At first it was okay. (I'm not sure if the translations have any effect because I start reading chapter 121 onwards with a different translator, I kinda felt it went down hill)

Plot wise, it kinda reminded me of Monstrous Duke's adopted daughter but I prefer Monstrous Duke's over this.
For Romance side wise, this definitely has more fluff which I was looking for in Monstrous Duke.

Although it went downhill by S2-S3. I was happy they released extra chapters. That is probably what is making me give this 6.5-7 or else it would have been a 6 for me.

The plot and arcs are interesting and the pacing stays pretty consistent throughout. The POV mainly stays on the FL, with little fillers. And although character development is a bit lacking, it is present and I like the direction of where it's going. There are also likeable characters with purpose.

With that being said, the manhwa has two major setbacks: storytelling and ML. The plot is told in a way that feels rushed consistently. Just when I start to feel for the character and be immersed in the moment, the plot moves on. It makes it so the story feels very lighthearted, even in very heavy/dark situations. I'm also not a fan of the romance between FL and ML. Their age gap and time spent together prior to their romantic relationship/feelings just don't sit right. Those that can't look past that won't be able to enjoy the rest of the manhwa.

Listen, authors, you can’t make your creepy pedo romance okay by SAYING that the fully-grown, fully filled-out adult man who is a combat veteran and senior military leader with significant leadership responsibilities and life experience is a teenager while SAYING that the 30 lb little girl who wears frilly dresses and talks in a lispy baby voice and engages in magical thinking is just a malnourished 12-year-old. It’s a 36-year-old pederast and a preschooler. And it’s gross.

it started out kinda cool, but when it had gotten past 100+ chapters the storyline just went downhill. problem after problem, but they don't struggle at all to solve any. hell, estelle came back to life for crying out loud. and it's so extra that the prince and princess are suddenly trouble. hints about the prince and princess' personalities were thrown here and there, but the execution was pretty bad.

like, it would be nice to end the story soon instead of dragging it out by adding conflicts that doesn't work.

At first it was good, I stopped reading when the dragon came.

First, the character development sucks.
Estelle acts like a baby and childish even though she's a teenager (Maybe it's because of her childhood trauma), but she has her previous life memories. Maybe it would've been much better if she didn't have memories of her previous life.

Second, ML sucks
No hate, I love Emiel. But nope, I'm not agreeing him to become the ML. I'm fine with age gap, but the thing is that he met Estelle when she was little and he was a teenager/an adult. His personality (kinda like yandere), I'm fine with it but he has so many secrets.

Third, Estelle sucks.
No hate, I love her when she confronts other nobles by using Castiello's name. But she's selfish, when she founds out that Emiel has terrible personality she keeps denying it because he never treat her like that. When Emiel said sorry to her for hiding his personality, I believe she said that it's fine because he didn't treat her like that (she didn't even try to change Emiel's personality and didn't care about the victims of his violent practice). Yeah and her character development sucks, she's acting childish but when her father was out on a war with a dragon and she needs to lead the war that is happening she decided to change her personality just like that by wearing more mature clothes (honey, wearing mature clothes doesn't change your personality).

Ok this is all, but I'll give you this.
The story was so good until her birthday came (her first birthday)
Honestly, this is the most regrettable story I've read till now.

... Last updated on March 21st, 2021, 8:19am

Let's not beat around the bush, I can't stand the ML. Most people complain about the age difference, or how creepy it is that he knew her when he was already an adult and she was a little child and while that is kinda creepy, I would find it in me to overlook this - if the ML had any redeeming qualities.
But he constantly lies to her, never tells her anything, doesn't trust in her abilities at all, and 100 chapters in he turns super aggressive and backstab-y.
I'm gonna continue reading this for my girl Estelle, but I am gonna vomit over the happy ending that the author is trying to sell me here. I wish they'd just remove Romance from this and have this be a family drama.

Update: Newest season is almost unreadable, now that Romance is the sole focus...
Nothing makes sense, FL went from doing her own thing to just being bratty and ML is as toxic and bad at communication as ever. I feel sorry for that dude who is clearly coded as second ML because we all know he is just there to get a reaction out of Emel and Estelle and then be tossed aside heart-broken.

