#this story is fun at times but it really doesn't compare to the manhwa :')

[shidoukanae]

okay so Paris is sharing Helene's spot for being my favorite character in the light novel he's great

everyone hates the poor guy in the novel but to be honest he's been one of the most sane characters in the story so far. He's cunning and clever and messes around to have fun but every time he appears it's actually been pretty nice because he's very unpredictable and im enjoying that

never thought I would like Paris as much as i do in the light novel (and im sure on a manhwa reread my fondness for him will increase) but he's it's second saving grace (Helene being the first ofc although she's just kind of sitting in the background in the plot and im very much ://// about it)

[pruneunfair]

My feelings on: part 8, Tears on a withered flower: the most annoying fandom to date so far.

I ask if this one was really that great since I've been seeing it all over the place on tiktok and Instagram and reading it myself, I can see why it would garner an audience because it's another "working woman finds a better man after her loser ex cheats on her with a stupid damsel girl" type story. It's kinda good but in my opinion: it's not THAT good but there is only 23 chapters I read so far so I'll let it marinate before I actually start going after it for the plot.

What I really wanna talk about is the fanbase of tears on a withered flower because while the manhwa community does have a problem with internalized misogyny this specific fanbase takes the cake.

I don't like saying the term "glazing" but it's the only way to accurately describe the way they treat the FL Na Haesoo because they are absolutely feral. First off, I've seen them lose their shit over other fans simply saying "I think that this female character has a prettier design then Hae soo." And these stans reply with the most immature and even down right laughable comebacks. I took some screenshot of a tears of the wither flower slide show to give you an idea.

"Hae soon is the main character for a reason."

Who's gonna tell them that protagonists can be written poorly?

Trust me, I'm sure no one's jealous of a fictional character.

Okay the context basically was that Hae soos coworker was just being real with her based on what she knows about Hae soos life and apparently fans took that as her being jealous and when people who actually read the god damn plot and use their critical thinking to point this out, the stans basically go "nuh uh" and continue to scream even louder. Personally when I read that chapter i took it as brutal honesty, from her perspective Tae Ha was hitting on a married woman and the two barely knew eachother. A little harsh but she's not jealous of Hae soo 😭 like we barely know this girl!

I think the most complained about aspect of tears on a withered flower is the anatomy, specifically the anatomy of all the characters your supposed to really like/care about.

I don't mind that Hae Soo is built like that cause while her anatomy definitely is unrealistic it's also a cartoon comic and cartoons have lots of bizarre forms of anatomy that don't always need to be accurate. With that said I don't find it a coincidence that the FL who is the most fleshed out and only grown woman who isn't meant to be disliked or made fun of is a tsunade cup sized babe with big thighs, a tiny waist, a nice butt, and a baby face.

Yeah I'll say it: Hae soo is another example of authors wanting to make a non conventionally attractive woman since she's supposed to be older (like 33) who is also overworked so she doesn't take care of herself but in the end they didn't have the balls to actually go through with it so they not only gave Hae soo an amazing figure and hair but they also gave her a clear face, tiny lips and barely noticeable eye bags which I still can't tell if they're even eye bags or just her eyelashes.

When anyone even dares to point out that Hae Soo's design is weirdly propionate compared to the other female characters you get hid with the "Your just jealous that you can't have a man like Tae Ha!!"

look i don't mind disproportionate anatomy in cartoon comics but if you give me character designs with more accurate proportions, I'm going to choose the latter for prettier looking designs.

Another thing about this manhwa was the dialog. I like it at times because it can be so poetic.. and then they just throw in some comically evil sentences for the villains that most sane people would not make the public aware of in a modern day setting. It's not something that really annoys me I just thought it was fun to laugh at every now and again while reading.

conclusion: I think the best way to describe tears on a withered flowers fanbase is kinda like how Netflix treats Bigmouth. No, TOTWF is definitely no where near levels of uncomfortable as Bigmouth but it's in the way that it really isn't as good as everyone claims, it's okay at first and then it got old and some people started opening up that the thought Bigmouth was garbage only for a bunch of stans to barge in with "You just don't get it!!" People won't let it go, they keep insisting it's the best piece of work to exist and anyone who doesn't like it is a jealous loser.

