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i think the greatest disappointment in tears of the kingdom is when the zora king gives the throne to sidon. he says something along the lines of, "the finest swordsman in all of hyrule [Link] should bear witness to such an event!"

This would have been the absolute PERFECT moment to rehash the slow and squeaky butt sidle the zora king in Ocarina of Time did. It would have been fucking hilarious to see Dorephon slowly boweep boweep for like three minutes to make room for Sidon.

It is such a lost opportunity.

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tumblr is, if anything, the Appalachia of social media...easy to get lost, sparsely populated, out of the loop with fast-moving modern trends. Attached to tradition. Close-knit communities. Believe in "talk shit, get hit." Everyone is doing their own thing in their own obscure little holler. Prone to pulling the most inventive turns of phrase you've ever heard out of nowhere. Somebody's always starting a racket. We sometimes repel outsiders with much aggression. Lots of talk about hell and damnation to be found. Everybody tends to forget about us for some reason

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Source

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The Baby Fairy is a Villain

Now I've talked about this one before. It has a character in it that made my Top 5 (Current) Favorite Manhwa Guys thanks to Belzeon but more on him later.

The premise of the story is that our MC Lichesia has spent her whole life being chased for the fact that she's a half-fairy and there are a lot of bad people that want to get their hands on her for her magical blood/abilities. As a result, she's become one of the most terrifying people in the kingdom, having had to push her magic to its limits to become strong enough to survive. Her only goal in life is to find out who is behind the people hunting her and destroy them. Our girl is a bad ass magic user living in the dark underworld of her city hunting her hunters.

She also has a dog-man sidekick named Hata in charge of making both awesome hats - and magic potions.

(in his dog form)

She's pretty much narrowed down who's been hunting her since childhood to one of the three great noble Houses of the kingdom. When she hears that the head of one of them, Kiyaron/Kiern, the elusive Count of Basilian is looking to adopt a daughter, she sees her chance to infiltrate his House and investigate if he's behind the death of her mother and her life of fear. She takes a potion that turns her into a child she names Chesa/Cheshire and gets herself adopted.

Which is where things get interesting.

Okay, so, this story has a distinct Alice in Wonderland vibe to it (intentionally). Not the Disney version, the story under the story. It's tinged with both darkness and a hint of instability. Not the story itself, but the world and the people in it. No one is what anyone would consider emotionally healthy. Hata is probably the most emotionally stable but everyone else is broken in their own unique ways and its like looking at smashed glass that's caught all the light and is reflecting it in a myriad of dazzling colors. There's a flavor to the story that's richer and deeper, shadows moving under the water you're paddling through as you read it. It's not psychological horror or even horror - but its a story that's a back alley full of shadows and scattered jewels. The world building is so rich that you can just feel there's things unrelated to the story going on just out of sight and the characters are all beautifully broken and adjusted to that brokenness in their own equally broken ways so that they can carry on with their lives.

Well, not Kiyaron. He's not adjusted. He's just broken. He's probably a little mad too - but he's sharply intelligent and dangerous all the same. He adopted Chesa in order to get his dead wife back and - honestly, that should tell you a lot right there.

He's got twins - one that's in touch with a feral side and one that's elegant and bent on high fashion and both of them are completely deadly.

And he's also got an oldest son. Belzeon. My boy. The one that's shouldering the entire weight of the survival of his House while his father slowly goes mad.

Belzeon's 'fuck it, that's my dad's problem now' moment literally had me letting out a cheer loud enough to startle my rabbit.

And then you've got a paladin that's been hunting Lichesia since they were both teenagers. Hailon has an obsession with Lichesia that she only feeds every time they meet by tormenting him. Their entire relationship is built on a strange kind of trust even though they're playing an eternal game of cat and mouse.

Like I said, no one's completely sane in this Alice in Wonderland world and its so interesting.

This manhwa is so pretty too! The use of darker colors is both velvet rich to the eyes and really conveys the mood of the world beautifully. It's no mistake the most brilliant colors in this world are the red and pink eyes the Basilians and Chesa have respectively. Just - its a feast for the eyes that also triggers your psychological instincts.

I also am delighted to admit I have no idea where this story is going. I have no idea who the Male Lead is. I don't even know if there's going to be romance. There's a ton of found family though to feed my need. Watching Kiyaron swirling his way through sanity is horrifying in a fascinating way. I'm terrified for Chesa and yet completely delighted with the way she throws safety to the wind at the drop of a hat. I can't decide if I love or hate Halion. And I think I want Chesa to stay adopted by the Basilian family and get a second childhood to grow up with them.

