hush with Boston and Wren living at the hidden facility where Gideon has the time machine stored.

I'll be interested in seeing where this story goes, but, for now, I don't have much else to say.

Alternatively, there's that Inkitt-published Western enemies-to-lovers story I mentioned: The Price of Flowers in the West

OFFICIAL SUMMARY:

Zinnia Price is no stranger to loss, but when a man she's never seen before comes to her small western town and takes yet another person she loves, she breaks. Can she then build back stronger? And will the man who took everything from her be able to help her rebuild?

Zen only has four chapters up currently, but I greedily devoured them in one sitting. Along with the good old enemies-to-lovers trope going on, there's also a bit of a mystery to solve. I got so excited each time a few more clues were dropped, and I'm itching for more lore to be revealed!

Broad strokes of what we (the readers) know thus far - trying not to reveal TOO much, so you fine folks are hopefully intrigued enough to read this story for yourselves:

Western, small-town sheriff Alder Price is killed in a duel against young sharpshooter Harlan, who then declares himself sheriff in Alder's place. Alder's daughter Zinnia is obviously distraught, having lost the last living member of her family. Despite the emotional wound he inflicted on Zinnia, Harlan seems to put in extra care to be kind to her, swearing that killing the sheriff was distressing to him as well.

Why did Harlan duel Alder if he held the man in high regards? No clue yet. Harlan only justifies his actions as something that had to be done.

Meanwhile, Zinnia is being hounded by a man named Simon, who claims to be Zinnia's betrothed since Alder approved of the match. Ignore the fact that Zinnia can't seem to stand Simon, and would much rather spend time with her father's murderer. OOF!

So, that brings about more questions: Why was Alder so determined to match Zinnia up with Simon? What was it about this man that made Alder want him as part of the Price family? 

After reading The Price of Flowers in the West, I told Zen that it actually reminded me of one of the MANY stories I'm reading on Webtoon: A Savage Proposal.

Zinnia is just a feistier version of Princess Liene. Both are orphaned (although, I'll argue that Zinnia went through a MUCH harsher childhood). Both are daughters of the societal leader: Liene's father being the king and Zinnia's father being the sheriff, which was basically on par with the mayor (if the town even had one). Both now forced to walk a fine line within the enemies-to-lovers trope where they are both disgusted with the intended love interest, but also can't help but fall for him (and then become overwhelmed with guilt for falling at all, let alone so easily).

Harlan, therefore, plays the part of Lord Tiwakan. A seemingly cruel and uncaring brute who is just out to rule over the land; something the female lead (Liene/Zinnia) has to fight against. However, much like Lord Tiwakan, Harlan quickly shows his caring nature and remorse at having to be so violent to get his foot in the door of the community. All while still being stern and steadfast in order to hold on to his newfound authority over the people. He is gentle and patient with Zinnia in a way similar to Lord Tiwakan's patience with Liene. Harlan is also just as much of a mystery as Lord Tiwakan. What is Harlan's tie to Zinnia's sleepy little frontier town? What was his connection to Alder? Why did he feel he needed such a violent introduction to the town? Why did he seem overly angry/aggressive at the suggestion that Zinnia was paired with Simon????

Speaking of, naturally Simon is just Zen's version of Lafitte. He's a delusional man who thinks of Zinnia more like his property than his partner and lover, just as Lafitte pictures Liene. Simon feels entitled to have Zinnia as his bride, to the point of calling her "his woman" despite them not actually being in any form of romantic relationship. Zinnia's father simply approved the match - despite her feelings against it - and that was enough for Simon. He's also just as snake-like and cowardly as Lafitte. He burst into the jail, claiming it was to demand Zinnia's release from Harlan (after she was already locked up in a cell for two hours), only to then plead for his own release when Harlan locks him up alongside Zinnia. Much like Lafitte, Simon has no problem sacrificing Zinnia for his own safety, but will also venomously accuse Zinnia of being selfish if she doesn't sacrifice herself for him.

Again, the actual PLOT of The Price of Flowers in the West is different than A Savage Proposal, and even if it wasn't, that's fine. As I told Zen - and as I keep telling Dragnime and Aurora Morgen - having the same plot isn't a sign of a bad writer or lack of originality. I mean, look at A Bug's Life and ANTZ coming out at the same time. Or The Prestige and The Illusionist. And what is James Cameron's Avatar if not Disney's Pocahontas IIIIIIIN SPAAAAAAAAACE? A good writer can take a familiar story and tell it in a way that still intrigues you; moves you; excites you; sticks with you. Plus, knowing that I like A Savage Proposal and seeing the parallels between that story and The Price of Flowers in the West helps me get excited about what will happen next, and know that I like the character builds and dynamic that Zen has already presented.

Alternatively, since Zen wrote something similar in flavor, she'd most likely enjoy A Savage Proposal. Maybe I have friends that also enjoy ASP, and therefore I know to suggest TPOFITW to them.

So on and so forth.

Anyhoo, I hope that Zen finds more time to work on these original stories, if not the on-going fanfics she's started.

In the meantime, I have yet another fanfic that I'm following. This time, from an old friend.

I met Ichi_Tan (aka 1chii on AO3) waaaaaaaaay back when I was in the Hey Arnold! fandom. (Dear lord! We've been online friends for over a decade!) We reconnected a year or two ago. Recently, thanks to the web series The Amazing Digital Circus, they got bit by the Creativity Bug again! After a long creative hiatus, they're back into drawing and writing (and learning how to animate!). It's been super cool to watch! Reminds me of how HA! got me out of my years-long writing funk.

THE ARTS ARE IMPORTANT, YOU GUYS!

While there are SOOOOOOOOOO many different fandoms out in the world, and, therefore, it is very rare that a friend I have outside of the ML fandom creates for ANOTHER property that I enjoy, I did luck out with Ichi. I had seen enough TADC content to become intrigued, and I've been excitedly watching each new episode as it comes out since episode 4 (Yes, I know there's only 6 episodes out total, so that's the back half of the series thus far, but still... jumping in after 3 episodes released is way earlier than I did with ML).

As I had told Ichi, while I enjoyed TADC, and looked forward to each new episode release, I wasn't really part of the fandom. I didn't really interact with fan content. I didn't theorize with other fans. I didn't even rewatch the episodes (it's honestly a struggle to even find time to watch them when they first drop). I consumed the canon content. Maybe discussed the episode with Hubby. Then got on with my life as I awaited the next episode. I might also leave a like on a bit of fanart here or there as it came across my tumblr dash. That sort of thing.

However, when I saw Ichi post that they started writing again, and was working on a multi-chapter angsty story about the popular FunnyBunny ship (Pomni and Jax)... well... how could I NOT take a look? A friend of mine was writing something, for one. I like to support my friends best I can. For two, it was a fandom I actually knew a little about at least, so I wouldn't be as lost as I get with some other friends' fanfics. Finally... yeah, a little after episode 5 but definitely after episode 6, I'm a bit of a FunnyBunny shipper myself. Why not indulge with a friend's fic?

And it is so good!


OFFICIAL SUMMARY:
Pomni finds herself unable to remember her time in the circus, having experience a virus so bad it wiped her memory completely clean. Now she needs to rely on her ragtag of a team to put back the pieces that makes her, well, her.

Ichi has dyslexia, so there are some typos and other minor errors sprinkled throughout. Also, if you don't know the characters/fandom, the limited information an amnesiac Pomni can provide might be extra confusing for the reader. However, those are really the only critiques I have. Even so, it's highly possible that neither is a deal-breaker for most potential readers.

For instance, not really knowing the series could also be considered an added layer of reader enjoyment. A way for someone outside the fandom to be brought into the fold. You - someone outside the fandom - are just as lost and confused as Pomni, and will learn about The Amazing Digital Circus just like she does. Might be a cool way to read it, honestly.

Also, grammar/spelling errors aside, Ichi sure as heck knows how to twist that dagger GOOD! I'm eating up the angst! Om nom nom!

There's also these sweet, quiet moments between Jax and Pomni. As well as some intense sexual-tension moments that get even ME a bit hot and bothered. And ooooooh my goodness, do I feel Jax's pain and torment! To have someone you care for deeply just vanish while still being right in front of you!

Just- Dead! This story kills me in the best way!

If you enjoyed the heartbreaking ending of The Notebook, then this story might be up your alley.

Although, clearly Ichi doesn't need my promoting of their story (not that it would stop me either way). Nine chapters up in just two weeks, and ALREADY OVER 400 kudos!

