I’m been reading the novel translations (I would not recommend it, they have been MTLed and not even cleaned to make sense regarding many details). It’s better to realise that hylen is not trying to be good, but trying to survive and do good. This is a super slow burn, and if the whole story is published without change we’ll probably have to wait for 4+ years unless they cut story arcs for the whole thing to finish.
Re: Gail x hylen, it’s quite dark? Gail’s father returns from the dead and is then murdered, and though hylen wasn’t the cause, Gail feels like he’s partially responsible, and despite this he thinks ‘I still want him’. It messes him up a little that because though he believes hylen could’ve possibly played a part in his (adopted) dad’s death, he still wants/desires him. They have a bit of a fight over it (dad’s death) and drift apart (honestly hylen deserved the cold shoulder for what he said). Their remaining academy years while being in the same club are rather tense (hylen switches from the swordsmanship track to diplomacy). Gail comes to understand their class difference and strives to better himself till he can become somewhat equal to hylen, and then try and pursue a relationship with him.
On hylen’s end, very soon from the manhwa events he gets engaged to the same girl who he went to the debutante ball with, but it isn’t something he really thinks much of since 1. He knew since his past life that he was gay (he had a crush on the first prince, and this made him want to work against him more + when a girl tried to seduce him and he tried to go along with it, he threw up on her) 2. He’s not the actual heir, and he believes once he secures his interests and sets his life up, he wouldn’t need to marry her anyway since he’ll reveal that Gail’s the actual heir and leave.
He eventually turns down Gail after Gail confesses to him (at this point both are 20, have finished their time at the academy and Gail became a ‘sword master’). Later there’s a brief period where Gail is assigned to protect hylen despite being an imperial knight (he swears allegiance to the royal family instead of Emmast because of a deal he struck with the first prince’s aide, throwing hylen’s plan for a loop). They begin getting a little physical on hylen’s terms.
With the upcoming war, Hylen wants Gail to return a war hero (he wants him to have infamy and a stronger claim/easier time when he eventually inherits the dukedom), so he joins him on the battlefield and asks Gail to win in his name. This obviously ends up in Gail killing a lot of people very easily due to his overwhelming ability, and two such instances increase his infamy. In return hylen ‘rewards’ him by having sex with him while Gail is obviously very torn up (he has cognitive dissonance over killing so many people willingly just to get with hylen, and not even having his heart, only his body). This is where I am rn. (Though I do know that later when hylen wants to reveal their ‘secret of birth’ i.e. being switched, Gail completely shuts it down, and makes sure everyone that knows is either dead or keeps quiet. This allows for hylen to become the Duke of Emmast, and Gail is granted a noble title on account of being a war hero.)
With how hylen is written… It’s weird to describe it this way, but how he acts is like a mature person of the age he returns to. Like he doesn’t act like a 31+ years old, rather like a mature teen/young adult with a knowledge of the future, if that makes sense.
Re: their relationship dynamic, hylen views himself as a monster and the past life Gail as a hero. So when the present life Gail is willing to commit atrocities in his name, he feels conflicted because he believed Gail to be a fundamentally good/great/heroic man who now acts as hylen desires. This ‘corruption’ of Gail also emotionally and sexually excites him. It makes him feel powerful that Gail would cast aside his aspersions, his morality just to have a taste of him. This is why I think their dynamic is twisted. Objectively, what Gail does in the past life is similar to what he does in this one, with the difference being that he became a war hero in the past life and killed many in the name of the kingdom+the first prince and ending the war, whereas he does the same in the present life solely for hylen. Hylen himself sees this as turning Gail into a monster. On reading the last chapter, the final line is something along the lines of hylen looking at them in the mirror as they have sex, and seeing two monsters reflected (in thought, not form).
On a personal note I’m gonna take it a little slow from now on with the novel bc twisted characters and relationships aren’t really my thing and hylen, the person with the most POV content, is not a character i like. It’s just interesting to read how the story progresses, but my interest isn’t urgent.