I also want two movies and a spin off series about what kind of man Belzeon is going to be once he grows up.

rating: PG13

warnings: blood, murder, kidnapping, mentions of human trafficking, dark magic, childhood trauma, adult trauma, child endangerment, dangerously beautiful people with questionable grasps on reality

finished: Nope!

abs: so far I don't think I've seen any unless we count the dog's fluffy fluffy belly

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My (current) Top 5 Manhwa Guys

Today we're going to do something new. I'm going to pick my favorite 5 manhwa guys. As I was figuring out my list I realized I haven't actually reviewed ANY of these manhwa. I will need to fix that. But right now - on with the show. And just as a warning - I really like my dark haired Northern Dukes (look I have a type and no, I'm not going to apologize for it. Y'all should know me by now).

Emperor Cardan Zeon from I Became the Tyrant's Dishonest Adviser.

Tyrant, war hero, dangerous and allergic to the top three or so buttons on any shirt, Cardan is completely enjoyable to read. He is also, most of all, insanely clever and capable - which, if I have buttons to hit, are the biggest reddest buttons out there for me. This man is on the ball with his ability to observe and put the puzzle pieces together quickly and he acts just as quickly the second he does. He is a stunningly competent ruler and an expert at navigating his surroundings, whether that's court intrigue or out in the wilds. Competent men are my weakness. But he's also playing the roll of 'pretending to be one thing while he's another' which is delicious character reading and he's a very snappy dresser as well. Not to mention when he makes up his mind, he goes all in and he loves unwaveringly. Double bonus, this man is confident to the edge of arrogance but he's earned it and never fails to prove he's got a right to be that way. Flaws? 'Hurt you to spare you pain in the future' and a tendency to snap when pushed past his patience (which, too be fair, has been spread about as thin as a complaints department call-center worker on double shift the day after Christmas). Art? The artist understood this assignment. There isn't a single panel where this man looks bad. Double bonus? Hand scars!

2. Grand Duke Sylvester Regen, Lord of the North from Honey, Why Can't We Get A Divorce?

Sylvester was in my top spot up until Cardan showed up. He's got so many of the traits I adore. Clever, competent, confident plus he's the villain of the story and he really enjoys being that. He's the equivalent of an elegant mob boss and the fact that he's terrifying at that is delicious. So is the fact he absolutely adores his wife. You see, his wife is the character the story is centered around - the usual 'got dropped into the body of the villainess and I'm trying desperately to reform my image'. And Sylvester? Sylvester backs his wife up 110%. Does he have his own reasons? Absolutely. Does that change the fact that he tells her to stop worrying about other people and do what makes her happy? Not at all. He revels in her being a villainess and supports her no matter how horrible she is. And when she suddenly starts wanting to be 'good'? Well, he's suspicious of her motivation but he supports her there too. If his wife wants to rule the world, he'll back her up and if she wants to adopt an orphan he'll - be very suspicious but end up picking up one for himself as well. His wife's change of attitude absolutely fascinated him and he's cheerfully along for that ride. He's also one of those 'never loved by anyone before' characters and its so enjoyable watching him becoming more and more intrigued by his wife's new lifestyle. The opposite of 'God forbid women do anything' Sylvester is getting more and more happy to go along for her ride. Flaws? The reason Cardan passed Sylvester for top spot is that Cardan recognizes how he feels, deals with it, loudly announces his state of mind to the world and then acts on it. Sylvester is a lot slower on the draw in that area (as most guys in manhwa generally are). He's falling in love with his wife but good luck getting him to realize or admit it. Art? Sylvester has a pirate vibe under the gleaming refined exterior and the artist catches it well. Double bonus for the entire chapter that was just him pulling on his clothes that fascinated me even more than the plot that was going on while he was doing it. He also fully embraces the fur lined Northern Duke cloaks and the DTF half gloves. Double bonus? Pointy ears!