In comparison, my fastest-growing fic has to be You Pretended Not to Care, which has garnered 383 kudos since I published it April 2024. Yup, my story has been live for nearly 17 months (73 weeks) and hasn't crossed the 400 kudos threshold, and Ichi did it in TWO WEEKS!

To delve further, out of the 52 stories I have up on AO3, only THREE have surpassed 400 kudos:

Those stories have been up for YEARS to get that many kudos! I just- I'm flabbergasted! TWO WEEKS!? Super bravo to Ichi. I hope they can ride this high for a while and continue creating.

Considering the amount of behind-the-scenes world-building they've shown me that they've done for this story? I'm guessing they'll be at it for a little while. And I'm so happy for them about that!

Switching gears to more professionally published works:

Dracula Daily!

I've been holding strong. After I caught up and got past Mr. Swales and the endless newspaper commentary, I've been keeping up. September is the Lucy horror section, as well as the introduction to Dracula staple (maybe more-so than even Jonathan or Mina Harker): Van Helsing. 

I think the furthest I've ever gotten in my read of Dracula was the September 20th entry. I'm hoping to chug along and at least complete the story this year, even if I've still failed my goal of never lagging behind on any date; reading each entry the day they are dated. Maybe next year.

Good lord. I just counted. Ending my read on September 20th means I missed the last THIRTY-FIVE entries! That's it! Out of 111 entries. I got about 2/3rds of the way in and went, "Eh. I don't need to know what happens in Act III..."

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When I'm not consuming friends' writing or getting in my daily dose of Dracula, I'm, of course, on the Webtoons app. In that regards, here's a reminder of my reading list last month.

I have since - yet again - started up ANOTHER new series, but I'll get to that in a moment. First, let's do some recapping.

I have finally finished up one of the first-ever Webtoons that I've read: I Will Live the Life of a Villainess. Much like a lot of the other series that I've completed, IWLtLoaV felt like the author wasn't entirely sure how to wrap things up. It was a satisfying enough ending, much like the others, but it also felt a bit abrupt. There's a random time jump to a decade or so later, in order to see the leads' kids; something that is kind of an unspoken rule within romances, I guess: show the lead couple's kid(s). We then get this mini-adventure starring the kids. The leads save the day. They then recap their love story before concluding the series on a positive note. It's pretty formulaic. I don't necessarily mind it, but I was hoping for a bit more. 

We're finally learning some of Lord Tiwakan's history in A Savage Proposal. We even nearly learned his name! *Gasp* I know! (Although fans are speculating that the portion of a name we got wasn't, in fact, Lord Tiwakan's, but was instead someone hinting at Tiwakan's 2nd in command Fermos)

Frankly, I don't understand why Lord Tiwakan's name has to be hidden from the READERS. ESPECIALLY for this long (I'm 46 episodes in)! It's not like his name will be revealed and we'll all be like, "Oh! It's HIM!" or "I KNEW IT!" or anything like that. We haven't been given any names of any characters that haven't been shown in a panel already. We don't have this great, deep lore of off-screen characters. It's not like we were given the name Anakin Skywalker, and so the writer has to avoid calling Darth Vadar that (sorry for the spoiler?). I mean, I get how his first name could be considered significant to LIENE, and so the story has to prevent HER from finding it for as long as possible. But keeping the AUDIENCE in the dark? It just seems excessive. 

Tell us his name is Jack or Nathaniel or Revington III. It won't make a lick of difference to us readers until that name is given context. Maybe Liene knows a deep-dark secret about a Jack, and so SHE can't find out that's his name, but until that secret - and the fact that it's tied to a guy name Jack - is brought to light for the readers, his first name won't mean anything to us.

You feel me?

I will say, however, that the fact that his name is being hidden - along with a few other breadcrumbs that we've been given - hints at the fact that Lord Tiwakan is the true heir to the Nauk kingdom. I'm predicting that it will eventually be revealed that the Tiwakans were the original monarchy, but were usurped by Liene's father. This was done while Liene was still too young to remember NOT being royalty. Since her father was supposedly a kind ruler, it would have never occurred to Liene that her father stole the kingdom. Meanwhile, maybe Lord Tiwakan's ire vanished upon realizing that Liene was both clueless and powerless. It wasn't her fault that he was banished from his home, nor was it her authority that kept him away. There's no need for revenge against her. He just wants what was once his: Nauk, and Liene (who was allegedly betrothed to Lord Tiwakan when they were children).

The author constantly coming up with (valid; though annoying) reasons for Liene to delay telling Lord Tiwakan that she faked her pregnancy and why has been incredibly annoying. Even if I understand the character's reasoning. What's worse is that a GOLDEN opportunity for Liene to confess presented itself in this week's free update. Instead, this idiot woman decided to double down on the lie.

She even acknowledges to herself that Lord Tiwakan is unbelievably trusting of her and both understanding of and patient with her perceived situation. She wonders how he could have so much faith in her when her trust in him wanes with the slightest whisper of potential betrayal.

Poor girl was just manipulated by powerful men her whole life and CANNOT comprehend a man being genuine with her.

So - again - I understand where Liene is coming from, and I don't fault her or the author for continuing the ruse. But. MAN! It's so annoying! Especially with so many fans whining about it in the top comments of every update.

MOVING ON!

Screenshot of Kermit the Frog and Fozzy Bear from The Muppet Movie

I have 5 more episodes of the spin-off/epilogue for Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story. Then, much like IWLtLoaV, it will be done and gone forever with no new content and holy smokes I don't know what I'll do without it! This story - even if temporary - brought me back to writing! And, as I mentioned above, my fanfic for this series is one of my most popular pieces! I'm not ready to say goodbye to these characters!!!!

All that said, the epilogue stories for NYTRS are still hitting the same tropes I commented on for IWLtLoaV. The difference here, though, is that it's done at a much better pace, so I'm not too mad.

We had the classic time-jump so we can see the leading couple as parents as well. Even focused on their kids (while the couple went on a much-deserved date night). The first portion of the spin-off told the tale of a side romance that was going on in the background of the main story. It was sweet to get a sort of recap of the main story, but from the perspective of the side characters and how they were drawn to each other.

The spin-off story arc I'm currently reading handles yet another side romance. This time, the main characters are very much involved, and we get to see a different nation as well. It's been fun.

My only critique is that we STILL don't know what happened to Cliff! And none of the characters seem to care. He just... vanished one day, and everyone else moved on???? I will be disappointed if we NEVER discover what became of Cliff before this series ends.

Other than that, though? This is shaping up to be the best conclusion to a manhwa I've read (with The Age of Arrogance - another Lemon Frog story - being a nice second). Best conclusion over-all will have to go to Float still, but that's a western-written story, so I count that separate from the manhwa romances I've been indulging in.

Seabird and the Wolf is finally starting to hit us with that sweet, sweet lore. We're learning more about the Black Ocean crew members. We're also getting more hints at Lott either somehow being the incarnation/human avatar for the god of the ocean, or she's at least been favored by him. Not much else to say there without giving things away.

We finally got some answers in Maybe Meant to Be as to why Jia's friend Yeonju and the publisher Mr. Na both are OBSESSED with getting Jia back into writing. Even cruelly trying to manipulate her into doing so.

While both have absolutely SHITTY tactics in trying to get Jia to write again, they both have incredibly valid reasons to be so aggressive about it. My heart goes out to both of them. I hope people become that impassioned about my writing (and whether or not I'm continuing to write) some day. Just... maybe not be so AGGRESSIVE or MANIPULATIVE with getting me to write again....

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Man! I only have 9 episodes left of What the Evil Dragon Lives For. Things are getting really intense. The true villain has revealed himself to both Elaine and Rabeth. More of Elaine's past as Lansus has been unearthed. Rabeth may not be able to hide as Sergei for much longer.

It's all so intense, and I'm excited to see how it will all tie up. I just hope it does so in just 9 episodes without feeling too rushed! Come on, Lemon Frog (and the webnovel adapters)! Give me another satisfying ending!

If all else fails, at least I have fellow Saturday-update Obsidian Bride to maybe ease the pain (should WTEDLF trips at the finish line). Lord, it's good to have that story back!

Seemingly without warning, there was a month-long hiatus! The last free update was Aug 16th, and then I didn't get another free update until this past weekend! I wouldn't have minded if I had some sort of heads up, but it seems like they only announced the series' hiatus on the latest episode that was published.... one that's - even now - locked behind a paywall until after Christmas!!!! Gee... thanks for the heads up, I guess....

No matter! It's back now, and I'm excited for the next few months (at least) of updates!