[11queensupreme11]

First of all: Long Live the Queen! Hope you're doing great, your stories are a real delicacy... I first discovered your Tsunami fic when I was in my jjk era, but your Arsenic Blues woke up my inner pjo fan. So eager to see how this all unfold.

But for now, time for the Rankings!

My personnal RoR favorites based on the manga only:

1) Shiva--> Not in the harem, but I had to place him somehow. Was searching for a Shiva fic in the first place. Love the himbo energy. At least it's good to see he's one of the "sane" one in your story.

2) Anubis--> Same, feral himbo doggo energy, can we ask for more?

3) Beelzebub--> Noo don't unalive yourself Bb love u so pretty haha🥺

4) Hadès--> All Hail to the King, here for the BigBro energy

5) Poseidon--> Mytho/Pjo fan here, of course he's one of my favorite gods, but I'm not a fan of his RoR portrayal. He's pretty tho.

6) Apollon--> Too effeminate for my taste, I was rooting for Leonidas anyway.

7) Loki--> U ugly ass, stinky ass, nasty ass bi***

Now, the interesting part, the Ranking based on [Arsenic Blues], as for now, until chapter 31:

1) Beelie Bestie 🤗! It seems you will soon give us reasons to hate him, but for now he's my personal favorite. Hope he will overcome his current difficulties. Fun fact: I tried to translate "Beelie" in my language, tried to find an equivalent nickname, I found "Bébou" (pronounced beeboo, another way to say "baby"). That’s so cute!

2) Loki--> I know it's unlikely but... is this bad that I really want him to take Percy's virginity 😳? Your writing is soooo good, it made me root for him of all people. Everyone loves a good outsider, and since he doesn't want to kill Percy anymore, he climbs up the ranking.

3) Anubis--> Favorite from the manga, I was sooo happy to see that u included the doggo. Didn't appear yet, but I have really high hopes for him. Beware the Allmighty Knot!

4) Poseidon--> This is a dark fic, I understand the appeal, the taboo of the incestual relationship, but since he's already her father, her family, the one who has authority over her, I think he has an unfair advantage compared to the others. This is the reason he's kinda low ranked, but I really loved the relationship he built with our best girl. Embrace Fatherhood (but not too much😰)

5) Hadès--> Same here, too much authority over her, doesn't have the appeal of the gradually evolving relationship. Creepy old  uncle, hope your non-existent liver bursts. For now, he's the one who had the most "action" with Percy, so it seems unlikely that he will have her virginity as well.

6) Apollon--> Well, at least he's funny 😅. I'm sorry, but based on his pathetic simpy behavior, I have to give him the stamp of the "Whiny Little Bitch" of this story. Don't worry tho, there always have to be one in a fic, and he's not as bad as his Tsunami counterpart (Yuuta you nasty motherfucker I had faith in you-).

7) The Seventh--> Seeing the results of the poll, it seems I'm one of the only weirdos who voted for Ahura Mazda. Raa would be awesome too, but I have to say I was disturbed when I first saw that angry buff dude in the spin-off. For me, Raa was still that muscle mommy from the webtoon/manhwa Ennead (read Ennead. Ennead is good for your health). I just want the 7th to not be Cu Chulainn. I know I would still love it if you include him (cause ur writing is golden) but that's just a preference of mine.

I hope I'm understood. That's a big ass message, my thoughts are all over the place and my home country is known for having a shit level in english.

If you're interested I could do the same kind of ranking for Tsunami/Bloodflood. Have a great day, Peace!