3. Belzeon (Velzeon) Basilian from The Baby Fairy is a Villain

Okay, this one may be a bit confusing and its why I specifically had to use 'guys' in the title instead of men. But I utterly adore Belzeon and he deserves his spot on this list. He's talking to his father in the above picture btw. So Belzeon is thirteen - and his father's obsessed with bringing back his dead wife, Belzeon's mother. Which means Belzeon is shouldering a lot of responsibility as heir. In other words - he's an oldest child with an unreliable parent who has to take care of the house plus his two, now three, younger siblings. Sound familiar? Because a lot of us had to step in and step up as kids because our parents couldn't be counted on either. Belzeon just also has to deal with an entire dark forest full of monsters only his bloodline can kill as well as the trying to keep an entire kingdom up and running. Which - I would already feel for the kid that's trying so hard to be an adult and fill the giant shoes he feels his father kicked off and ran away from. He's an incredibly intelligent kid, dangerously competent and he's trying so hard to protect his siblings from what he views as his father's madness as well as the way the rest of society fears and loathes them. So my heart was with him already but then - wow, recent chapters. That kid is viscous! I mean, in the way that only someone with a completely cold and calculating mind could be and it was to fuck with his dad and I was HERE for it!! Like, kid has a heart of gold that's constantly bleeding thanks to his father and when he decides 'fuck it, we ball' he is NOT joking around. He rocketed into one of my all time favorites and I now want a story entirely about him (which, honestly, may be coming, the manhwa is really hard to decide who's the ML). Anyway, Team Belzeon all the way. Art? I'm not a big fan of the bowl cut but kid can pull it off. Also for someone with such an intentionally straight face, the artist manages to pack a LOT of emotion into those eyes. The manhwa really knows how to play around with color and they use his red eyes magnificently. Double bonus? I just want him to be happy okay? Is that too much to ask? (probably)

4. Duke Raffaello Kidrey from The Villainess is a Marionette

This is, by far, the prettiest manhwa I've ever seen and I'm going to admit that its one of the reasons I enjoy Raffaello so much. He is darned pretty to look at. His costuming is by far and away the best too - we had one outfit with high boots plus DTF half gloves plus a harness plus a corset. Like - guy does NOT fool around when it comes to clothing options. He's another of those intelligent characters. This whole manhwa is all about the political intrigue - so much so that when they introduced magic I was annoyed because it seemed to pointless to the really important part of the plot. Raffaello is a Grand Duke trying to keep his land safe from scheming royals, having to chose which of the many sides he's going to align himself with and he's not stupid about it. As such, he starts off as a very standoffish and closed off character and yet he's never truly cruel about it. When he gives his loyalty though, he's all in and there's no holding back. He's not only the FL's partner but he also watches out for her emotionally in a way no one else does or even thinks to. He trusts her even when she doesn't tell him why and he doesn't try to take the lead from her. He's the perfect knight to her princess. He also doesn't hesitate once he realizes he's in love. I would have liked to see him given more chances to be bad ass in battle because its very obvious he knows what he's doing to. What puts him on this list though is his constant monitoring and caretaking when it comes to the FL's emotional needs. She may ignore them but he won't. He becomes her safety in the storm and its a job he's earned. Art? So pretty, gang. Just so, so pretty. I am going to buy this manhwa when it releases just because its so pretty. Raffaello absolutely shares this and he's ornamented and solid and the perfect counterpoint to the FL's more airy and ethereal vibe. Double bonus? did I mention the corset/harness/half-gloves? Dude knows how to dress to attract a partner.

5. Duke Rubellian Florence from Anyone Beats the Original

The last spot was a hard one. I had a lot of guys I liked but it was hard to find one that just stood out from the rest. I had to go with Rubellian in the end though. He's another of those competent, clever, dangerous characters so he matched a lot of the others but - Look, revenge is a really common theme in these types of stories. Usually its the FL that has the revenge plot but sometimes its the ML doing his stuff in the background and that's the case with this story. Rubellian has a serious and completely understandable and legit reason he's plotting his revenge. I full support his revenge. He deserves a little revenge - as a treat. But what puts him in the number five slot - is he's going to give up that revenge because it could endanger the wife he's just married. Something that's driven him since childhood and he's willing to set it aside and exchange it for his new driving goal. To make his new wife so happy she never regrets marrying him. She didn't have to persuade him either, he decided this entirely on his own. Twenty plus years of surviving just for revenge for a horrible crime and he is smart enough to realize that what he has in the present is too precious, and relying on him too much, to endanger it for the sake of the past. That kind of priority making puts him easily in the fifth slot. Wifely love FTW. Art? This man's got the hair that lives to be tousled and the artist knows it. Plus his expressive face, especially the way the eyes are drawn, speaks volumes with very little exaggeration. He's a 'still waters run deep' kind of guy and his deadpan faces are worth it. Double bonus? Man drinks his 'respect women juice' and his married couple team dynamics with his wife are pure joy.

bonus: hugs

feel free to reblog and make your own list or just comment on my own. Or request a top five list. I mean, go nuts. We're all just doing this for fun.

