actually another thought just came to me that i dont think i explained well in the og comment. yurien, right now, feels like a background character. theres not enough present-time connections to the mc and what shes doing right now to justify him being the male lead. right now, it just feels like hes some kind of distant character that the female lead happens to be in love with, and it feels like his development as a character is way too obscured and not touched on enough to warrant even paying attention to him that much. he feels too distant. so its hard to imagine him as a male lead.
I agree with which is why I thought this was a yuri at first, but then I read a spoiler on here that changed my mind a little. I just hope they just tie him in well
This is so real. The mc has more chemistry with her senior and her roommate. I think its because the male lead in general is a boring character. The only emotion he showed was when she got sucked into that portal thing with her senior but 99% of the time he just has a straight face and talks to her as her boss not a love interest. The stoic male works for other stories because they give the mc a more bubbly/energetic personality to balance it out but the mc in this is more chill. Like we're supposed to believe these people are in love with each other but they haven't had a single romantic moment in their present or past lives?
The spoiler was Yurien saw her soul and was curious about it. And he has memories of the past life. And she does not know at this point. Let it cook more as right now, Eki does not know he knows and Yurien also does not know she remembers. The chemistry is there just not so obvious for a first time reader. The situation is too complex as there is one aspect of their relationship that is not explained even with the spoilers--- how did Eki got access to the sword in the past life? Another factor why Yurien may not interact with her so outwardly is the possible engagement. Remember this is set in European high society, feelings are a liability in that kind of society, it maybe not be so obvious but Eki and Yurien are protecting each other in someway or another as they cannot afford to be involved in a scandal. Another factor is that they are in technicality master-apprentice. In other cultures, the master cannot have any romantic relationship with their apprentice due to it being viewed as family and is considered incestuous. By these mitigating factors, you cannot rush this and the flashbacks gave context on how they actually feel for each other considering they also have traumatic memories, Eki for the act massacre of the people around her and Yurien for being abused and used by his own family (the royal family)... This took too long to explain. I hope it made sense
i did have a feeling that i wouldnt really get their romance when i started reading because theres just. so many variables that they just dont give you in the beginning so their love story really feels out of place. i think thats less a problem with their actual love story and moreso a problem with the writing+pacing? im sure when i finish this webtoon or get around to reading the novel itll make more sense but rn at the point the story is at, the love plotline is very. forced.
I would agree it's the pacing. For me this is so slow burn while you as a reader already predicts they will be the end game. It's not like the untouchable lady where the story flowed greatly with not much flashbacks as it was used as giving context.
This. Honestly, their relationship can be summed up as FL is extremely grateful towards Yurien and sees him as her savior/source of hope from their first life. Her relationship with her senior has more emotional depth so far from what I’ve seen
i just wish that if they were gonna make yurien the male lead, they would have made the feelings between them more of an obvious build up instead of hiding their whole love story and feelings behind flashbacks that dont come until later. i feel like its still too early to bring in the love plotline if that makes sense? theres barely any chemistry between them at the moment, since theyve only interacted a couple of times over the course of the story so far (not including the flashbacks).
if you were gonna make the mc have feelings for yurien and then figure it out herself, it would be better to wait until you had them interact a bit more so that it doesnt feel too forced. with the flashback they showed of yurien just watching her while she fights the corruption... it feels less like "omg i love him" and more like "im so grateful you believed in me" and its just. not romantic. even at the very beginning mc looked at yurien in less of an "ily" way and more in an "i feel guilty that i became such a monster and you know about my past" kind of way
i saw in a spoiler that the mc fell in love with yurien at first sight at a ball but if that was the case... why not show that flashback here instead? you dont have to relate everything about yurien to your corrupted massacre girl its ok. maybe go through the mental healing required before u decide u love someone, so that you can stop seeing your past massacre when you see him.
wow that was a yapfest. my bad