A SHIVA LOVER OMG HIIIII

the anime did him sooooo good, he's so hot there, i'm glad they didn't fuck him up like LOOK AT HIM

the bonus chapter for chapter 91 is about shiva AND IM SO PISSED IT HASN'T BEEN TRANSLATED YET, I WANNA READ IT SO BAD I DON'T EVEN CARE IF ITS SUPER SHORT 😭😭

also, YES PLEASE you're free to give me your own bloodflood/tsunami rankings too!!!

[butterbabyflapjack]

hi! I've low-key been debating on whether or not I should leave an ask bc I'm so scared of leaving asks!!! but the hour is late and I'm feeling brave. I just want you to know that I love love love your writing and your sangwoo fic is soooo good. you write him so well and it doesn't feel out of character at all and I spent like the whole time reading every chapter on-edge and it completely felt like I was re-reading the og story all over again bc of how the twists got me and how I was at the edge of my seat the whole timeee. anyways all this to say that the one scene at the beginning of your fic where he asks the reader "cat got your tongue?" was so good it was running around in my head for WEEKS and I ended up drawing the scene as I envisioned it in my head that's how good it was.

your original stuff is very good as well and I can't wait to see what else you get up to! hopefully this was all coherent bc I get so nervous when leaving comments about ppl's work. have an amazing holiday!!!

Tysm you're so sweet!!💕 I try really hard to get Sangwoo IC and it's not always easy but it's always fun (even when he's a complete asshole). Seriously I'm so happy to hear your experience reading was comparable to the tension of reading the manhwa because that's exactly what I was going for 💕 And I'm so glad that line was living in your head lmao! ngl it was living in mine as well 😂 and OMGGGGG you can't just casually drop that you drew something for that scene and not show me????? Lol if you don't mind sharing I'd love to see it!! but no worries if not! Hope you had an amazing holiday as well and a happy new year! 💖💕

[freyalise]

@najbeb1 this is a great question because i can go into a lot of unnecessary detail. my japanese is not amazing so i'm not familiar with teni--and my dictionary just says it means "transfer" 転移 which i'm guessing just means they just end up like that?--but i have thought a lot about tensei/reincarnation and shoukan/summoning (including the translations for everyone else).

i think all of them are fine, but reincarnation allows for the most interesting emotional hooks for an isekai story. here's why:

in terms of japanese isekai, especially those aimed at the shounen demographic, in a lot of cases these are interchangeable. shounen isekai is, for the most part, power fantasy wish fulfillment. it doesn't really matter how the protagonist ends up in the other world because they've cast off all attachments in favor of doing wacky fun adventure times in their new world. that's fine, but when you read enough of them it starts feeling like a cheat code for "i wanted to put this man in a Situation and don't particularly care how it happens." you don't have to figure out a way to force your protagonist to be in an unfamiliar locale when you can just press the isekai button, after all. so it ends up being that the means are irrelevant as long as it happens because the protagonist can happily be op and have a harem or whatever. there are some that play around with it in an interesting way, like how kazuhiro can travel to a fantasy world in his dreams in welcome to japan, ms. elf, but for the most part the how of how they end up in the world could be anything really

reincarnation, however, adds some nuance depending on how attached the protagonist is to their old life. for stories like i spent 300 years killing slimes and accidentally maxed out my level, azusa's death by karoshi at the beginning is more or less irrelevant after the first chapter because she has no real attachment to her previous life and her death via karoshi is mostly an excuse for her to chill out; once that's handled the plot treats her old life as more or less irrelevant. the one i love pointing to as a personal fave is the one within the villainess, when the villainess remilia feels the grief that emi, the japanese girl possessing her body, expresses when she apologizes her family for dying and leaving them alone. that's the good shit right there

if we're thinking of Korean manhwa, reincarnation feels like the most popular approach there. i've seen truck-kun show up more times in manhwa at this point than i have in manga, which is just funny to me. plus, there are some deeply messed up reincarnation scenarios in some of those manhwa, like how you get to see the main character of the golden summoner dying in a fire caused by a car accident (two for one combo!) that manhwa is unfortunately on infinite hiatus, but i recommend reading at least the first few chapters because it is Wild. you do get some decent emotional stake in those ones as well, but the ones i read are by and large "woman gets isekai'd to a book they read" (since isekai manhwa is largely aimed at women)* so the majority of them are focused on untangling the court intrigue of the vaguely european society they've been thrust into.