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Fun!

Best things for a ship to have or be:

Horny

Insane

Religious/spiritual themes

Obsession

Age gap

Doomed

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Deep Water Prompt #3458

The plague doctor’s mask, hood, its entire body, I realize, is stuffed with dried herbs. The ghost inhabiting it died weeks ago, and knows something dangerous about where this plague began. 

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Confined Together with the Horror Game's Male Lead

Also know as the Male Lead and I Are Trapped Together in a Horror Game.

Okay, we're going to take a bit of a twist on this one. The story goes like this - a girl who loved to play horror video games ends up in one of the horror games she could never manage to beat. She's not the protagonist of the game however - she's the guide for the protagonist, a maid named Charlotte that is as much tormentor and a part of the game's trap as she is helpful.

I'm just going to let you know right now, this is a dark manhwa. It's not full blown gore or endless grinding despair and I don't know that I'd label it horror so much as psychological horror. The game our heroine is set in is in an old Edwardian type mansion. The 'plot' of the game involved getting enough keys on each level to make it to the next floor and then starting the process all over again. Each floor has its own history and its horrors are all tailored to that setting. You see, once upon a time, a young girl grew up trapped by her family in this mansion and each floor is a different stage of her life and the subsequent horrors that she had to live through during that time. The 'hero' of the game, though 'victim' might be a better word, is Dietrich, a fallen holy knight with a heart of gold and try as she could, when playing the game in the real world, our heroine could never manage to get him past the second floor before he died no matter what she tried.

The game isn't really interested in killing Dietrich however - or rather, it will kill him, but that comes secondary. What the mansion really wants to do is break Dietrich and steal the light from his eyes, corrupting him into someone unrecognizable.

And - perhaps - it wants to corrupt Charlotte as well.

Look, I am not going to recommend this if you're in a rough place or you just want something light and distracting. It's not the worst thing I've ever read but its one of the hardest because it does such a good job of making you care for Dietrich and Charlotte. Watching the things the mansion does to Dietrich, the ways it digs at him psychologically and mind fucks him hurts. There were multiple points where I had to set this aside and go do something else for a few days because it was chewing at the back of my brain. There was at least one point where I had to set it down with a softly horrified 'no no no don't do it please Dietrich don't do that'. This is one of those stories that gets under your skin and wiggles around in the back of your brain and while I am warning you about it - I absolutely also LOVE that in a story and this one does it so well. It drops so many breadcrumbs for you to find and pays them off slowly - keeping you like a fish on a hook as it reels you slowly in. You feel so good when you figure something out first and the story affirms it later because its a clever story and it makes you feel clever figuring it out. Watching Charlotte fighting to find ways around the way she's limited as a 'part' of the mansion to still try to help Dietrich - and just how clear-mindedly ruthless she's willing to be to do that is like the shock of cold water against your face after a gritty day. Dietrich has such a good heart, so beaten down and yet so devoted to simply helping anyone around him that needs it that you root for him so hard and each time the mansion twists him a little more its a root driven down through your heart. It is so easy to understand Charlotte and why she's fighting so selflessly to free him while also being a flawed human.

It's just - its a really deeply twisty story that breaks your heart and has you trying to figure out ways to solve things even when you're not reading the story.

And where we are currently? Oh my GOD! Its horrifying and completely understandable because the writing has built up to it so solidly and yet I'm over here kind of hoping this is a good thing?!

(come on, Noah, I'm counting on you to save -redacted- )

The way this story psychologically manipulates is just on point is what I'm saying.

The artwork is just a bit stringy, just a bit lean, just a bit thick and messy while still being beautiful and it really adds so much to the story. I have no idea where its going to happen next which is nice when so many stories, and manhwa in particular, are predictable and I'm really rooting for Dietrich and Charlotte - as well as the poor girl that was trapped in that house long ago. This is a story that really lingers.

Just - yeah, great story and a real good proof that a well written story can psychologically manipulate you if you're willing to take that ride.

rating: going to go with an R for this. The sex isn't graphic but I think sex combined with the gore and themes might rate either a light R or maybe NC17

warnings: blood, gore, undead, corruption moral and mental, sex, death, murder, incest, horror game elements, killer teddy bears, war, PTSD and the after-effects of war on a solider, family neglect, not enough family neglect, talk of rape, brainwashing, suicide, child and animal endangerment - look its a horror game, bad shit is going down, straining hope

finished: thank goodness, no

abs: chapter 14 - horror games are rough on clothes, okay?

