Detailed spoiler for the whole story!!!

I’m writing this again because a user gave alot of wrong info due to reading MTL and the story is not even like how they typed. Always read official translation.

This is a review from my side as I learned hangul a few years back. I had to desperately get myself out of the disgusting feelings this novel made me feel for weeks. It still haunts me.

This novel is not happy ending. This even has detailed rape and torture scenes, heartless characters, cruelty and don’t expect any love more like possession and obsession.

The gist of the story is that there is no major villain. The story revolves around a misunderstanding that impacts MC’s relationship with both MLs. It has majorly just the three characters, the MC and two male leads whose relationship, revenge and actions takes up most of the novel.

MC is a noble who pretended to abandon the ML (khalid) to save him when they were kids. ML was hurt because his whole world was MC. MC did it to save ML from his father who could be said to be a lecherous person. If the mother of MC hadn’t interferred then Khalid wouldn’t have been kicked out so miserably after being whipped. Ecen after thrown out of the estate, khalid tries to reach knox but instead sees knox smiling at another servant and finally concludes that he has been abandones.

MC was the only light in khalid’s miserable life.

Later in adulthood, the MC’s family was killed by the second ML (Peltian) who disposed of the crown prince and became emperor. The MC’s family was supporting the crown prince, that’s why they were killed. However MC was secretly helping the emperor and was under the impression that the emperor knows it’s him who helped him defeat the crown prince. So when his family was killed he was shocked and thought that he was abandoned by the emperor.

Basically the guy who was delivering MC’s messages to the emperor didn’t tell the emperor that they were from MC rather he prentended that it was himself who helped emperor, this way he betrayed the MC and got all the benefits at the end.

Now MC was captured and khalid asked the emperor to give MC to him as a slave so he can take revenge. Khalid and emperor are deeply bonded as brothers so emperor granted him this request.

Now MC thinks he has to repay khalid for the hurt he caused him while abandoning him. He still had the child in his heart. He first tried to obey khalid for whatever abuse he threw his way, knox accepted it all because he wanted to pay back khalid for the pain he caused to the one he loved. That’s why knox doesn’t commit suicide right after his family falls and becomes a slave willingly so that khalid can let go of his resentment and be completely happy.

Now it is very important to note that the 100 chapters in the novel constitute of the abuse knox suffers. This abuss and the thoughts of Khalid and emperor about being happy watching knox suffer tells the readers that this relationship is based on not love but obsession, revenge, and twisted possessiveness.

Khalid badly abuses MC (Knox) physically and sexually.
He and emperor treats him like an object less than a human being. During the first rape scene, khalid thought that he has no intention of making the sex pleasant fpr knox. He wanted knox to hurt. After few days, khalid starts finding knox lovely however he is disgusted by this and tells the emperor about it. The emperor offers to help him with knox’s slave education and khalid agrees. This is where second rape scene comes and once khalid sees knox crying miserably and his face drenched in tears, he thinks that this is the sight he wanted to see. He wanted to treat knox like a being that is lower than human and just a sex slave who couldn’t expect any consideration and must accept everything khalid throws his way. Emperor tells khalid that this is how he should treat knox because he doesn’t deserve respect. He is just a possession, an object.

The sex scenes are horrible with slapping him to keep him awake, fucking him in turns for the whole night, not letting him rest, teaching him to suck their dick first thing in the morning as slave. It’s horrible letting him ride a wooden horse, use dildos on him and double penetrating him, keeping him tied to bed and fucking him for days even though he begs not to. Calling whore, prostitute, beast and wven saying that knox will cum even if an animal fucks him. Khalid even makes a bet with emperor to see if MC is loyal to him alone and knows who owns him if he doesn’t cum while someone other than Khalid fucks him. Emperor fucks him and MC cums so in anger khalid takes off his belt and hit his perineum and hole with it several times while asking MC to keep his hole open with his own fingers and ask for forgiveness again and again. It’s horrible through and through.

During all this abuse knox understands that he is not being loved nor respected but it still hurts him. Because that child he abandoned in past is still in his heart. He wants to pay back khalid anyway. He wanted to commit suicide but couldn’t because he still has a debt to pay to khalid.