I’m been reading the novel translations (I would not recommend it, they have been MTLed and not even cleaned to make sense regarding many details). It’s better to realise that hylen is not trying to be good, but trying to survive and do good. This is a super slow burn, and if the whole story is published without change we’ll probably have to wait for 4+ years unless they cut story arcs for the whole thing to finish.
Re: Gail x hylen, it’s quite dark? Gail’s father returns from the dead and is then murdered, and though hylen wasn’t the cause, Gail feels like he’s partially responsible, and despite this he thinks ‘I still want him’. It messes him up a little that because though he believes hylen could’ve possibly played a part in his (adopted) dad’s death, he still wants/desires him. They have a bit of a fight over it (dad’s death) and drift apart (honestly hylen deserved the cold shoulder for what he said). Their remaining academy years while being in the same club are rather tense (hylen switches from the swordsmanship track to diplomacy). Gail comes to understand their class difference and strives to better himself till he can become somewhat equal to hylen, and then try and pursue a relationship with him.
On hylen’s end, very soon from the manhwa events he gets engaged to the same girl who he went to the debutante ball with, but it isn’t something he really thinks much of since
1. He knew since his past life that he was gay (he had a crush on the first prince, and this made him want to work against him more + when a girl tried to seduce him and he tried to go along with it, he threw up on her)
2. He’s not the actual heir, and he believes once he secures his interests and sets his life up, he wouldn’t need to marry her anyway since he’ll reveal that Gail’s the actual heir and leave.
He eventually turns down Gail after Gail confesses to him (at this point both are 20, have finished their time at the academy and Gail became a ‘sword master’). Later there’s a brief period where Gail is assigned to protect hylen despite being an imperial knight (he swears allegiance to the royal family instead of Emmast because of a deal he struck with the first prince’s aide, throwing hylen’s plan for a loop). They begin getting a little physical on hylen’s terms.
With the upcoming war, Hylen wants Gail to return a war hero (he wants him to have infamy and a stronger claim/easier time when he eventually inherits the dukedom), so he joins him on the battlefield and asks Gail to win in his name. This obviously ends up in Gail killing a lot of people very easily due to his overwhelming ability, and two such instances increase his infamy. In return hylen ‘rewards’ him by having sex with him while Gail is obviously very torn up (he has cognitive dissonance over killing so many people willingly just to get with hylen, and not even having his heart, only his body). This is where I am rn. (Though I do know that later when hylen wants to reveal their ‘secret of birth’ i.e. being switched, Gail completely shuts it down, and makes sure everyone that knows is either dead or keeps quiet. This allows for hylen to become the Duke of Emmast, and Gail is granted a noble title on account of being a war hero.)
With how hylen is written… It’s weird to describe it this way, but how he acts is like a mature person of the age he returns to. Like he doesn’t act like a 31+ years old, rather like a mature teen/young adult with a knowledge of the future, if that makes sense.
Re: their relationship dynamic, hylen views himself as a monster and the past life Gail as a hero. So when the present life Gail is willing to commit atrocities in his name, he feels conflicted because he believed Gail to be a fundamentally good/great/heroic man who now acts as hylen desires. This ‘corruption’ of Gail also emotionally and sexually excites him. It makes him feel powerful that Gail would cast aside his aspersions, his morality just to have a taste of him. This is why I think their dynamic is twisted. Objectively, what Gail does in the past life is similar to what he does in this one, with the difference being that he became a war hero in the past life and killed many in the name of the kingdom+the first prince and ending the war, whereas he does the same in the present life solely for hylen. Hylen himself sees this as turning Gail into a monster. On reading the last chapter, the final line is something along the lines of hylen looking at them in the mirror as they have sex, and seeing two monsters reflected (in thought, not form).
On a personal note I’m gonna take it a little slow from now on with the novel bc twisted characters and relationships aren’t really my thing and hylen, the person with the most POV content, is not a character i like. It’s just interesting to read how the story progresses, but my interest isn’t urgent.