that being said, it's not completely unheard of that you get some of the other methods in manhwa! the meaning of you is a romance manhwa where the female protagonist gets summoned via saint summoning (just like [insert twenty saint summoning manga]!) but instead of being super cool and awesome she remains a nervous and depressed wreck with extra expectations thrust upon her as a saint. that method just feels less common compared to reincarnation in that country.

that got a bit rambly because it's late and i'm typing this on my phone, but i hope that answered your question adequately

* a lot of fantasy manhwa aimed at young men is more along the tower climbing/dungeon crawling fashion like solo leveling or wuxia manhwa. this might be a bit nitpicky of me, but i don't really consider those, regression stories, or time travel to be "isekai." while there are some that definitely could fit the bill later on such as the frozen player returns, i mostly leave them out just to keep my own sorting system from being overloaded. as for regression, i don't consider that isekai at all because they're not really going to another world but instead returning to their own with more knowledge. sorry, sss rank suicide hunter.

ask me about isekai. the isekai scholar has logged on

[shipcestuous]

Your Throne (submission)

It's great to see all the love for manhwa lately, so I wanted to talk a bit about a personal fave of mine, called Your Throne.  It's an enthralling, twisty plot with well-written characters and lovely art, centered around the clever and ruthless Lady Medea Solon.

A couple years before the plot kicks off, her older brother Dekis left their father's dukedom, and he doesn't really come back into the story for a while.  (The story is estimated to be about halfway through rn by the author, so I'd say he comes back about a fourth of the way in.)  But their relationship, non canon as it is, is very sweet.

When one of Medea's allies first meets Dekis, he's shocked to hear Dekis casually refer to Medea as "Medi," because Medea allowing someone to nickname her? someone as terrifying as Medea?? seems absurd.  It's obvious from his introduction how deeply Dekis cares for his little sister.

When he's on his way back, we get flashbacks of their childhood together (starting with ep. 78 of the manhwa; honestly that through ep. 81 are fine to read for the siblings' dynamic even if one doesn't want to read the whole story--though again, I recommend it). One of Medea's early words (it's unclear but I like to think it was her first) was "Deki," and Dekis is so flustered and excited over it. He then gives her the nickname "Medi" in return.

Even at his young age, he reflects "I get too excited to sleep at night... when I imagine how you'll grow up." And soon after, "My dear Medea.  I do not ask because I am blinded by my adoration for you.  I ask because I'm very curious. Is there anything you can't do?" Although he's (a few years?) older, he kinda looks up to her and admires how gifted and brilliant she is.  It's a fun twist on the usual older/younger sibling dynamic and it's so sweet.

He secretly trains her in sword-fighting behind their abusive father's back, knowing their father wouldn't want her learning more than the basics. Meanwhile, their parents are well aware of their strong bond, their mother mentioning "our children are exceptionally close... compared to other siblings." Their father notes that Dekis's ability to endure beatings (again, the dad is really abusive) has "improved" now that he's an older brother, wanting to be strong for Medea's sake, and he wonders whether Medea will be Dekis's Achilles heel.

There's a scene as a ball where Medea gets Dekis to go outside with her under pretense of losing something, because he's been hiding a wound from being beaten by their dad and she noticed even if nobody else did, and needed space away from everyone else to take care of him.

And then when they look at the stars, Dekis thinks this! "Medea marveled at the stars' reflection on the lake and gazed down upon the water for a long time. But to me, her eyes admiring the beauty of the stars... were far more dazzling." It's so suggestive of something romantic, even if they're not canon! He thinks of her as "my pride and joy, my sole place of refuge." I swoon.