However, speaking of hiatuses and awaiting a beloved story's grand return, shortly after publishing my last LRRC update, I caught up with the conclusion of season 1 of Love 4 a Walk. No, we did not find out more about Tyler's tattoos, what happened to his dog before Tequila, or why he has completely cut himself off from his parents. Those all look to be season 2 plotlines. The series is supposed to be back "fall of 2025", so I'm hoping it's not a long wait before I can jump back in. In the meantime, I can reread the season 1 episodes.

In fact, season 1 is dropping as a physical omnibus in November. Pre-sale on now. I'm probably going to try to get my hands on a copy. I'll just be bummed to lose the mood music that is unique to the medium that is a webcomic app. I'd have to leave myself little notes as to when to bring up the OST and which song to play. Have it going on in the background IRL while I read.

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Back on August 31st, after catching up on Love 4 a Walk, realizing I no longer had a daily-read series, and desperately wanting to stay curled up with my tablet while reading more, I decided to go for yet another series that Webtoon routinely suggested to me. One that, yet again, I kept holding out on. It worked for Love 4 a Walk, so why not with this one?

Folks, I really need to stop doubting Webtoon's algorithm.

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The Mafia Nanny is amazing! There's mystery. Intrigue. Mafia crime syndicate plotting and violence. Action scenes. Romance. Adorable little kid shenanigans. Cat-and-mouse/chess ploys. Comedy. Wonderful family moments. Oddly disturbing scenes involving olives.... All with amazing artwork.

I devoured 18 episodes that first day I started the series. Here I am, two weeks later, and I'm starting to ration myself. I'm "only" reading 3 or 4 episodes each night (as opposed to 10). I still have 8 more free episodes left, though, before I hit the paywall. Can I resist? Will I be tempted to just blow through that whole backlog buffer? How long can I hold out before I'm stuck waiting for the weekly free updates?

Hold on. I'm getting ahead of myself. How does Webtoon promote this story?

Being an Elite Nanny is simple: protect the charge, obey the principle, and don’t get emotionally attached. Easier said than done when Davina’s first client is a dangerously compelling Venetian underboss who’s determined to get under her skin. What he wants from her, she can’t imagine, but Gabriel Angelini drags her back into the glittering world of organized crime she thought she’d left behind forever. She might get answers about her past if she digs deep enough, but can she protect Mikey from his father’s ambitions and keep her heart from getting tangled up in their treacherous web?

    - Official Webtoon Summary

If you enjoy Spy x Family, I think this series is right up your alley. Little, 4yo Mikey is just as precocious as Damian Desmond (or Anya Forger) from SxF. You also have Gabriel Angelini, the mafia underboss, who is just as cool and calculating as Twilight/Loid Forger. Although, he does allow himself to become incredibly soft around his family, even despite himself (also like Loid). Then there's the main character: the titular Mafia Nanny, Davina. She is just as caring, nurturing, and incredibly capable/badass as Thorn Princess/Yor Forger.

There's also Gabriel's personal driver Adam, who is just as goofy and playful as SxF informant Franky.

Rounding out the core cast are Gabriel's 2nd in command: his capos Nico and Valentine. 

There's also Mikey's best friend Louis; the other organized crime bosses vying for turf within Lyon, France; Gabriel's uncle - the Don - and the Don's underlings. 

We're first introduced to Davina as she recounts the night she was orphaned. It was also the night she discovered that her parents were involved in organized crime. Davina's elite nanny Amelia Bremerton had rescued her, and when Davina told Bremerton that she wished to be as strong as her, Bremerton took her in and trained her to be an elite nanny as well.

Basically, Amelia Bremerton pulled an Alfred Pennyworth. She is just as badass of a guardian as well.

Davina knows that Gabriel's family - the Angelinis - were probably involved in her parents' murder. That's specifically why she took the job. She hoped to be able to find out more information about her parents' deaths from the inside. 

She didn't count on a member of the family recognizing who she truly is due to how closely she resembles her mother....

Davina tries to find information about the fire that killed her parents, while struggling to keep her true identity a secret. She also gets roped into helping the Angelini family in their French turf war; assisting Gabriel in his negotiations with the other mob families, and tracking down potential threats (especially since those threats have come for Mikey more than once!) This is all on top of her actual job of caring for and protecting Mikey (a job that has caused her to get seriously injured frequently). Oh yeah, AND she has to fight against her growing affections for her BOSS Gabriel!

(And, yeah, he's growing incredibly fond of Davina as well, but won't act on it in an effort to keep both her and Mikey as far away from mob-life as possible)

The story is so captivating! I want to ramble on endlessly about it. I want to theorize so bad about what happened to Davina's parents, why they were targeted, what happened to Gabriel's father, what happened to Gabriel's WIFE, and why the kids of the mob bosses - such as Mikey - are specifically being targeted.

But doing ANY of that would require me giving a bunch of stuff away! So, I'll hold my tongue, so-to-speak. Just- If you have Webtoon, you should definitely check out The Mafia Nanny.

It was also one of the launch titles along with Love 4 a Walk for Webtoon's animations. If that makes starting the series easier or more enticing for you.

OK, so that brings my September Webtoon reading list to:

  • Daily Reads:
    • Catching up on The Mafia Nanny
  • Sunday:
    • You Can't Kill Me: The Secret Bride of the Black Wolf
    • A Savage Proposal
  • Monday:
    • Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story (but not for much longer T^T)
    • Seabird and the Wolf
  • Tuesday:
    • Lock Me Up, Duke!
  • Wednesday:
    • Still none
  • Thursday:
    • Maybe Meant to Be
    • Rules for Dating Trash
  • Friday:
    • My Child Will Have a Different Father
  • Saturday:
    • Obsidian Bride (yay! It's back!)
    • What the Evil Dragon Lives For (also for not much longer T^T)

This definitely isn't near as severe a reading list as when I had something like 19 different series going at once!

Maybe I can use the extra downtime (and chatting with my writing friends) as motivation to get myself back into writing. I must be my own Yeonju and Mr. Na! We'll see if I'll actually follow through with anything, though.

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Catch you all at the end of the month!
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Wednesday, July 2, 2025

LycoRogue's Reading Corner: June 2025

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

Yup. Not even going to dance around it. Not going to be cute about it. Just going to accept the fact that (a) June's LycoRogue's Reading Corner is BEYOND late, making June the first (and hopefully only) month where I missed both updates entirely, (b) I don't really have much to say, which is why this update is so late, (c) I have no clue if anyone even noticed that it was missing and/or if this would be missed if I didn't publish it at all, and (d) I am literally forcing myself to write this because of a promise I made to myself at the beginning of the year that I'm trying desperately to keep, and I'm already pissed off at myself that I DID entirely miss June. I'd be livid for days on end if I just foregone this update entirely.

All because this is still basically me:

Panel from Shut Up, Takamori!
by Kamiharu Haruno
Crude edit by LycoRogue

Same deal as when I talked about it in my end-of-month May update, so I won't rehash it here. I'm just so burnt out. I'm going to need that week-long vacation for my birthday in a couple of weeks.

The burnout not only sapped me of any motivation to write (both fiction and this month's blog updates), but it also drained me of virtually any passion for reading, with a few exceptions. Which means, instead of adding to my list, like I have been doing every previous month, I've actually lessened how much content I'm consuming. Which is another big reason for this update's delay.

I have nothing new to really tell everyone.

To demonstrate my point, instead of keeping it at the end of the update, as I normally do, I've decided to share my reading list right at the top. So, as of May, this was everything I was reading.

Stories, such as I Am The Villain and At Your Mercy concluded their seasons and are currently on hiatus. So there's two down. Others, such as Mythic Item Obtained and Writer's Legacy I haven't kept up with because I'm just not feeling action comics again. Even Ultimate Shut-in tends to be at the bottom of my list. That's one where I only seem to read it when I'm in the app already, have read the other things I wanted to read, still feel like reading, look at my backlog, and then go, "Oh yeah. I guess I can read more of this."

I'm just not really feeling the action stories right now...

Tangentially, there's Fantasy High which I'm very much still itching to read to see how the adaptation resembles the original DnD Actual Play. However, since we watched the series together, and Hubby was kinda-sorta reading over my shoulder when I started up Fantasy High on Webtoon, I now save that for when Hubby and I can read it together. Which has put us 3 weeks behind as of this writing.

On top of those stories that I've been neglecting, there's also Dark Water. After being on hiatus since before I even started reading it (May 9, 2024), it is FINALLY back! Except, it's been so long that I can't really remember where the story left off when it went on hiatus in the first place (especially because it wasn't a season finale and therefore a natural stopping point). So, I have to more-or-less reread the story from the beginning, and I didn't have the energy for that. Which means this story is also just kind of hovering in limbo.... Honestly? I'm perfectly fine with that. It looks like Dark Water might be an abandoned series and Webtoon just finally unlocked the last 5 Fast Pass episodes since it has been on hiatus for over a year??? Soooooo, that series may stay on the To Read pile for a while....

