I’m not going to put spoiler tags on this whole thing so just know heavy spoilers ahead, this is a rollercoaster tho:
This is a very cute manga and I like the characters. The female lead is so unique and sweet, she’s great. And the male lead isn’t as bland as the others too. But something that really put me off is that at one point Simeon got mad at her for disguising herself and trying to investigate something, and while I understand his concern especially when she was with a man that has already expressed intensely his desire to be with her, that was no excuse for his actions. He yelled at her to the point where she felt frozen with fear and it was him who was being jealous and overprotective, because like the prince said she could handle herself and she investigated with good reason because she was worried about her friend. I disliked that part very much because she even thanked him for getting mad at her. I cannot believe his actions are being condoned. He hurt her greatly and it just got swept under the rug, like of course he got furious with her and scolded her and made her feel like he was tired of her and wouldn’t believe her.
This is why my rating is lower than what I think of the rest of the manga, because just these few scenes where he gets mad at her and it’s justified really disappoints me. I don’t think it’s right that a woman should have to feel that a man has the right to go crazy over her and take out his anger management issues on her because he’s jealous and that means he reaaally loves her. And like I said, he wasn’t completely unjustified in his reasons because he was genuinely worried for her and she was doing something slightly risky (not really in of her safety though) and being with a man who likes her, but his response was unwarranted.
24hrs later:
I have come to update my review. I still stand by what I said, but I just read a scene where Marielle poorly judged a political situation and said some rather ignorant things. Yet, she had the intelligence and open mindedness to accept she had been wrong when the situation was explained to her AND proved the other strangely conservative man beside her that she was a capable and clever young woman instead of just a pretty ditz. Absolute applause to Simeon who was patient and understanding that she didn’t grow up learning about these topics, but was also completely confident she could understand them and adjust her view if only nudged in the right direction.
5 mins later:
I need to start reviewing once I’ve actually finished reading the damn thing. I was too hasty in judging the strange conservative man, he had all the right to feel disgruntled. My apologies, sir.
A few hours later~
Damn so like what was that. Around the middle the story got really good, but then it completely flopped after that. Tell me why Marielle was framed as having been in the wrong for trying to help her fiancée get OUT OF JAIL and nobody told her it was a part of their plan. I geeeet they couldn’t tell her because it was top-secret but could they not have simply said “he’s ok, don’t worry, he’ll be alright”. THAT DOESN’T TAKE MUCH. They know her way too well to assume she’ll just sit quietly awaiting his verdict. And then the gall of Simeon to get mad at her and raise his hand towards her. Uh, no! Absolutely not. Dumped.
I kind of don’t understand the angle the author was trying to go for because when Marielle talked with the mean blonde lady and thought she was wonderful for saying that a woman shouldn’t let a man manipulate her, I assumed this was setting up for some girlbossing. Get Simeon and the prince to acknowledge her and regret their words and actions because while she may have been far too reckless she was also RIGHT and intelligent and I wish she could have done all that without being saved. Like every other time. The way Simeon said he would never apologize to her. What an ass. They said she couldn’t do any work because she was a woman and yet employed another woman to be a spy… be so fr.
Don’t even get me started on how they just brushed off her nearly getting raped and Simeon was nowhere near as angry then as he was when Marielle was trying to save him and he knew she wasn’t aware of a single thing. So disappointed and confused. She had every right to feel confident in her actions and intelligence and she was just constantly getting shot down.
And the thing with the second male lead… why was he pursuing her… why did she almost feel tempted…
On a positive note, I did love the friendship between her and the Prince and would have liked to see more of that. And where was the brother? I wanted to meet him. Anyways peace out imma find smth better to read.