Sadly as they get a little older, Dekis starts noticing how Medea is being influenced by their father.  This influence has made her colder, less caring, and Dekis--despite loving her--becomes wary of this side of her. And she starts having less and less time for him as she gets older, involved in her studies. They become more estranged.

Dekis has started seeing more and more of their father in Medea. When their father berates him, he hears the words in Medea's voice, and resents how her brilliance makes their father compare the two. Still, he wishes desperately for her happiness. He looks forward to the day she gets married because he sees that as the only socially acceptable way for her to escape their father's house/clutches.

But when the crown prince/her fiance breaks off the engagement, Dekis goes to comfort her, telling her she can find someone else to marry, even offering to find someone for her. She snaps at him that she doesn't want to get married and how, every time Dekis does this, he looks like their father. He realizes that she's started seeing traces of their abusive father in him (like pushing her to marry) just like he's seen those traces in her, and that's what came between them. She thinks he wants her to marry for the family name, not realizing it's for her freedom/happiness.

They talk and realize they each had been projecting their own dreams onto each other. Dekis wanted Medea to marry so she could escape, because he wanted desperately to escape their toxic home.  Medea was disappointed in Dekis "failing" as an heir because she wants to be the heir to House Solon. "We have the same blood and lived in the same house, receiving the same abuse. So I mistakenly thought you (Medea) had the same dream."

Shipping potential aside, it's also a neat exploration (through Medea/Dekis and other characters too) of the different ways abuse affects people differently, even if the circumstances are similar/the same. It doesn't flinch away from the uglier side of that abuse on the victims, which I appreciate.

Dekis finds out some horrific��stuff his dad was involved in, including trafficking children, and decides to leave home, which also enables Medea to become the new heir like she wanted. But before he leaves, he leaves a clue for Medea to find the evidence of their dad's evils.

A couple years later, Medea is putting together a case against their dad and the other nobles involved in it, and finds what Dekis left her. Meanwhile, she's sent one of her allies to see if he'll come back and testify against their dad. Dekis has been living a peaceful life, taking care of orphaned children to make up for his dad's actions and clearly still haunted by it. He tells Medea's ally that he won't go but hands over more evidence he's compiled, but he later has a change of heart and heads to see what Medea wanted to show him for himself.

He's just in time to witness the execution of their father and the other corrupt nobles, and Medea becoming the new Duchess Solon. He moves back into their home now that their dad is dead, and becomes another of Medea's allies. And they're such a badass team. As Dekis himself thinks, they're very similar in some ways but so different in others. Dekis is kinder than his sister, but they're both cunning and want Medea to reach her goals. They'd make such a power couple tbh.

(Of course, Medea is such a dynamic character that she's shippable with basically everyone.)

Anyway, as a secondary thing of interest, the Solon siblings have an adoptive cousin, Dion.  He was actually adopted into the family a couple years ago because his adoptive mother (I don't think she's been named in canon yet) was paying him to sleep with her, and then offered to adopt him. I'm assuming he was already an adult by then, or at least I hope so, and he seems around the same age as Medea. It's unclear if the mother adopted Dion as a future scapegoat (in the extended family's plot against Medea/the main family) or if the rest of the extended family decided to make him one later. Either way, it's not particularly shippable but it is adoptive m/s canon.

The mother pressures Dion to try and seduce Medea, his adopted cousin. Naturally she turns him down, but as he's sneaking back from her room, he's caught by Dekis. Desperate to not let Dekis find out what he was trying to do, Dion decides to try and seduce Dekis!  Dekis also turns him down, saying he's married. (It's unclear whether this is true or not; even if he is, he seemingly has no problem leaving his spouse for an indefinite amount of time to live with his sister instead.)