Once MC slaps the belthias guy who betrayed MC and Khalid first slaps him twice in front of that guy for punishment and then further locks MC in a dark room for a week. MC completely loses his mind from that time on and submits his self to slavery. Here khalid has no qualms treating knox badly because that is what he wanted ro do. To make knox miserable and hurt him. He preferred emperor and belthias deron who is now a confidant of emperor over knox. To get knox out of the basement after a week, the emperor says to khalid that a week in solitary confinement is enough and then khalid decides to get knox out. Once he gets knox out and sees knox losing his mind, he thinks that now I’m the only one knox can depend on. This is how everything should be. From that moment on, khalid still abuses knox and rapes but his abuse during rape has significantly lessened because knox now completely gives in to khalid. He abandons his noble self and accepts himself as a slave.

All this abuse and how khalid keeps sharing knox with emperor, one time saying he is the only master but not declining the emperor’s request to let him fuck knox one more time. To get emperor in the punishment knox faces and how knox was now notorious in the whole kingdom as the plaything of emperor and khalid.

Khalid also whips him so bad that knox’s flesh is torn and the head maid stops khalid because she thought if he whipped any more then knox will die. This happened because emperor lied to khalid in jealousy that there was something between knox and emperor after khalid was abandoned. Emperor spent sometime with knox due to his supposed running away incident due to which khalid doesn’t wanna leave knox alone at his estate and leaves him worh emperor to keep an eye on him. He even knows that the emperor can fuck knox but he doesn’t deny the emperor that right and only tells knox to keep in mind that khalid is his master. Emperor after seeing knox’s affectionate side falls for him and wants knox to choose between khalid and emperor. Knox thinks both are same for him but he still has to pay back khalid so he chose khalid.

Khalid after whipping knox then denies him treatment and that is the last point where MC commits suicide because he thinks he has paid back everything because when khalid was abandoned in the past he was also whipped. It wasn’t MC who whipped him but the one whipping MC was khalid.

MC and Khalid both used to love each other in their childhood before the abandonment. But their love and themselves were ruined now. What khalid did was not love, it was hatred and the author even explicitly adds this notion again and again that khalid did all this in anger. He was a mean person who ruined knox. The dialogues, the thoughts they are so degrading for MC by both emperor and khalid that both are not redeemable at all.

The major issue I have with this novel is that the author’s focus is highly on the torture and extensive sex scenes with degradation. However you won’t get much intake on the feelings or thoughts. Now tell me after such elaborate abuse that the author set for the readers and the thoughts of both ML’s about enjoying knox’s misery, can we feel the
Love anywhere? We can’t because there is no love.

When the abuse was happening, there would be one or two line to specify the feelings of either the MC or the ML.
I think it’s very lacking and makes you unable to connect with the characters because we can’t get a clear feeling of what they are feeling other than horrible abuse and resentment. Emperor thoughts is mostly about watching knox misery and being playful to hurt knox more. Khalid’s thoughts are about possessing knox and taking his revenge on him.

In this novel, Khalid and emperor are abusing MC so badly but if MC is sitting alone and gazing at space absent mindedly or is cleaning the floors of Khalid’s mansion then Khalid will act like he loves MC and cares so much about him and can’t bear to see him like that. It’s just crazily inconsistent. Are we supposed to understand that khalid is doing this in love by these two sole scenes? Bullshit!

Another inconsistency is the MC. He wanted khalid to vent out his resentment. He didn’t know khalid will abuse him like this but he was very strong. He was very able at swordsmanship. He didn’t commit suicide to let khalid blow his resentment and become happy. As the frequency and intensity of khalid’s abuse increased, the love for that child khalid was erased. Knox explicitly thought in the end of his abuse era that he doesn’t resent the emperor enough to kill him and he doesn’t even hate khalid. He knows khalid looks at him like he hates him from the bottom of his heart. Even at the time of his suicide, there was no resentment for anyone.

After the first night where khalid shared MC with emperor, MC could commit suicide but he on the next day was helping khalid in handling state affairs. He even taught khalid how to dance though by this point he is just behaving like a slave. We don’t get much insight to his mental health by his thoughts other than that he has to pay back so it’s very hard to connect if he has resentment building for khalid due to all this abuse or not.

So basically after MC is whipped, he is in his room where he was unconcious. He wakes up goes out the estate, sees the carriage of belthias and rode it. He talks to belthias and mentions how he betrayed him etc etc. All of his converstaion is being listened by Khalid and emperor through a magic stone that is given to him by khalid and which is like a communication device controlled by Khalid. That’s how they come to know that MC is innocent. MC kills belthias and goes to his home. There he jumps off a window and commits suicide.

