wow

i think you confused lyrica for lydia lydia is the blond mommy and lyrica is the sweet brunette girl

That is what's great about this story, because even in this life, the empress is not a good mother to Lyrica. The emperor is actually a better parent to Lyrica than the empress is. Sure, she puts Lyrica first now and doesn't abuse her, but she still neglects her quite a bit and has a plan for Lyrica's life that often does not take into account Lyrica's opinions at all and she gets mad when Lyrica deviates from that plan. She still twisted and selfish, and she clings to Lyrica now only because now she has proof that, regardless what she does to her, Lyrica will not forsake her and thus she can "trust" Lyrica. Her love is rooted in unhealthiness and codependency and the story doesn't shy away from it. She didn't magically become "good", she still the same broken person, only thing is, she now sees Lyrica as an extension of herself, and thus she seeks to protect her and keep her by her side.

i agree soo much i actually love the writing. she's trying but trying doesn't equal good now. the number of times she has thoughts of forcing lyrica into her plans without respecting or accounting for her wishes is crazy. abuse in a different form dressed up differently. i really hope lydia can become a truly good parent and understand what it really means to be one. at least the emperor and atil are there,,

I disagree, I'd rather she remained a flawed character. Reincarnation manhwas and especially childcare manhwas usually don't delve into complex topics and the characters are very black and white. Parents and family are usually 100% loving and dedicated and antagonists are usually 100% evil and mean. In the same vein, parental redemptions are forgiven way too easily. There is no in between and I think that is such a waste. Lydia is such a rich, complex character, I love her. She is twisted but she recognizes her own flaws and fights against her own nature. She doesn't deserve to feel good about herself because she was a horrible person, she deserves to always work hard, always suffer to overcome the part of her that is still twisted because that is the least she owes Lyrica after all the things she did to her. There are so few manga like these, the only one I can think of is Fantasy of a Stepmother, and maybe a bit Who Made Me a Princess since Claude retains his twisted nature as well, but the effect is kind of ruined by the brainwashing trope.

Yeah, I read this story for Lyrica. I don’t like redeeming such awful people

Well said

I’m glad she catches herself, she definitely tries, but it’s just not good enough. I hate redeeming neglectful or abusive parents. There’s too many stories that do thag

I agreed with you to an extent until you mentioned Claude. His abuse and neglect were never properly addressed, he was absolutely horrible father and was forgiven like nothing ever happened. If we are talking childcare manhwa, then he’s like 90% of fathers in them: neglectful/abusive, but with that aspect being completely brushed off or ignored. I absolutely can’t stand when those stories don’t address these topics and just make FL love and forgive their fathers. Thats why I like stories where bad parents aren’t forgiven and FL just leaves them instead, those are rare and actually address the abuse. Claude was such a bad example, he’s the typical “cold father, kinda turned into a fool for his daughter cause she literally had to beg for his affection, but actually a bad parent in a slightly different form”. He’s like 90% of those stories go

I agree but I also want to point out that she was a child raising a child herself and came from a horrible abusive background. I would expect her to be horrible just as her mother, and just as a 15 year old girl from that time would be.

She was groomed and *raped by a man years her senior at 14-15, forced to have a child and still endure and suffer endlessly at his and his families hands. She didn’t stand a chance in her previous life. And like you or someone here said, she can’t change that quickly because again, she never had positive role models in her life. It just sickens me our sweet little Lyrica is caught in the crossfire of this. Personally, seeing her how can you not want to be the best mom ever? Which she knows now.

Very good point. I think it’s a lot about do reasons justify her behavior. However the biggest villain in that story is this man. I wish this manhwa also addressed that this was indeed grooming/pedophilia and rape, not just a deadbeat father/husband.

That's why I said the brainwashing trope ruined the story, because it removed responsibility from Claude for his behavior which is not ok. It didn't allow him to repent and grow as a character like Lydia is doing. I enjoy flawed characters and complex family relationships because so often in manhwa and light novels characters are very one-dimensional. Most parents are not perfect, most relationships are not perfect, childhood conflict doesn't need to be either 100% horrible abuse or 100% super spoiled route and parents that give anything and everything the kid wants. There is so much nuance in between that is never explored. Lydia is nuance. She has hurt Lyrics a lot but at the end of the day she is Lyrica's only true family, the only one that has seen her suffering and somewhat shared on it, and now she is trying to change to be a better mother even if it goes against her nature and rubs on her trauma. That is nuance, that is being flawed and working for character development not having it fall from the sky. Claude could've been the same. It could have been so amazing to see him realize how much he hurt the child that at one point meant everything to him and see whether that knowledge would break him fundamentally or would push him to change himself and the core of his relationship with Athy, but the author bungled that by making it so "oh, he didn't have emotions or memories so its not his fault, lets all sit and sing Kumbaya together now". It took all the agency away from Claude and most authors shy away from plots like these (Philomel and Dorothea toed the line but none of those stories explore the parents POV as deeply as this story or WMMAP does, so I don't consider then successful).

