Reviewed @ completed (incl 6 side stories/epilogues)
I binge-read the first 87 chapters chapters with the official translation and was ready to come in and write a review saying this is a pretty good 7/10
At times it dips to 6-ish, occasionally going 7.5, maybe. So 7 overall felt fair, at the level where I'd just barely recommend it in conversation if it pops into my head, maybe (cos I usually stick my recs to 8-10/10)
BUT then I found out that it was actually scanlated to the end. The scanlation quality was, frankly, not good. Bad grammar.
But goddamn those last 20 chapters (ch88 onwards + the 6 side stories/epilogues) were VERY good. Like mostly 9 or 10/10 chapters, some 8s.
In particular the first epilogue/ss made me cry and the second one recontextualises the entire story in a very good way that makes it awesome without feeling like it was introducing things out of nowhere. Loved it.
In season 3, at a certain level I was even surprised that the author (this being a webtoon adaptation of a webnovel) was that ballsy to keep the pressure on the lead character and not give her a break. It is very consistent to its themes.
There's some really solid character work here with the two main female characters (villainess fmc and the heroine), and I still really liked a bunch of the side characters (red hair female, the main maid especially...). Male characters weren't anything special, I'd say. Main romantic lead felt pretty by the books, kinda disappointing (but the resolution, as stated above, is done great) and the others are mostly just decent. I guess the priest was interesting. The Emperor was nice whenever we saw him, not as good as others though (e.g. emperor in the villainess lives twice is much more impactful)
I like how there are moments where even with the less interesting or more unlikeable characters, you WILL feel something for them. (whether it's empathy, sympathy, understanding..)
So, in summary. The first 80 chapters are....good. Not special, overall, but good. 7/10 So if you don't want to read 80 chapters for just 'good', that's fair enough. Don't, there are better stuff out there.
Then the ending is done incredibly well. like 9/10 I kind of want to recommend it just for an ending done really well.
So overall, 8/10?
EDIT: It's occurred to me recently that some people are interpreting one of the core reveals/epilogue chapters differently from me. So I'll very roughly leave the premise of it here for people to read AFTER they've read the series as it involves huge end-story spoilers. Message me if you want more detail:
the maid's pact with the witch is what caused the antagonists to act so unhinged for their downfall. They're literally cursed/influenced to the point of taking insane actions.