Also, while this more-so affects July's LRRC as opposed to June's, another series just concluded and a 2nd soon will (I'll talk about each of those in a moment). Which reminds me, I never did go back to read the epilogue/spin-off episodes of Office Romance from Hell. So those are still there - along with the final epilogue for I Abdicate My Title of Empress and the final episodes of Divorcing My Tyrant Husband. (There's also the 3rd season of Lore Olympus that is still in my backlog....) Finally, since Hubby seems to be fixated on going through the vast Dropout back catalog, now that we can access it, as well as checking out shows via Hulu, since we also recently got that subscription, it seems like he fell off the KDrama kick for now. Which means no real need to tear through The Girl Downstairs (Doona!) anymore. Shifting THAT story to the back burner as well drops my reading list down to:

  • Daily Read:
    • The Makeup Remover
  • Sunday:
    • You Can't Kill Me: The Secret Bride of the Black Wolf
    • A Savage Proposal
  • Monday:
    • Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story
    • Seabird and the Wolf
    • Fantasy High (sorta... behind on this)
  • Tuesday:
    • I Will Live the Life of a Villainess
    • Lock Me Up, Duke!
    • Ultimate Shut-in (sometimes)
  • Wednesday:
    • Back to having nothing to read, currently
  • Thursday:
    • The Age of Arrogance
    • Maybe Meant to Be
  • Friday:
    • My Child Will Have a Different Father
  • Saturday:
    • Obsidian Bride

Yes, it's still 13 stories, but, man, does this list just LOOK so small.... Maybe because it's only consistently 11 stories out of the 19 I was reading last month?

Also, I am caught up on Dracula Daily, but June is the Slow Month for the story, as is the beginning of July. This is probably part of the reason I have a hard time sticking with it. I get hyped in May. I read the updates daily. Then there's a week-long pause. Then one or two entries. Then another week-long pause. Then another short entry. Then ANOTHER week-long pause.

You do other things with your life while waiting for the next entry; falling off of your reading rhythm in the meantime. You come up with a routine - like reading the Dracula entry while eating breakfast, or something - but then there's no entry so you do something else to fill that void. But you do the filler so many days in a row that when the one, lone entry drops in, you go "Oh, I'll read that later" and continue with the filler routine instead. You do that for nearly a month straight, and now the filler IS the routine and you have to figure out what you're going to do for Dracula Daily again come end of July.

Plus, the story gets back into the swing of things via the Log of the Demeter, which takes place my birthday week. So I'm usually on some sort of vacation for my birthday, and thrown off my normal day-to-day routine. Making wedging in Dracula Daily even MORE back-of-mind.

In the end, I don't really get back into a consistent reading rhythm again until August. By then, I'm nearly 2 months behind on entries and it's hard to catch up!

Tanuki Facebook sticker
by Yanare Ku

At least this year I'm staying caught up, even if I am a day or two late in reading the entry. Hopefully, by the time we get to the part of the book I haven't read yet, I'll be back into a daily routine and can once more enjoy the added flavor of reading the entries in real-time and feeling that time between updates.

In other words, my reading routine has been consistently keeping up with 11 Webtoons series, read a 12th if the mood strikes, read a 13th if Hubby is up to reading over my shoulder, and read the occasional Dracula update.

OH! And zenmisery started up yet another story, so I did eventually read that... after it sat in my notifications for a month!

Zen's latest foray into the world of Miraculous Ladybug AUs asks the question, "What if Marinette's class - including Adrien - had all actually met in kindergarten, but didn't remember that was their first meeting?"

The interactions between Adrien and Marinette are so friggen cute. Seeing Adrien get his first crush is all I needed to hook me. However, Zen's Muse moves fast and uncontrollably, so who knows if it will have her continue this story, add more chapters to any of the other WIPs she has going on, if she'll think of yet ANOTHER new story to try her hand at, or if she'll vanish for months again before hitting us with another surprise sneak attack of a writing update a few months down the road.

I can't really say much, though, since my writing schedule - despite myself - is equally unpredictable.

But let's talk about what I have been reading. Since I don't really have much to say in general about my June reads, it feels like a good time for some Recap Updates. I can think of things to say if I'm trying to recap 13 different stories.... Might make this late upload worth it. Who knows?

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Let's start with the story that concluded this week! Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story!

This is a rough one for me. Monday night, I read the series finale of NYTRS. I started up this story March 2024, and have been reading the free-release updates weekly ever since. Over a year I have been locked into this story. It helped inspire one of my most popular fanfics. And it will soon be gone. Concluded. Only fanfic left to fill my need to consume more Edith and Killian content. I don't think I'm ready!

There's spin-off/epilogue episodes planned for this series. So I still have a LITTLE more canon content to look forward to. Which is good, because the series finale left some pretty big loose ends still dangling.

The main plot is more-or-less concluded and wrapped up. Nearly all mysteries are solved. We've met OG novel Edith and the 12 transmigrated souls that also embodied Edith at one point. We also discovered who The Creator was, how their novel became its own living and breathing world (sorta), and how they became in charge of the stipulations on Edith's possessing souls. Suna Choi's version of Edith got to the ending of the original novel. I won't spoil anything by telling you how Suna's story turned out compared to the original novel (with the exception of saying she obviously survives).

We got more of Rhyse's original backstory and how she got wrapped up in everything as the original novel's protagonist.

Everything with Edith and Rhyse and Killian and the Rudwicks and even Rhyse's original family the Sinclairs has been nicely wrapped up.

But there's still a major plotline about the two brothers Cliff and Killian and their father that needs to be concluded. There was a hint of Edith maybe being pregnant that hasn't been confirmed. There's more side-plot with Princess Katrin that feels like it wasn't properly resolved yet. With everything that happened, I feel like Killian's mother has a lot of guilt that she should be relieved of, since none of it was her fault; it was The Creator's will forcing her hand.

I love that there will be more story via spin-off/epilogue episodes after a brief hiatus, but I also feel like a lot of this "extra" content should have been included in the main storyline. I'll have to read the English translation of Lemon Frog's webnovel to see if these "extra" bits were in the novel proper.

Either way, I may have to cope with this series ending by using its conclusion as an excuse to just reread the whole thing from the beginning. Something I'm planning on doing with another series, but I'll save that one for last...

Now, let's go in order, starting with my Sunday line-up: You Can't Kill Me: The Secret Bride of the Black Wolf

I reached the season 1 finale of YCKM, but there wasn't even a week-long break before the creator posted episode 1 of season 2! So, I got season 2's premiere this past Sunday!

It's been awesome to see Yeonwu coming more into her own. Becoming stronger. Standing up more for herself. It was tragic enough to know that she was tricked into an abusive marriage to Hyojo her first life. Extra tragic to know that she was forced into that same abusive marriage in her second life. A life that broke her to the point of committing a public suicide! But to THEN find out that the abuse actually started YEARS before she even met Hyojo? At the hands of her own family!? That's a new kind of rough.

Turns out that she had that classic rearing of "you're the older sibling, so you're essentially an extra parent for your younger sibling." Yeonwu's sister was babied and pampered and spoiled. If the house was a mess because her sister refused to clean, it was somehow Yeonwu's fault for either (a) not getting her sister to clean against her will, or (b) not sucking it up and cleaning the massive mess herself without being scolded by her mother to do so.

Their mother had no time for her children, and it took a lot of courage for elementary-aged Yeonwu to say how much that hurt. She expressed her feelings and then asked her mother if she could go to a sort of Career Day event at her school. Despite Yeonwu simply and earnestly saying how she felt, her mother spun it as Yeonwu guilt-tripping her into going. THEN came the accident!

Yeonwu's mother did go to Career Day. After school concluded, her mother spotted someone she needed to talk to across the street from the school. She told Yeonwu to watch her younger sister, then crossed the street to chat. Despite Yeonwu holding firm to her sister's hand and trying to explain to her sister that she needs to stay put, her sister was desperate to be with their mother. She broke free of Yeonwu's grip and sprinted across the street to their mother. Through traffic!

Yeonwu - who, again, was maybe 10 or so? - sprinted after her sister and shoved her out of the way of a truck. Her sister was still badly injured, but alive, and Yeonwu had a severe head injury along with other injuries after taking the brunt of the hit.

