same, SAME. I hated how she didn't do anything with the duke and just let herself be showered by his attention while he was so obviously neglecting his own son. She could've done anything, shunning the dad or guilt tripping him would've been the minimum but she's going through it with a anime sweat droplets without having tried much of anything.
Idk about whether the author made the Duke that way for the sake of indulgence, but honestly it's bad either way. I already despise that her step-brother had to be the ML, and with the dynamics the author just slammed themselves against the door. The plot itself is actually interesting, but the things you listed leave this bitter after-taste for sure.
Yeah, it again just felt like performative kindness whenever she interacted with ml or showed sympathy for him when in the next chapter she’s smiling all happy at the father. She also knows that he only cared about her father, so she DOES have some power over him to get him to stop being a scumbag. So it’s not a “oh but I can’t do anything” situation.
If anything, the artist drawing him with sparkles and shit when he spoils the mc really ruins anything the story has going for it. Like, it’s already bad enough that mc isn’t doing anything and letting this all happen, but stop trying to make us like the dad when we legit saw him physically abusing the ml. Like, you can’t write a doting dad and an abusive dad in the same character.
It’s also why in stories where mc has siblings and their dad only treats the mc well leave a bad taste in my mouth. Like, please love all of your children??? I don’t care if they also love mc too, we don’t respect favoritism in this household.
Anyway, if they actually made mc reconcile the two and made the dad realize how wrong he was to take his anger out on his child, I would’ve continued reading this story. Like, that’s more impactful than “oh she was nice to me when I was being abused,” if we’re talking about reason to fall in love. Like, it doesn’t even make sense from a story perspective, unless mc subconsciously wanted to monopolize the dad’s love and be spoiled while acting out a savior complex of “saving” the ml. Like, its giving white lotus bitch vibes an original fl would have in other manhwas
Okay so I remember reading this awhile back and then dropping it because he ml’s dad got on my nerves.
I hated how the mc treated him like he was a good guy, despite knowing the abuse the ml was going through.
Like, I said it in my review, but it felt like the author wanted a story where there’s a doting dad but they also wanted ml to have a sad tragic backstory where he was abused, so they tried to cram in both parts of the story.
However, it just feels really disjointed and anything “good” the mc does for the ml seems super superficial, as she doesn’t even try to address the root of the problem, as she still basks in the doting of the abusive piece of shit dad.
It got on my nerves so much as they just never addressed it, just being like, oh that’s just the setting, isn’t it sad? Anyway, look at MC shop with the dad! Isn’t that cute?!!
LIKE NO. ITS NOT. THAT MAN IS AN ABUSIVE PIECE OF SHIT AND I DONT CARE IF HIS GRANDFATHER WAS SHITTY. ALSO. ITS WEIRD TO BE PROJECTING HIS OLD LOVE ON THE MC LIKE THAT.
I was hoping maybe mc would do something and the dad would snap out of it, but NOTHING. Mc just got on my nerves with the showmanship of her caring when she never did anything cause she was the one being loved, so why would she give a shit. It just felt so manipulative of her to give sympathy to the ml one moment and the next moment she’s enjoying all the toys the dad gave her.
Like, fuck her. Fuck the dad. The ml deserves better and should’ve just stayed gay at that point cause wtf.
Sorry I needed to get this off my chest and see what other people thought about that plot point in the series. It was near the beginning but it was like at least 20 chapters worth of that nonsense.
The author wanted their cake and to eat it, but I just want to barf at the absolute mishandling of both tropes.