️️THIS MANHWA HAS MULTIPLE DEPICTIONS OF EXPLICIT SELF HARM, VIOLENCE, AND SUICIDE. Characters WILL die permanently and hard/divisive decisions will be made. It is not meant for the light-hearted and deals with many topics that should be approached with seriousness and is foremost a tragedy before a romance.
Such a compelling story with great art. The female lead is why I stayed through most of it — the amount of character growth she goes through in the span of 74 chapters is insane. She learns to face her ignorance, actively change herself for the better, and harbor the courage to find her own place in life. From when she was in ignorant bless to the worst lows of her life, she was always very poised and noble. She’s definitely not a perfect character — far from it, actually — but that makes her development all the more remarkable. She’s not an innocent person and she knows it, but the difference between her and the ML is that she isn’t static. She can and is willing to change, even if people mock her for taking a while or making blunders along the way. She’s inexplicably human.
The ML lead though? I had to stop reading every 2 pages because of how unbelievably angry he made me. I understand that his life has been rough, but he put his obsession on FL one-sidedly for YEARS without her knowing and expects some kind of reward for it? That she’s automatically his because he of how much he yearned for it? He himself understands that it was nothing but obsession from the start, using that as an excuse to torment the living shit out of her for 3 years after killing FL’s (albeit shitty to everyone but his own family) father and neglecting her. Get you a husband that actively makes it his #1 mission to both cause and be present in the worst beats of your entire life. He’s static most of the time. His entire character is dedicated to FL since childhood. I know he can’t help that because of the circumstances of his upbringing, but that is no reason to forcefully “share” that misery with someone else. Your traumas do not enable you to inflict trauma onto others. I know FL wasn’t innocent, but she was not involved so much as for ML to treat her like this. Luckily, they are only married for around 20 or so chapters, and he takes the rest of the Manhwa to yearn, regret, and learn from his past actions. He’s a lot slower to grow than FL, but I guess that’s fair considering all he’s been through.
I really liked the ending. FL and ML don’t officially get back together and there is still a very tangible awkwardness between them. They don’t magically get back together, but have forgiven each other and are both learning to appreciate the other’s real selves. It is a very human ending and I found myself hating the ML a little less on the last chapter, he makes a surprising amount of effort to try and change himself at the end (despite how late it is). It’s not a happy ending entirely but I think that’s what makes it so good for me, personally.
4/5 overall. Great story but I know that the ML may not stand well with a lot of the audience, but all of the characters are complex enough so that you’d want to watch them grow.
My Beloved Oppressor