Even so, Yeonwu's mother blamed her for not taking better care of watching her sister to prevent the accident from happening at all. She also friggen blamed Yeonwu for the massive medical bills that crippled their family finances! They were forced to move and suffered other financial hardships, but that's just life sometimes! Instead, Yeonwu's mother vocally blamed Yeonwu for all of it. And her father stayed silent; not once standing up for his child, noting that everything was because their younger daughter wouldn't listen to Yeonwu, or simply pointing out that it was an accident and there should be no one to blame.

Yeonwu was then forced to constantly prove her worth to her family; forced to "make up" for all of the hardships "she caused" the family!

In her early adulthood, she excitedly became a music composer, and even started to get paid for her music! She was elated to share this joy with her family. Her mother, on the other hand, simply pointed out that Yeonwu therefore has more money that she can send to her family to help them stay afloat since they were still financially recovering from her medical bills.... SUCH. JERKS!

Knowing HOW MUCH Yeonwu was abused her WHOLE LIFE, it is so refreshing to see her finally stand up against her abusers and become stronger, thanks to Hwita's companionship and support.

EXCEPT! There's this new mystery! Hwita's twin Yuta (who maybe ISN'T a twin and is just Hwita's split personality??? Jury is still out on that) keeps trying to sabotage Yeonwu's relationship with Hwita. Telling her that Hwita isn't to be trusted. Trying to get her to be with him instead. He admitted - close to the end of season 1 - that he was there at Hyojo's birthday celebration during Yeonwu's second life. He witnessed her suicide. He was the one she saw crying over her death. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? He had brown hair then, but Yuta has white hair (compared to Hwita who still has brown hair). Did Yuta do something that caused both his own and Yeonwu's hair to turn white on this life reset? Why does he keep pushing the narrative that Hwita isn't to be trusted? What is he trying to tell Yeonwu, and why can't he simply say it?

Yeonwu does ask Hwita about it, and he admits that he hasn't been entirely truthful with her. There is this thing - The Wife of the Reaper - that is this almost prophesized woman. Hwita admits that he's both a Reaper ("like my brother") and that he originally took Yeonwu in because her hair turning white is the first sign that she was potentially the Wife of the Reaper he had been searching for. The mark on her shoulder was another indicator. He promises that while he first took her in as a political bride due to his suspicions of her being the Wife of the Reaper, he has since grown actual affection for her, and he never once faked his feelings for her. That seems to be enough to get Yeonwu to trust him again. In truth, it was enough for me too.

Season 1 ended with Hyojo bursting in on a ceremony to declare to both Hwita and Yeonwu that Hyojo's father - the king of the Underworld - had died (possibly due to Hyojo poisoning him, but that's just speculation right now). It's implied that Hyojo, who is the new king, is about to pull some shenanigans either against Hwita, in a bid to steal Yeonwu away, or probably both. It was quite the cliffhanger!

A Savage Proposal

For this one, I have to almost ignore the comments section. No one seems to know how to put themselves into the mindset of the protag Princess Liene. Nearly all of the comments are frustrated with her deception and meekness (mostly because it's holding back the romance plot between her and Lord Tiwakan). No one seems to understand WHY Liene makes the decisions she does. They don't realize she doesn't have the information we, the readers, do. They can't grasp the complicated 4D Chess Liene has to mentally play at all times. She is a political head-of-state by title alone, with no real power behind it. She does all in her power to keep what little strenuous peace she can. She has this complicated balancing act. The other readers don't seem to understand that at all.

It's been implied that Liene's mother is still alive-and-well, but divorced or otherwise left Liene's father. Then, her father died while she was still relatively young (12? 13? 14? Somewhere in there). So Liene was essentially orphaned as a young teen; too young to actually hold political power. Which meant it more-or-less was passed to the chancellor: Kleinfelter. Chancellor Kleinfelter was then the one who kept financially backing Liene as she depleted the royal coffers in an attempt to keep her kingdom afloat and her people fed. It was Kleinfelter who arranged the betrothal between Liene and his nephew Lafitte, a betrothal she accepted because she felt she owed the Chancellor, and she feared he would withdrawal his support otherwise.

While Lafitte was originally presented as Liene's beloved when coming up with reasons for her to deny Lord Tiwakan's proposal, it's later revealed to the readers that Liene never cared for Lafitte, and he actually annoyed her. She feels like she's betraying her people if she admits that she much prefers her engagement to Lord Tiwakan than staying trapped with Lafitte. So she's already walking that tightrope.

It doesn't help that Liene originally tried to convince Lord Tiwakan to withdrawal his proposal by claiming that Lafitte is indeed her true love and that she's pregnant with his child (both lies). The lies backfired, but Liene felt that she was not in a position to then confess to Lord Tiwakan that her gambit failed and that she is neither pregnant nor in love with Lafitte. Besides, at the time, Lord Tiwakan was the aggressor who blackmailed her into a political marriage to stop a siege on her kingdom. Meanwhile, Lafitte was an annoying brat, but at least he seemed the better option for her people at the time. Why would she put herself further on the back foot by confessing her failed bluff to a man she wasn't sure she could trust? Despite the readers not understanding, I get how that would be a DUMB MOVE as far as Liene was concerned (given what she knew).

Complicating things further, Lafitte is OBSESSESSED with Liene and desperately possessive of her. So he's constantly trying to sneak into the castle to be with her, constantly trying to steal her away, and even plotted a shotgun wedding! Liene keeps denying him and trying to shoo him away. Desperate to spare his life for fear of Chancellor Kleinfelter causing a civil war to avenge Lafitte if Liene lets the man die/calls for his execution. Unfortunately, Lord Tiwakan sees all of the moments between Lafitte and Liene without seeing Liene's distress or Lafitte's aggression or manipulation. Despite Liene being afraid of Lafitte and desperate to get away from him, Tiwakan only sees Liene being gentle with Lafitte (in an effort to de-escalate the situation). Since Liene already led Lord Tiwakan to believe that Lafitte was genuinely her lover, Lord Tiwakan sees these de-escalation moments and decisions of mercy (to not start a civil war) as proof that Liene still loves Lafitte. He is quickly losing his trust and faith in her all while becoming more desperate for her affection himself. Worse yet, Liene feels like she can't just explain the situation - Lafitte cannot be harmed or it could cause a civil war - because it will also be a confession of her lack of power. It makes her even MORE vulnerable, and possibly not a good enough political bargaining chip to bother to marry and/or even keep alive.

Again, the readers are largely on Lord Tiwakan's side. We see his gentle moments and his sincere moments. Especially compared to Lafitte. We want the romance to blossom and we know that Tiwakan seems to genuinely care for Liene. We're rooting for them, so it frustrates readers that Liene is fighting against it. For me, though? That's fantastic writing. The author isn't letting Liene be genre savvy. She doesn't know she's in a romance story. She thinks she's in friggen Game of Thrones and can't make one misstep otherwise she dies, her kingdom falls, her people starve, there's a civil war, etc. She has 20 plates up in the air and doesn't realize Lord Tiwakan is there to help her catch them (she thinks he's one of the plates).

Gaaaah! It's just so frustrating to see the comments whining to the author about how much they can't stand Liene and how she's making every wrong decision by not trusting Lord Tiwakan despite all he's done for her. Completely ignoring that Liene SEES everything he's done for her, she IS falling for him, but then she has all the nobles and her people being vague about how Tiwakan is there for revenge and to not trust him. And, seeing how Lafitte manipulates things, it's easy to believe that Liene suspects Lord Tiwakan is also trying to play her for a fool. So all of his genuine gestures to prove his affections for her reads as ploys to get her to let down her guard. I get that! That's her mental state. I love that the author has her there. Now if the other readers could just understand that as well. The misunderstandings and misconceptions ARE the drama of the story. They're the conflict. That's the point.

There are plenty of other stories on Webtoon that clear up misunderstandings quickly, and I'll see the author praised for precisely that: “Thank you, author, for not dragging out misunderstandings just for the drama. That's so annoying.” If misunderstanding-led drama isn't your thing, if political chess matches aren't your thing, if someone struggling to learn to trust again after nearly a decade of having that trust abused isn't your thing, then give up on the whole “oo, sexy romance” of this story and move on. Enough with the whining!

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Seabird and the Wolf

For this one, we've gotten more backstory for the main portion of the Black Ocean crew.

We've learned that Keyelo (the male lead) and his fellow Vice Captain Utuguru are half-brothers not even a year apart. Utuguru is Captain Clusdo's legitimate son, and Keyelo's the captain's second son via his favorite prostitute. Keyelo was raised more-or-less in the brothel until his mother died, and then he was taken in by his father. For obvious reasons, Utuguru's mother - who is still Captain Clusdo's legal wife - can't stand Keyelo and is cruel to him. So, he moved out into a little hut on his own as soon as he was able.

