I love this trope (the secret baby), so I am a bit biased, but this was one bumpy ride. Some things were okay, some things were so below par it's sad. The art was weird and very polarizing, at some points great at some points so disproportionate it hurts. But the story was all over the place. I understand this isn't a serious political manhwa that aims to give a nuances, profound insight into a problematic monarch and the he revolutionaries that want their own way and in many cases are no better than the despised monarch, and I did not expect too much from this storyline, but the pacing and the story plot is too inconsistent. Alverre as a bad guy was actually pretty interesting, but Duke Crescent and his sister were cliche villains I dislikes immensely. But, IMHO; the biggest turn off here was the Elan-Emperor relationship. it was somehow too dry, to boring, too... Not developed enough. IMHO; the whole main point of this manhwa should have been Elan's change of heart towards the Emperor. Everything should have been pushed into second place to make this a high quality plot line. Everybody came to read this manhwa not for the political and court intrigue, but for Elan's problems and how she solves them - she becomes a love target of an obsessive Emperor she doesn't even know, he manipulates her, she falls for him, she gets pregnant, she runs away, she raises the children alone, he gets her back, she has to come to terms with what really happened... This was somehow pushed to the backburner to develop the cliche political story, and I disliked this very much.
I wanted more Elan and Emperor moments, more depictions of their difficult but at times sweet relationship, more moments with the kids, and less political drama. This was the miss the gist of the story, and the manhwa suffers a great deal. Also, more humanizing of the Emperor, more display of how he himself is a victim of circumstances, how he had to play the "Game of thrones" just to keep alive, and this made him into a twisted personality, was sorely needed, but we don't get this nearly enough.
However, as I love yanderes and secret children, I found this pretty okay, despite all the flaws, and they are not small, let me tell you. But still, I liked it and will give a red for yandere lovers.
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