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The Baby Fairy is a Villain

Now I've talked about this one before. It has a character in it that made my Top 5 (Current) Favorite Manhwa Guys thanks to Belzeon but more on him later.

The premise of the story is that our MC Lichesia has spent her whole life being chased for the fact that she's a half-fairy and there are a lot of bad people that want to get their hands on her for her magical blood/abilities. As a result, she's become one of the most terrifying people in the kingdom, having had to push her magic to its limits to become strong enough to survive. Her only goal in life is to find out who is behind the people hunting her and destroy them. Our girl is a bad ass magic user living in the dark underworld of her city hunting her hunters.

She also has a dog-man sidekick named Hata in charge of making both awesome hats - and magic potions.

(in his dog form)

She's pretty much narrowed down who's been hunting her since childhood to one of the three great noble Houses of the kingdom. When she hears that the head of one of them, Kiyaron/Kiern, the elusive Count of Basilian is looking to adopt a daughter, she sees her chance to infiltrate his House and investigate if he's behind the death of her mother and her life of fear. She takes a potion that turns her into a child she names Chesa/Cheshire and gets herself adopted.

Which is where things get interesting.

Okay, so, this story has a distinct Alice in Wonderland vibe to it (intentionally). Not the Disney version, the story under the story. It's tinged with both darkness and a hint of instability. Not the story itself, but the world and the people in it. No one is what anyone would consider emotionally healthy. Hata is probably the most emotionally stable but everyone else is broken in their own unique ways and its like looking at smashed glass that's caught all the light and is reflecting it in a myriad of dazzling colors. There's a flavor to the story that's richer and deeper, shadows moving under the water you're paddling through as you read it. It's not psychological horror or even horror - but its a story that's a back alley full of shadows and scattered jewels. The world building is so rich that you can just feel there's things unrelated to the story going on just out of sight and the characters are all beautifully broken and adjusted to that brokenness in their own equally broken ways so that they can carry on with their lives.

Well, not Kiyaron. He's not adjusted. He's just broken. He's probably a little mad too - but he's sharply intelligent and dangerous all the same. He adopted Chesa in order to get his dead wife back and - honestly, that should tell you a lot right there.

He's got twins - one that's in touch with a feral side and one that's elegant and bent on high fashion and both of them are completely deadly.

And he's also got an oldest son. Belzeon. My boy. The one that's shouldering the entire weight of the survival of his House while his father slowly goes mad.

Belzeon's 'fuck it, that's my dad's problem now' moment literally had me letting out a cheer loud enough to startle my rabbit.

And then you've got a paladin that's been hunting Lichesia since they were both teenagers. Hailon has an obsession with Lichesia that she only feeds every time they meet by tormenting him. Their entire relationship is built on a strange kind of trust even though they're playing an eternal game of cat and mouse.

Like I said, no one's completely sane in this Alice in Wonderland world and its so interesting.

This manhwa is so pretty too! The use of darker colors is both velvet rich to the eyes and really conveys the mood of the world beautifully. It's no mistake the most brilliant colors in this world are the red and pink eyes the Basilians and Chesa have respectively. Just - its a feast for the eyes that also triggers your psychological instincts.

I also am delighted to admit I have no idea where this story is going. I have no idea who the Male Lead is. I don't even know if there's going to be romance. There's a ton of found family though to feed my need. Watching Kiyaron swirling his way through sanity is horrifying in a fascinating way. I'm terrified for Chesa and yet completely delighted with the way she throws safety to the wind at the drop of a hat. I can't decide if I love or hate Halion. And I think I want Chesa to stay adopted by the Basilian family and get a second childhood to grow up with them.

I also want two movies and a spin off series about what kind of man Belzeon is going to be once he grows up.

rating: PG13

warnings: blood, murder, kidnapping, mentions of human trafficking, dark magic, childhood trauma, adult trauma, child endangerment, dangerously beautiful people with questionable grasps on reality

finished: Nope!

abs: so far I don't think I've seen any unless we count the dog's fluffy fluffy belly

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I Became the Tyrant's Dying Wife

All right. This is not a new story. Woman wakes up transmigrated into the body of a book villainess that is doomed to die at the end of the story. Woman decides the best way to avoid that death is to divorce her husband and move to the country to live a quiet life. Woman must first secure her present to make sure she has a future to move into.

This is Leah Celeste. She's the wanton wife in a political marriage with the emperor in the book 'As Long As Its Not Me' who dies of poison. Since the book is a tragedy, the emperor goes insane and dies shortly afterward. All our heroine did was leave a comment trashing the ending of the story and now she's stuck living as Leah.