We also recently discovered that Utuguru has been suffering abuse from his mother, who does not fear viciously verbally berating or straight up physically harming her own son if he doesn't match her impossibly high standards. In the last episode I read, Lott (the main character) jumped in front of Utuguru to protect him from a full porcelain tea cup his mother threw at him. Here's hoping that helps those two bond a bit more.

We also discovered that the ship's resident ray of sunshine - deckhand Domem - was actually orphaned after the dreaded Woohoppiage pirates (the same ones that kidnapped Lott's sister Raltia) raided the Black Ocean crew's home island. His parents are buried in front of his now-abandoned family home, and he crashes with his bestie Keyelo whenever the crew docks at their home base.

Speaking of the Woohoppiage pirates (I still HATE that name... sheesh!), we were given a little flash of Raltia's capture. Seems she was part of an attempted escape plot with some of the other villagers from her hometown. The pirates executed all of the others involved in the plot, and forced Raltia to watch as her punishment. However, they're purposefully keeping her alive as bait for Lott. Seems they know that Lott's pet bird Balca is the last fabled Sea Bird, and they want Balca's divine navigation and protection from the sea for themselves.

Aaaaand speaking of, Lott has met with a few mystical beings of the ocean. One was the Sea Witch Rurumi, who spoke an ominous premonition to Lott before gifting her some pearls to take as pills to ease the intense stomach cramps that have been crippling Lott ever since she joined the Black Ocean crew; a symptom of a mysterious curse put on Lott.

The second was a mob of sea monsters collectively called Aurora. Bipedal creatures with praying-mantis-like clawed arms, and human-like faces on pearls within oyster-like heads. Aurora are ghost-like monsters that glow a pearlescent pinkish purple, but are usually invisible. They were thought to be the souls of children lost at sea, but one that Lott fought had her father's face! Could her father have become an Aurora somehow? The Aurora also know that Lott can hear them when no one else can, and they beg her to help them find their ways home.

The third mythical being Lott encountered was a deity known as the Master of the Forest Sea, Ernori, and her pet/guardian, Quetzalcoatl. Just like Rurumi, Ernori mentioned that Lott reminded her of "an old friend." A lot of us fans are wondering if Lott is somehow an avatar or reincarnation of the killed God of the Sea. Ernori also gifts Lott something to ease the pain from the curse - two leaves from her crown - but lets Lott know that they are no cure. She'll have to figure that out herself.

We also met the crew of the Celipharm, a pirate crew made entirely of women (keep in mind, Lott disguised herself as a man because most people believe women are bad-luck out on the ocean). The Celipharm is captained by Scarlett, former lover of the Woohoppiage's Captain Feder. The Black Ocean was given some intel from Scarlett, and they rushed back to their home island, rumored to have been recently attacked by the Woohoppiage!

Side note: Despite all of us readers wondering if the members of the Celipharm were able to sniff out that Lott was a woman, and/or if she'd shift loyalties to the Celipharm, the status quo was upheld. No one is the wiser about Lott's actual gender, and she gleefully stayed with the Black Ocean.

Anyway, where I left off, the Black Ocean returned home. Yes, the Woohoppiage had attacked, but were chased off with minimal damage to the island. Even so, Captain Clusdo is using this oportunity to gift his "men" land leave while he sorts out where they should go next to continue their hunt of the Woohoppiage. Also, Utuguru's mother kind of strong-armed her husband - Clusdo - to stay for at least a little while.

Fantasy High

Where I left off with this series, we met the Halfling family The Cubbies; we were introduced to The Bad Kids' future favorite hang, Basrar's Soda Fountain and Ice Cream Parlor; Fabian took possession of Johnny Spells' demon-possessed motorcycle (which Fabian then names The Hangman); The Bad Kids are trying to sort out who Johnny was supposed to be meeting up with and how it may relate to the missing Adventuring Academy students; and the closing shot is of the cracked ruby that is imprisoning the devil Gorthalax (Spoilers, but... Fig's biological father).

I Will Live the Life of a Villainess

Somehow it feels like a LOT has happened but also virtually nothing?

I think the last update I gave you fine folks was while the main character Elena was dealing with curbing a pandemic. She succeeded, and returned to the imperial capital. There, she was honored for her efforts, and she shared the spotlight with some of her friends to help those ladies garner more political pull. In turn, it gives them more independence, especially from their fathers.

There was then a small time-jump, where the emperor has fallen ill, and Crown Prince Kaizen has attempted to step up and take over his father's duties. He hadn't been a terrible leader, at first, but then quickly became the entitled brat everyone knew him to be. Despite his father being on death's door (yes, due to being poisoned by the Crown Prince and his fiancée Rosetta), Kaizen planned to have a large engagement ceremony for himself and Rosetta. Meanwhile, Prince Lloyd has been dealing with some strange health complications of his own. He keeps suffering horrendous luck, resulting in a lot of injuries from incredibly benign activities; Final Destination style. Poor Elena even caught Lloyd not breathing as he napped, and she struggled to wake him back up. The duo now suspects that, since Lloyd died in the original novel, perhaps Seojun Lee was never meant to possess the character of the first prince. Perhaps Lloyd was destined to die, and Seojun's transmigration into that doomed character was a mistake. One that the God of Destiny - or whatever - of this world is now trying to correct. Again, Final Destination style.

Soooo, along with thwarting Crown Prince Kaizen's assassination attempt of the emperor, Elena has to figure out why she and Lloyd were transmigrated in the first place, why Lloyd's luck seems to have turned quite dangerous for him, and if there's a way to stop it so Lloyd stays safe.

Where I last left off, Elena, through a lot of help from her friends again, managed to prove the emperor was poisoned, prove that Rosetta was the one poisoning him (with Kaizen likely a co-conspirator/accomplice), and gave the emperor a remedy for the poison. Kaizen was able to whisk Rosetta away and claim sanctuary to keep them both safe, but Rosetta had her back against the wall. She realized Kaizen was never going to become emperor over Lloyd now, which meant he was no longer any value to her.

**SPOILER**
        Rosetta, in a horribly ill-conceived attempt to tie up loose ends, murders Crown Prince Kaizen!!!! She is then captured as she attempted to flee the palace in her still blood-stained clothes. The idiot....

Lock Me Up, Duke!

The romantic leads Jayna and Theo have easily and fully fallen for each other. Jayna is quickly discovering that the "locked up" ending she was originally gunning for may not be the heavenly lazy life she originally believed. Perhaps the game designers knew what they were doing when they had it as a bad ending?

Thankfully, Jayna is not a shy girl, and is very vocal about her wants, desires, and needs. She calls Theo out, and he's quick to course-correct to make her happy. Especially when she never asks for anything that would put a burden on him. With one exception.

It's not yet explained, but Jayna apparently has this GIFT to tame notoriously dangerous and fierce monsters with a simple word. She discovered a lost cub, which resembles a lion with a thick mane, fluffy tail, and little horns. She named her Cotton Candy and wanted to keep her as a pet. Theo was going to immediately put the cub down before it could grow into a dangerous beast, but eventually relented to letting Jayna keep Cotton Candy as a pet, as long as Jayna agreed to VERY strict restrictions on Cotton Candy to keep everyone in the castle safe.

Most recently, Jayna, tamed what is essentially a dire wolf. She realized that she had advanced to the part of the game where, if Theo went into town alone, he was killed. However, Theo, not wanting to disturb Jayna by waking her, decided to go into town alone, obviously clueless of the scripted mortal danger this put him in. As Jayna rushed to try to find him and keep him safe from assassins, she got kidnapped by slavers. She was then tossed into a room with this monstrous wolf as the beast's meal. Instead, Jayna was able to turn the wolf into a loyal puppy with a simple word. The wolf then helped Jayna bust both herself and a little girl free of the slavers. Jayna then came to Theo's rescue, with the help of her new pet wolf. Once again, fearing the monster would show its feral nature and attack Jayna, himself, or the residents of the castle, Theo wanted to put the wolf down. Jayna again got him to stay his hand, and she's quickly building up a menagerie of monsters.....

Theo still showcases the overly possessive/protective/obsessive personality that he had in the video game. However, it seems like the Jayna possessed by transmigrated A-Min Kim is able to tame Theo right along with all of those monsters. He's slowly becoming less intense, and more open to listen to her. She's also proving to him that she can hold her own, and so he doesn't have to worry as much about having to protect her and/or keep her safe. It's still a long road and Theo does still show red flags/toxic traits, but his love for her seems sincere and beautiful. Their romance is adorable. And I'm excited to see a Green Flag version of Theo in the near future.