... Last updated on August 19th, 2021, 1:37pm

If I have to compare it with other romance-fantasy shojo webtoon, I think this one is quite typical. A story about an abandoned child who turns out to be a illegitimate child of a duke. Fortunately, a spirit user. She fell in love with her personal knight, and their status as a master and a knight became a hindrance.

Very typical, in my opinion. But I'm not sure why, of all the webtoon title I have on my reading list, this one is the one that charms me the most, and got me excited whenever a new episode is out. It's really worth it to spend some cash to buy the episodes!

The popularity of this story baffles me. It belongs to the trope of cute-little-poor-girl-and-her-menacing-father-who-hates-everyone-except-his-c ute-daughter, which is why I wouldn't suggest it to anyone who likes that trope since there are many other better manhwa in that trope that you can read.

I can vaguely recall the plot but only because it is so generic where literally nothing happens. There is no tension, barely any conflicts, and certainly no climax. Oftentimes, when a story moves slowly, people say it's because the story is more character-oriented. But by God, the characters are bland cardboard cutouts, from the MC all the way to the antagonists. If the horses had lines, I bet they too would be boring.

But my biggest beef is with the MC. I don't know why the need to reincarnate a character if you're never going to use the advantage of having lived a previous life. She is definitely not smart or mature, a damsel in distress who waits to be saved by her father, her brother, her knight, and basically everyone else because of course they all love her. Readers who don't like the manhwa that much say that at least she is adorable but I have to disagree on that point. This cold-blooded viper heart of mine needs more to be won over than some skin deep beauty alone.

... Last updated on August 9th, 2020, 9:38am

The art is pretty good and I like that the story explores PTSD (tho not as educationally as I hoped), but I'm not the biggest fan of the ship that seems to be sailing . It's just a bit bland. Also, I read the free translation, which made it harder to enjoy the series without cringing at the bad translation issues. It's not even humorously bad. It's incomprehensibly bad. Stuff end up not making much sense and the readers have to do a lot of mental guess work. That's on me for choosing piracy over supporting the official translation, unfortunately.

The story also doesn't really flesh out the brother/dad duo very well yet after 85 chapters. They are seen as inhuman and we don't get to much more other than their . The side characters seem slightly bland and there just aren't enough interactions to make the side characters seem real, but that's a problem frequently seen in all forms of fiction...

Overall, I liked it enough to keep reading. For a better experience, I highly recommend actually paying for the official english translation...

... Last updated on May 29th, 2020, 5:42pm

I can't rate this highly enough. Devoured it in one sitting (or at least, what's up of it).

It reminds me a bit of 'The Monster Duchess and the Contract Princess' in the sense that there's a little girl who's been poorly treated who ends up in a huge house with a wealthy parent. It's a really feel-good read because she's welcomed into her new family and there's a nice hint of fantasy mixed in with some surprising dramatic twists.

I know some people have been saying they don't like the budding romance with the knight, but I am 100% in love with it. If this doesn't happen I'm gone. Their relationship is so sweet with so much potential and I totally disagree that there's no chemistry. Just thinking about what's to come between them is making the wait a huge pain >_<
I know the argument is that she was a child when he started protecting her, but it's not like she stays a child, and age gaps are a fact of life in a lot of healthy relationships.

This is my favourite Isekai manga, although the isekai element is straight up abandoned. It's mentioned that she remembers her life in Korea, and then that's kind of it on the isekai front.

EDIT: Omg, what is happening? The author has ruined my perfect Emel. In the second season they've turned him into a total loser. This sucks. This is my favourite webtoon but the Emel-Estelle ship is dying with this writing. I'm not going to deduct my initial rating yet but man I didn't think it was possible for such an amazing story and such amazing characters to be spoiled but it's happened.
EDIT 2: Yeah, Emel's behaviour just kept getting more and more annoying. Only deducting one point though because I loved the first season.

... Last updated on August 20th, 2022, 1:41pm