She's not going to go quietly into that dark night.

So she comes up with a plan.

Develop an immunity to poison. 2. Make sure the emperor becomes healthy and well rested to stave off him going insane. 3. Divorce him before the two years left before the events of the book run out and live happily ever after in the country.

Super, super standard fare for these kinds of stories.

But it starts off on entirely the right foot because - first off, our girl has to disband Leah's harem of handsome men. And boy, does she. You know exactly how fun a ride this story is going to become.

It's more than just fun and games though.

Because there's her emperor husband, Sian.

Sian has a prophecy about himself. If he ever loses control of his emotions, he'll be the reason the empire falls. As such he's been raised from a very young age to suppress and ignore any emotions he might have.

And, here's where the story really starts to shine. Because Sian is a war hero and the war fucked him up. That's right - a manhwa that treats a soldier as a human being that would be deeply traumatized by having to be a part of warfare.

Sian suffers from migraines and auditory hallucinations - the screams of the dying. And - here's another strength of this story - Leah realizes it on the first night. She's a smart character and she observant but she's also got a soft heart and she's just flat out kind. She doesn't have any magic (at this point), she's not deeply politically savvy, she doesn't have helpful important members of the story she can recognize early and win to her side - she's just - kind.

If Sian needs help grounding himself and relaxing enough to fall asleep, Leah is going to ASMR him with pointless stories about her exs until he falls asleep.

If he isn't eating right -

Leah is going to show up every single morning and afternoon and evening until he agrees to have three square meals a day with her.

He's resistant -

but Leah is persistent and

in the end

Okay, this is a cute story and its a sweet story but its also a surprisingly deep story. I don't expect much from my 'contract marriage' manhwas other than entertainment but this one really hits every sweet spot for me. Leah truly does care about Sian and Sian really does fall for her but in such a slow, steady, gentle way that its like chocolate, delicious but in such a soothing way it lulls you. There are so many moments when I'm laughing and then the story will turn around and just melt me with something adorable and gentle to the soul. Sian is not a cruel man no matter how much pain he's in and even when he's rejecting Leah, there's a lack of roughness or cruelty to it that I'm not used to seeing in 'cold lead male' manhwas. He falls for her calming presence in his life quickly, refuses to acknowledge it and yet has the same temperament as a stray cat that acts like it doesn't care but comes running the second your car pulls into the driveway. And Leah has his back 110%. Sure, she's interested in saving her own life - she's got an entire poison immunity she's building up in her body - but she's just as invested in saving Sian and making sure he's healthy and living his best life physically, emotionally and mentally. Which would be a sweet story to read all by itself.

But I said the story was deep too, remember? Because there's a very sinister reason the emperor goes insane after his wife dies. I'm not going to give it away because it was one of those 'ooooooooh. Shit!' moments as Leah, and the reader, find out what was going on but it was - and is - delicious. Also Sian isn't magically cured from his war trauma. Leah finds ways to ease it and he's healing but it doesn't disappear. It's still there.

Leah's also clever but not cunning clever like a lot of heroines are. She just understands how people work. She can put herself in their shoes and see where they're coming from - and this lets her navigate situations with a delightful amount of cleverness.

To summarize - Leah is absolutely delightful, kind - and clever because she's kind. Sian is damaged and yet is gentle even when he's trying to be frightening (with the exception of his enemies). The story is full of moments that make me giggle and yet it also isn't afraid to dig into emotional depths that really make you pause to soak in its deeper themes. The writing itself is smart - even when it uses troupes its really explores what makes that troupe so important to a story. The characters may miss moments through ignorance but they're never stupid. The plot is following familiar ground and yet putting new and interesting pieces into place on the journey that makes things really feel both lived in and twisty intriguing. And the art is both fun and cute and pretty all at once. If you're just getting into manhwa stories, I'd recommend this one and if you're an old hand at manhwa stories I'd still recommend this one. It's not trying to reinvent the wheel - its trying to make sure you enjoy the journey the wheel takes you on.

rating: PG13

warnings: blood, violence, physical harm, threats of physical harm, parental abuse, suicide references, poison, PTSD triggers, torture, 'helpful' cousins, stealing people's hair

finished: nope

abs?: chapter 2 - that solider strips down super fast

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He's holding his puppy 😭

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Pangaea was wasted on the dinosaurs. Imagine the railway network.

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@noisypaintersong

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