Ultimate Shut-in

So far the drama of the series is still focused on Human Survivors vs monsters, and Jaehyeon (the main character) leveling up and gaining new powers. He's created new incentives for the survivors under his protection. His protective bubble has expanded to include basically the entire apartment complex he lives in. He can set up a shop - which he's placed on the first floor - that he can remotely fill with an endless supply of goods he scans in. He still has limited spots for individual items, but he's sorted out workarounds.

For instance, he can scan in an entire toolbox to fill one of the inventory slots, but he can then sell the individual tools from the toolbox without a hammer or tape measurer or screwdriver or nails each taking up individual store inventory slots. Same deal with first aid items. He scanned in a first-aid kid, but can now provide gauze, bandages, antiseptic creams, etc individually.

He also managed to arrange for the one woman's murdered young son to be revived for a single day as a reward for clearing out the goblin population around the apartment complex. We haven't seen the reunion yet. I feel like that is going to be rough. She says it's all she wants: just one more day with her son. However, how much more will it hurt when the day ends and she has to lose him a second time?

I like that THIS is the style of drama we're getting, and not necessarily survivors vs survivors yet. You can still have a compelling story with a lot of drama without it including internal fighting per se. That said, there was a little blip of that already. One of the new perks that Jaehyeon provided was to open up vacant apartments within the building, turning the water and power back on in those rooms, and offering the apartments as rewards for monster-hunting parties who kill x-number of y-type of monster first. This way the survivors that have migrated into Jaehyeon's building could have homes of their own, instead of having to camp out in the apartment building hallways. One party tried to work the system and use one of their partymates as bait; putting him in danger in an attempt to kill monsters faster with no regard of the partymate's wellbeing. Jaehyeon purposefully did NOT reward that sort of behavior, and even offered the abused party member an alternative in case he wanted to leave the group he was with.

I appreciate that in-fighting and cut-throat behaviors between the survivors is being kind of nipped in the bud. A way for the main character to establish a more unified community of survivors. One where they all help each other out. Bravo to both Jaehyeon and the author of the series.

Where I last left off, Jaehyeon had just leveled up again and unlocked a new power: Outposts. If one of his "knights" (one of the higher-level survivors that he then knights with his power) is in an area, and Jaehyeon's willing to spend the small fortune to establish one, he can create an outpost. A place outside of his apartment building that he can protect as if it were part of his home base. Aside from the exorbitant cost to establish an outpost, the other kink in the system is that he has to station at least 3 knights there at all times, otherwise the outpost loses protection and may be taken back by the monsters. It will be tricky for him to balance the value of having an outpost vs the monetary cost of setting one up and the security cost of not having access to three of his knights.

Obviously, Jaehyeon decided that if ANYWHERE was worth the cost, it's his parents' home. His next goal is to send his knights out to his parents' home, hope they are still safe, and then establish their home as an outpost. That does abandon some of his knights with his parents. So, again, there's bound to be some sort of drama there over that. I'm excited to see it, but, oddly enough, not excited enough to actually read the updates the day they come out.

It's a weird limbo where I still really enjoy this series - as I do Mythic Item Obtained and Writer's Legacy - but the romance vibes are still the ones calling out to me, so I focus those stories first-and-foremost.

The Age of Arrogance

We're in the home stretch. Most of the storylines are tied up. We've witnessed two different character weddings. The Happily Ever After is about to conclude the final panel. We're currently reading through Asha's backstory a bit more. We're learning more about her childhood in the war-torn land of Pervaz, how and why she trained to be a warrior instead of a Lady of Court, what happened to Asha's mother, and the pain of Asha watching her father and older brothers all fall in battle. It's a sad tale, but knowing that Asha has a happy ending - and seeing Carlisle comfort her as she tells it - helps with this bittersweet backstory.

It will be hard to see this story go. Especially so soon after completing another of Lemon Frog's stories (NYTRS).

Maybe Meant to Be

I'm still purposefully behind on this one. That way I have a little bit of a buffer in case I can't handle a cliffhanger and HAVE to go right into the next episode.

I will be honest, though, while this season is still cute, outside of the first few episodes where Jia and Mincheol were "stranded on a deserted island", this season hasn't really had me itching to get to the next episode. Not the way I did with the first season. I'm 28 episodes into the 2nd season, and it does NOT feel like I'm that far in. While a LOT happened in a short timeframe in season 1, it feels like virtually nothing has happened in season 2 yet.

Jia and Mincheol were caught in a nasty storm while out fishing with Jia's parents, and our favorite couple got washed up on a beach. They survived a few days on that beach with little-to-no supplies before being "rescued" (turns out they were just a couple of miles from the resort where Jia's parents ended up. Mincheol just never ventured far enough to find civilization.... whoops).

After those initial 8 intense episodes that very much kept the same chaotic vibe as season 1, the storyline slowed WAY down. Before heading home from their fishing trip, Jia and Mincheol were interviewed about their time lost on the beach after being swept overboard. During the outdoor interview, Mincheol, not thinking, held up his hand to shade Jia's eyes from the sun. Everyone found it adorable, and the interview went viral. This caught the attention of this big wig. I still don't really know who she is or what her significance is. She did, however, use the opportunity to talk to Jia's original publisher/agent/manager/whomever he was: Mr. Na.

The next 20-some episodes were just this lady strong-arming Mr. Na into getting Jia back into the public spotlight in any way possible. He and Jia's old college friend Yeonju tried a few more ploys at Yeonju's cafe where Jia works to try to lure her back into writing. When that didn't work, Mr. Na brought in a reality show director/producer to film something in the cafe, in hopes that watching HIM would convince Jia to write.

There's just this focus on getting her back into writing now that the main plot of Jia and Mincheol falling in love and admitting their feelings for each other concluded in season 1. There was a long backstory where Jia talks about how she wrote her first novel and got it published in the first place, but then how writer's block crept in and how she because so stressed that she swore off writing ever again. Really hits home, and I'm still invested in the series both for Jia's writer's arc and because she and Mincheol are still adorable little beans. But the "I have to know what happens next RIGHT NOW" itch from season 1 just didn't carry over.

On top of all that, the secondary couple of Sang-U and Suyeon have been more-or-less sidelined. There's mentions in passing that they're still trying to act professional at work, but everyone knows that they're dating and are just waiting for them to finally publically admit it. This led to a small side-plot of Mincheol finally learning how to drive so he didn't have to carpool with Sang-U and Suyeon to and from work anymore, given how awkward it was with the couple trying to hide that they're dating around him.

That's it. That's all that happened in season 2 thus far:

  • Jia and Mincheol have a pseudo honeymoon redo after believing they were stranded on an island for days
  • Mincheol shades Jia's eyes from the sun after she agrees to do a quick outdoor interview, and the video goes viral, which then kickstarts Mr. Na hounding Jia again about getting back into writing
  • Mincheol feels awkward about carpooling with Sang-U and Suyeon still when they're trying to hide that they're a couple. However, Mincheol doesn't know how to drive, so Jia teaches him and he successfully gets his license.
  • Mr. Na teams up with Yeonju as they plot ways to try to trick Jia into writing again/finding joy in writing again.
  • Jia tells Mincheol how she became a famous writer and why she stopped writing (which takes up 4 episodes alone)
  • Somewhere in there Jia realizes she forgot Mincheol's 32nd birthday, but stumbled into the perfect gift for him
  • Mr. Na sets up a reality show shoot at Yeonju's cafe as yet another ploy to try to lure Jia back into writing

Aaaaand that's everything for those 28 episodes....

My Child Will Have a Different Father

The romance is blooming in this one. The further in you get, the more you see how much Prince Lutz is falling for Hinael. He tries to spoil her. He listens to her. He compliments her. He drops everything to free up time for her. He does all that he can to help her thrive within the royal family and gets viciously defensive towards anyone cruel to his bride.

On the flipside, Hinael is seeing the effort Lutz is putting into their marriage, and she's starting to believe that Lutz isn't just preferable to her murderous first husband Chetaire; she may even learn to actually love Lutz.

Plot wise, the crown prince is on death's door, likely poisoned by third prince Kylo. While, as far as the characters are concerned, there was no evidence, there is also a near-absolute possibility that Kylo had plotted with Chetaire to have the Count kidnap Hinael. Kylo also purposefully spooked Hinael's horse while she was learning to ride, in hopes of injuring her. On the flipside, Kylo's mother - the current empress - invited Hinael to have tea with herself and her two other daughters-in-law. With Hinael's lady-in-waiting Deia's intel and Lutz's wallet, Hinael was able to get personalized gifts for the three imperial ladies that more-or-less won them over.