Now for the inconsistencies. Khalid hates MC because he abandoned him in childhood. But suddenly he is devastated and acts like he can’t live without MC when MC commits suicide and it comes to light that he was innocent. Khalid’s resentment wasn’t because MC helped crown prince, it was because of abandonment. So even if it comes to light that MC is innocent, how he turned 180 degree?


Then the argue that it’s because MC committed suicide but khalid has been abusing him cruelly for days and days. He whipped him so bad and denied treatment suddenly he is remorseful just because MC commits suicide? I would believe it if I could get an ounce of feeling that he loves MC? He calls MC whore, slut, prostitue. Treats him like one. That is definitely not love. It doesn’t give any feeling of love even to us readers!

Anyhow they somehow save MC. During the process khalid comes to know that MC didn’t abandoned him willingly. It was an act to save him. He even searched for him and was whipped by his mother for this reason so more regret.

After Knox tries to commit suicide and is saved by khalid and the emperor, he first tries to commit suicide multiple times. He is in so much pain that he can’t live but khalid doesn’t let him die. Then the emperor, khalid and everyone else decides to restore Knox’s status and give him back his property and his runaway cousin who is only left from his family.

Since knox can’t die so he decides to take revenge. He does some shenanigans where he somehow convince khalid to help him cut off the emperors closest confidants and betray the emperor. Khalid kills them one by one at the order of Knox. It’s heartbreaking bcz they are completely innocent.

Khalid is in significant pain due to his betrayal to his fellows who were like brothers to him as well as the emperor.

Later when it comes to light that Knox is orchestrating all this, Knox use one of his three pardons (which was granted to him by emperor at the time of reinstating his status) to save himself from any punishment.

At the end, Khalid kills the emperor and decides to kill himself too because he concludes due to some more events (like emperor raping knox again because he thinks that why khalid can stay by his side after abusing knox but not emperor so to leave his existence in knox’s life like a scar he rapes knox again) that as long as emperor and he is alive, Knox will be in pain.

Once the emperor is killed, Knox is left behind as the only royal family member alive (from his mother’s side) to ingerit the throne and becomes the king. He let’s khalid be arrested for the murder of the emperor and let him be tortured brutally for one week. Later when khalid admits in front of everyone that he killed emperor by his own decision that knox pardons khalid from death sentence and thus keeps him as his pet (someone to do his biddings) and calls him “Khalid, my pretty dog) which is in contrast to what he used to call him in childhood (my pretty khalid). Knox was waiting for khalid to betray him and prove that whatever khalid did was not love. However khalid thinks it was love.

My pet peeve with this novel is that there is no one to blame for all the misery except one when the emperor rapes MC again in jealousy even after knowing that he is innocent.

Khalid’s whole world was MC and he was also treated as a slave and very badly treated at MC’s home. But at the end MC also abandoned him (according to him because he doesn’t know MC was pretending neither anyone told him). He was whipped and thrown out and he saw MC smiling at another servant after throwing him out. Just imagine for a child to rely on someone during his whole misery and that someone also cruelly and ruthlessly throw him out and abandon him. It must have been horrible. The scar must have run deep and turned so bad that it twisted him to such an ugly person later on. I understand him because I have felt the feeling and fear of being left behind. It is very very scary and hurtful.

The emperor treats MC badly for very stupid reason but more than that he treats him badly because he thinks he was supporting crown prince. By the throne fights, you can know that it’s a very cruel world. Where you have to be ruthless to win. After he knows that MC is innocent, Mc was the one who saved his life, he restores knox’s status and is remorseful of the abuse MC suffered at his hands.

Lastly MC, after suffering from khalid and emperor, he also now bore resentment and hate. He kills innocent people for his revenge. He even takes relief in khalid’s suffering. He suffers from the after effects of abuse he faced at the hands of khalid and emperor.

When I see it, who do I blame then? Khalid suffered and took revenge from MC. MC willingly offered himself to khalid to decrease his resentment and suffered. Then he also took his revenge on khalid.

It was a circle of abuse that never ended. Even if MC never abandoned him willingly, he never told khalid. He even himself understands that khalid must have suffered alot due to that so that’s why he wants to atone and make khalid happy. He could have committed suicide anytime. He could have fought anytime but he willingly suffered everything. Once he thought he paid back everything, he committed suicide.

But he was saved, he should have been allowed death atleast.

I really hated the end. There was no respite for any one of them. Khalif wasn’t a villain. He was just taking his own revenge. MC wasn’t a villain and he is also taking his own revenge. Not one of them thought of moving forward. It’s horrible. I wouldn’t recommend anyone this novel. There is no closure.