Still! Dion tried to seduce both his adoptive cousins, and he ends up swayed to join Medea's side as an ally by the point where the story has left off. It's unclear if he's actually into her or if he just respects/fears her, but... again, Medea has chemistry with basically everybody. I wouldn't be surprise if Dion also falls for her at some point.

Finally, although this isn't really incestuous, Medea's right-hand man Helio is madly (and I do mean madly) in love with her, and they're friends with benefits but she otherwise treats him as almost a cute pet or younger sibling figure despite knowing his feelings. After his parents died when he was 12, Medea took him under her wing (she's a couple years older) and there are multiple occasions where Helio/Medea reflects that she "raised" him. Again, not really incest, but it's a strange way to put it and I figured I would at least note it. (Plus they both have violet eyes, so I've just kinda headcanoned that they're somehow distantly related because why not? Not like it would stop them.)

So that's a writeup of some of the relationships in Your Throne! Again, it's a great story in general, but Medea's insane shippability lends itself to some good incest shipping as well. She and her brother are chef's kiss.

--

Thanks for this great write-up! After reading some of those quotes/paraphrases of quotes, it's almost hard to believe that Medea/Dekis isn't canon. It feels SO close.

[procuder]

It's fine and you're totally right about this. There are many things that have been changed (actually, it's more than just a lot if we really have to spot) I could go on all day talking about it. And I'm a bit...disappointed? English wasn't my native language at all but I have to. Okay, at first, it wasn't that much of a disappointment, but then I realized that Lee Hyun Min-nim chose to alter the plot at various points because it was "not fun enough" or something like that quite rightly changed my view of manhwa adaptation (it's getting worse)

And the worse part is they keep making Lloyd look so demonic. And those expressions make me feel bad every time I read them. They sacrificed many elements that would have made the story mellow in its many moods just to make Lloyd seem like such a crazy man??????????

I really wonder what its purpose is, because if we look at Lloyd in the novel and Lloyd in the manhwa, they are so different. It's really weird and I don't like that at all. I still don't understand why they had to try to make Lloyd *do those facial expressions* that often??? (It's been almost every episode since they started making Lloyd look like this) again, what's the point?? And the "jokes about Lloyd's face" made me really dislike it (no I hated it all of my life)

I mean, didn't he confirm himself that the webnovel was really fun??? He even said that they wouldn't change things too much to change the ending, but look at what they did... I was very excited about reading the special at first because we would find out the reasons for making such unnecessary changes to the story. But after reading so many special chapters, I don't know how to feel about that information. Um...did you change it because it was fun...was it funny...?? Help?????

Oh, and I won't mention how they changed Javier's disguise in Namaran and how they wrote Javier and Siluria's love story. I know the romance is what happens and is explained in the sequel, but it doesn't make any sense for me. Would you mind if I said I'm a bit (I'm so fucking) confused about it?

They wrote the romance of Emily and Kugur very well, but I don't know why I'm so disappointed they chose to do it this way with Javier. I mean, again, it was rushed. It's like, oh! our Javier, even at the end of the novel, doesn't show that he has a lover? So let's match him up now *wink*

They fought together. Oh, their hands touched, oh, they blushed and fell in love???? *Sighs heavily* What the hell? Compared to the parts they chose to cut out for this scene, I was really disappointed somehow, but I didn't know who to talk to. For some reason, I wanted to turn into a wolf and howl like crazy.

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT PART IS HELLKAROS (I'm his kin and it's really...) It's not just the design, but also his intention and more. The webnovel was very deliberate in presenting him with a blue and cold tone. We always get a calm and cool feeling that goes against the grain of hell from his illustration.

And they?? changed him?? With all of that red??? Oh, when he seemed to have something to do with the system, it really offended me because I live in his shoes and I know him the most /hj When does a man who has spent his entire life engaged in enormous work have the time to do such a thing like that? When??