Hinael is now plotting to buddy up with Kylo's wife in order to hopefully get more intel from her about what Kylo's plotting. Meanwhile, she uses her memories from her first life to try to feed information to Lutz in an attempt to help him secure the crown for himself. The couple is working together beautifully to try to take down Kylo with little-to-no bloodshed. That way, either the crown prince's life can be spared, or, upon the prince's death, the emperor will instead name Lutz as the replacement crown prince.

Some Game-Of-Thrones-like political intrigue and plotting, mixed with some sensual romantic plotline. Totally my cup of tea right now!

Obsidian Bride

I'm not entirely sure how much longer this series is going to go, since the finale hasn't published yet. However, it does feel like it's coming close to the end. We know the true identities of most of the Jewel Box participants, and we've seen the true form of about half of them. We learned who The Moon Owl truly is. Lueri (the main character) discovered the true identity of the mystery boy from the library: her first, and only, love whose flame she has held since she was about 12. The missing Marianne has been found, and how/why she went missing has been revealed to the reader. Just about all of the Jewels have paired up, so the TV series Jewel Box should be coming to a close. Can't imagine the Webtoon series Obsidian Bride continuing much longer after that. But I could be wrong.

There is now a lot of political intrigue going on. The true reason behind the Jewel Box has been revealed. It seems that a handful of the Jewels - along with Moon Owl himself - wish to topple the empire. The pro-empire propaganda is starting to fail. Perhaps the fifth Jewel Box concluding ends up knocking down political dominos, and we end up following the ramifications of that. There could be a whole new season of the series just based off of that alone.

Also, there's a water dragon who needs to be hatched and magical creatures need to return to the empire!

Who knows? Maybe I'm NOT close to the end.

Either way, I hope Lueri and her true love get to be together soon, and can hold each other tight. Seeing them kiss now fully knowing who the other is and why they missed each other when they agreed to meet up as children... it was so beautiful. Did my heart good.

This is another one, along with My Child Will Have a Different Father, A Savage Proposal, You Can't Kill Me, Seabird and the Wolf, and both Lemon Frog stories, that I itch to consume as soon as the latest free update goes live.

The Makeup Remover

OK. So. This one. THIS ONE! This used to be a Daily Pass read. Then, I guess Webtoon did away with the Daily Passes???? Instead, all of my Daily Pass stories turned into Ad-Unlock ones. Just like how they've always worked in the app, if you watch a short ad (about 15-30sec) the episode will unlock for 3 days. So, no more "read as much as you want within 14 days" that you got with Daily Pass unlocks. However, it also means unlimited binge reading, as long as you are willing to sit through an ad before each episode. And, after 3 days, you can unlock that episode again with just a short ad as well.

I've grown to have a love-hate relationship with this new set-up.

On the one hand, I am ELATED that I can binge-read these stories. ESPECIALLY The Makeup Remover. On the other hand, what happened to my guardrail forcing me to keep this to a once-daily read???

Anyway, as I mentioned, I'm LOVING that I can binge this story in particular. Because holy smokes! It's addicting! The writing is so good. The makeup design choices are so engaging and beautiful. The character arcs are amazing and keep you in such a chokehold. The cliffhangers smack you around until you beg for the next episode. It is so hard to find a good stop point. You just want more and more and more. It is, by and large, the comic equivalent of a "page turner" story, and it should be getting more attention than it has in the 4 years since it published.

I started reading this series mid-April, and I'm already 123 episodes into a 129-episode series! How am I nearly done already!? If I let myself just binge the last six episodes (since I seem to be reading this series in 6-episode chunks), I could have it done TONIGHT! I'm not ready to let it go!!!!

It's been exciting to watch Yeseul (the main character) grow more confident in herself. In both her skills and her looks. She's learned to stand up for herself and become more vocal when she's uncomfortable or sees an injustice.

Heewon, the "popular girl" from the same college year as Yeseul, has also grown so much. She's no longer the snotty, typical "entitled, internet-famous model". She's realizing the impact she has on others, how lucky she is to have been famous to begin with, and that she may not want that internet-famous life after-all. She's also become a fierce defender of her new bestie: Yeseul! Watching Heewon's character arc has been as rewarding as watching Yeseul's!

Then there's the secondary protagonist: Yuseong, the "genius" makeup artist. He went from only focusing on the makeup competition Face-Off Cinderella to full-on falling in love with Yeseul. What's extra sweet is that he knew full-well that Yeseul already had feelings for her classmate Seungwoo, so Yuseong tried his hardest to hide his growing affections, not wanting to burden Yeseul with a love confession when she already had so much on her plate.

Speaking of Seungwoo, he was the only character I was disappointed in. When we're first introduced to him, he's the most popular guy in college. Handsome. Kind. Giving. Charismatic. Helpful. He seemed the whole package. So, naturally, Yeseul thought she wasn't worthy of his attention. Instead, she was (mostly) content with just admiring him from afar and fantasizing about having a relationship with him. Then, early in the series, Yuseong happens to run into Seungwoo, and Seungwoo takes Yuseong to an exibition of the photography students' work. Seungwoo points out a photo of himself that Yeseul took. He then noted how Yeseul saw him in a way no one else ever seemed to, and that made him want to know more about her in return. He seemed so smitten, and I was excited that someone Yeseul thought was out of her league was lowkey thinking the same thing about her.

Based on Yeseul and Yuseong being in the cover art, and based on them being the main characters of the series, it was pretty evident that they were supposed to be end-game. Even so, I had hoped that maybe Seungwoo was as sweet as he appeared, and the moral of his story was that no one is out of anyone else's league. That everyone has their own insecurities and everyone just wishes to be seen for who they truly are. I was hoping that the series would have Seungwoo eventually connect with Yeseul, and the two would date, just as Yeseul had fantasized. But, maybe Seungwoo and Yeseul just didn't click as much as she thought they would. Maybe Seungwoo indeed possessed all of those social traits that Yeseul saw - kind, friendly, defender of the weak, brilliant photographer, etc - but they didn't really have anything to say to each other outside of photography. Maybe they had no shared interests. Maybe they did click, but then Yeseul realized that she liked Seungwoo more as a friend than a romantic partner. Maybe she realizes that she gets butterflies around Yuseong that she doesn't get around Seungwoo now that she's no longer admiring him from afar. There isn't anything wrong with Seungwoo, but he just isn't the right fit, romantically.

Instead, the author went with Seungwoo secretly being a gaslighter and massive manipulator.

The lessons that the story taught about abuse, how to recognize toxic relationships, and how to break out of such relationships is an important one. I praise the story for everything it did with that storyline. I just wish Seungwoo was presented differently if that was the direction the author was going. It felt very "Han from Frozen heel-turn". Despite so many of the other readers calling it from a mile away (maybe because they knew the trope and knew Seungwoo was too good to be true?), I felt like the villain reveal was a bit of a sucker-punch from left field.

But that's the kind of thing that had me devouring this story. That, along with finding out what each team comes up with for the next round of the makeup competition. Or seeing how Yeseul and Yuseong come up with their concept. Or watching Yeseul deal with Seungwoo. Or sympathize with Yuseong as he struggles with his feelings for Yeseul. Or Heewon getting smacked by reality and learning to cope. Or cliffhanger misunderstandings (that, thankfully, get resolved in the next episode; the author doesn't like to draw out miscommunication).

In fact, this was the one series I was thinking of when I said people who can't stand the miscommunication-induced drama of Savage Proposal should just find stories without it. There's plenty. And so many in the comments of The Makeup Remover praise the author for NOT dragging out the miscommunication for drama purposes (a dig at series like Savage Proposal). So.... yeah.... if those people like slowburn romances that don't center on miscommunication, they should just read this series instead.....

Anyway, this series is so good. I'm excited to go back and rebinge it a second time once I've finished it. Now that I know all the twists and turns, I'm excited to start it over again and seeing certain scenes in a new light. Now knowing better what's going through the character's minds.

Man, now I want to just curl up in a corner and finish up The Makeup Remover instead of finishing this blog update.

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Also, the heel-turn of Seungwoo vs how I wanted it to go down lowkey has me thinking of my Hey Arnold! story What Is Truly Meant To Be. Mainly because I wanted Helga to have that "you're a great guy, but not for me" moment with Brainy. Maybe I need to step fully away from Miraculous Ladybug (especially since I still haven't started season 6 yet, so it's been over a year since I've watched the show), and return to HA instead....

BUT this isn't my writing update portion of my blog, so I'll save further contemplations for that.

Speaking of, I guess I should start working on that, huh? Here's hoping I'll catch you all again in a couple of days???

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