Finished at ch 111
Honestly this manhwa holds a very special place in my heart, as it was the first Korean manhwa I had read that drew me to manhwas. I really liked the ML (Raphael), I think he is one of my favourites. I love his personality, how he acts like a puppy craving for Kayena’s love and approval (he always has such cute but handsome panels!) and always puts her needs first. I love his style when he has his hair down after he realised his feelings and wanted to look good in front of Kayena. Speaking of art style, this manhwa has one of the best manhwa art styles. Although there are certainly characters elsewhere that are more to my taste (I do like Raphael’s art style though), the clothes are always so well drawn with sophistication and details it’s mesmerising. Kayena also looks really pretty but Raphael is definitely more up my alley hehe <3 I really liked the panels when the ML or FL blushes, but panels where they showed displayed very complicated / sad / painful expressions of love were also very memorable and hit hard.
The FL’s (Kayena’s) struggle to freedom and her navigation to accepting her feelings for Raphael are the main concepts in this manhwa. The ending was quite open to imagination, with Kayena declaring she would become emperor. I wish there was more of Kayena and Raphael’s love story after they had finally gotten through the hurdles and sad times. I think Regef had finally become a bit more ‘normal’ only at the end of the manhwa. The whole reason for Kayena’s suffering tbh (besides her heartless father who is kind of crazy), which was Ragef’s twisted form of love / affection. If only Regef was raised to respect Kayena’s wants and wishes, she would not have had to gone through so much for freedom. But this was also the result of the emperor tormenting him since birth, which made him feel like he needed her as his only solace. Tbh Regef’s bloodline and the emperor’s crazy lack of affection for both his children + his deep seated hatred / desire to torment Regef was quite unexpected. It was a crazy form of revenge towards a woman who wasn’t even alive to feel hurt. He was the true source of problem tbh.
Towards the end, once she had acquired her powers, I feel like it was very much doable for her to secretly murder Regef and the emperor without being suspected (since it’s magic and magicians are thought of as myths) if she so wished for it, but I suppose Heinrich would still be a pain. But tbh it’s also true that the introduction of magic was quite abrupt and random, I think I would have preferred if she could have outwitted others in scheming instead of using magic which feels kind of like a cheat (although she did sacrifice everything to attain it). But it’s random because how did she even know about this place, and if she did, why didn’t she think to use this place earlier if she wanted to achieve her goals so much? I do suppose that’s when she realised she couldn’t be naive anymore and had to steel herself to sacrifice something in order to protect something, but the introduction of magic was still so abrupt.
Kayena really has to thank Vayel tbh, he gave his immortal life away in exchange for her to live again. After everything Kayena and Raphael have gone through, I really wished to see stories of them being happily together. In the past, even when they were together and when it was obvious to the readers that they wanted each other but destiny was too cruel to them, it felt like a sad but strong love. Now that things are basically kind of settled, I really wanted to see them be happy so it’s a little disappointing for the story to simply end here. I could only go onto imagining Kayena becoming the monarch, marrying Raphael, and handing the throne to Edel (Kayena’s half brother) once he becomes of age and they live happily ever after.
P.s. I found out on the internet that there are apparently side story chapters in the original Korean novel that are not translated, and not adapted into manhwa as it seems… this is so sad and frustrating, how I wish I could read the side stories… :(
The Villainess is a Marionette