Even in the special episode, there was no explanation why he had to turn the Hell King in that way. The scene where they first meet in the webnovel is much better and is explained, expanded upon, and also heavily hinted at the next time they meet. I don't even want to imagine what they will do to this old man in the future. I don't have much to say about him here, since you've done all of it. How could a man who spent 670,000 years of his life working and dealing with the demons in hell have time to do something like this? The rules?? What did they have been cooking???

I hope they prove something to make me feel better after this. I even wonder how they can represent things in this way under BK Moon's permission... I don't even know how this will end, even though we have read the novel.

sometimes i think i'm being too harsh on the webcomic and that maybe it's better than i give it credit for. but then i reread it and nope i am totally in the right and i will never forgive some of the choices being made

anyway.

why did they change julian's letter to lloyd. what purpose did that have.

look at this

doesn't seem so bad right? nice little letter julian being a sweetheart to his parents, even asking after his brother, nothing out of the ordinary

EXCEPT. THEY COMPLETELY CHANGED THE PURPOSE OF THE LETTER.

to star with it the letter was supposed to be for lloyd! not for arcos and marbella!! it was julian writing to his hyung just after graduating!! like!!

To Lloyd, I graduated, and I got fairly good grades. It's all thanks to you. I was able to give my all. And I realized a lot of things the last time I met you after a long while. It was all possible because of you. Thank you. See you soon. Julian, your young brother who wants to be your pride.

∧ this is the letter julian sent lloyd. do you see the difference. do you see how much feeling and sentiment they cut off on the webcomic??

julian isn't trying to prove to his parents that he can be as dependable as lloyd. he wants to make his brother proud!! he's thankful for what lloyd did for him!! he outright tells him it's thanks to him that he was able to graduate with good grades at all!!

he doesn't even mention that he graduated second of his class, arcos is the one that has to tell lloyd about it. and lloyd is genuinely surprised and awed by it! it's!! a cute scene!!!

just. here i'm really not making it justice

Lloyd carefully studied the letter. He was proud of every black word written on the white paper. It was only a few lines, but he swelled with happiness nonetheless. A part of him ven felt an immense sense of contentment. Before he knew it, he had read over the letter five times already. Graduation, huh. Lloyd, too, wanted to graduate. He wanted to graduate, pass the exam, and land a job. But he was forced into this world before he saw the fruit of his efforts. Though he couldn't deny that the knowledge he had acquired in his world helped him a lot, a corner of his heart was occupied with a pang of sorrow for being unable to finish his degree. Well, I know it's not like a diploma will feed me, but still. [...] But still, I wanted to get a diploma. Lloyd still felt regretful that he couldn't get one when he had put in great effort to get one. He occasionally ponded on the matter. And now, here came the news of Julian performing beyond any expectations of him and giving the credit to Lloyd. The boy even added a pleasing remark that he wished to become a proud young brother to Lloyd. Lloyd felt grateful and content as he read those words. His heart swelled with pride as though he was the one who had graduated. That rascal. I'm going to give him a noggie on his chestnut like head. Lloyd carefully folded the letter thinking to make sure it wouldn't get crumpled. Then he carefully put it in his inner pocked. Later, even when he continued to have his meal and enjoyed reuniting with the count and countess, he had his hand placed on the middle of his chest. And as though the letter was responding to him inside, it rustled. Lloyd swelled with gratitude and joy once again every time it happened. The entire time he couldn't erase the smile off his face.

lloyd is!! so fucking proud of julian!! he feels so happy he could be the reason julian gets to graduate!! to do the thing he wanted so bad but was unable to!! and julian responds in kind by thanking him and telling him he's the reason he could do it!! lloyd is so proud and happy it almost feels like he got to graduate himself!!

the care with which he puts the letter away!! worrying about it getting wrinkled!! unconsciously touching it and getting happy all over again!!

do you get why i'm so upset this scene was completely rewritten and stripped of all the care and love it had in the novel. do you get it. i want to bite someone.