Absolutely I agree! He is the ultimate villain. Unfortunately, with webtoons like these they rarely ever do because honestly, it’s extremely devastating and depressing.

Maybe it’s also cause of the era setting, since this was normal back then

I don’t think WMMAP explores parents POV all that well tbh. As you’ve said, the way it was showcased served more as an excuse to free him of accountability rather than genuine complex exploration of trauma and its affects. Also, brainwashing thing? Yeah, sure I agree with your points that it was kind of a “justification” trope, but I don’t really agree that he would be like Lydia if it didn’t happen. The bottom line isn’t just Claude being a bad father, but a bad person overall. If Athy wasn’t his daughter what would that mean? It would mean that he would mistreat an innocent child or even let it die just because. Cause he found it annoying or cause he wasn’t related to her. That’s my problem with this kind of manhwas, with those “cold father tropes”. They don’t change as people, they only stop mistreating (to a certain extent) their daughters cause their daughters MADE THEM care for them. They are still as horrible to other people, and as neglectful to their sons (if story has brothers). Also, didn’t Claude inflict all of that on himself purposely? That’s just as bad as fathers who abuse their kids cause they blame them for mothers death during birth. Even when he cared for her he still remained that cold “tsundere” demeanor. He was not a good father at any point and I don’t think lack of brainwashing would’ve changed that. He’s a very typical character for this kind of stories. Dare I say, he was a blueprint for them.

Like, if just loosing memories and your emotions towards your child causes you to become neglectful, abusive and borderline psychotic person then what does that say about you in the first place? Lydia was a bad person, because she was incredibly selfish and blinded by greed, but she wasn’t inherently psychotic like Claude. I think Lydia being a bad parent also has far more complex and deep reasons than Claude does. Abusive parents, being groomed and raped by a narcissistic pedophile at age of 15 and then left alone to fend for yourself at the same age, honestly I could not blame a woman for not wanting to raise a child in that kind of circumstances, which of course doesn’t justify her behavior towards Lyrica. I think it would be even more understandable if she actually realized what happened to her (grooming that they aren’t addressing), it’s a pretty strong argument in pro-life and pro-choice discussions (should woman raise a child of her rapist? What’s the psychological effect that causes). For her at least it makes sense why she was so horrible, as you’ve said, she is a very complex character. Claude? I’m sorry, but his reasons seem really shallow in comparison, and his actions absolutely absurd.

Not to mention the support and circumstances Claude had VS Lydia. Lydia had no one, was homeless and in-debt as a teenage girl in a sexist society. Claude? Claude was a man in a highest position of power with servants and trustworthy aides by his side. I truly don’t think their characters are comparable. Lydia was horrible, but Claude was a whole other level given their reasoning and circumstances. I do not think he could’ve turned out to be like Lydia, because his character inherently is on a completely different level of messed up.

I’d have to disagree with you, as Claude’s behavior was from the beginning described. As a magician he performed two curses on himself. One was to turn his heart into ice (or block emotion and feelings) so he wouldn’t be able to feel the pain of loosing his wife/lover. The other curse was to turn back time (on himself) so he would literally forget her (lover) and anything associated with her (hence their child).
In the story she is the original princess who was killed as she had met her father too late (the curse had already been finished and set) therefore he felt nothing for her and disliked the reminder (that he once had a heart and love (who he now believes betrayed him)).
In the present story, she actually meets him before the curse is finished and her actual magic interferes with it (breaking the curses or undoing it) and that is why over time he begins to warm up and actually behave like a father should (as the curse goes away). But blah blah spoilers stuff happens and yeah.
The magic stuff does get a bit complicated and complex so it’s hard to know. I’ve reread the story so many times that I was able to pick it up around the 2nd or 3rd read.

I don’t really want to repeat myself, so I will just ask you to read my other comments. I explained there in detail why I think that “justification” is nonsense and why I see him as a bad father and a bad person even with everything you said. You can check if you want or not if you don’t, but I just don’t have it in me to write another long response :)

Also, I don’t see how that could be a justification in any way seeing he CHOSE to perform those curses on himself and it’s not like someone else did it against his will. How does that make him less horrible of a father? I would say it’s even more. You willingly chose to be that way regardless of consequences this would have on your kid. Like, it’s such a crap excuse.

I wholeheartedly agree. She's still terrible, even now. And if you take into account that she was still terrible right before regression, that is Lyrica's current timeline, so she still did abuse and made her tender young child work for her abusive and alcoholic self.

And after regressing, she did not really atone for it. She made their economic life better and her abuse stopped but nothing else. The best thing she did in this life was be the root and bridge of Lyrica finding people who genuinely love, adore, and treasure her.