Blame YT shorts, this is what you get while watching without context. And then go to read manhwa and find out that..
This is such a toxic piece of crap. Like why every time I pick up some Korean manhwa or novel it ALWAYS has some TOXIC theme going on? Can't they write something not this old-fashioned? Or not go into such brain-dead direction with two problematic characters?
I say old-fashioned, because I see Korea picking up popular things from other places. Don't get me wrong, I'll explain. Do you know the most popular online novel website in China? Jinjiang. It is full of novels of all genres, but they also explore popular tropes, Rebirth is being one of them. And sadomasochistic relationship was one of them too. But right now usually authors there will diss such stories in their own stories. You may ask why? Because they think it's like a decade old, vulgar and bad.
I say sadomasochistic because it's a slang to describe such story as this one is - where they love each other madly, they are also loud about it (meaning a lot of shouting), but one or both do something bad for their love and they break up and make up and then break up again doing a lot of crazy shit, before finally coming together. Old-fashioned.
Some may want to see such things, I actually didn't want to, but I persisted reading all 86 chapters currently available and what can I say..
Both are problematic, the story is painfully predictable, obviously written in a way to make you feel either rage or any other strong feeling, ragebait in other worlds. Because of it you might skip some obvious loopholes and questionable things.

Let's dive into it. Speaking with *spoilers*.
This should be a story of revenge, but what a disappoiting story it will be. FL lived her life in her wealthy estate thinking of revenge. To be honest I saw her as a coward, because she had an army and she was devastated, I honestly would applaude her more if she died in a failed attempt rather then being half-sober. She already lost all her family and everything, there was nothing else to lose.
The next thing you know is she is reborn at the unfortunate time of her father passing, being divorced by the crown prince who is a basic whimsical and violent character. She wounds his leg in an attempt, good for her, but it's the only wound she'll give him.
She's sent away, manhwa doesn't dwell how she is alive for what she did. So she travels north where birds don't shit. And there she meets ML, Wilhelm, who was also known as a mad dog of crown prince in her past life. I skip the age gap, because it's really WEIRD, like why. As scheming and unfeeling as she is right now she decided to bring him up and raise him well, to make him her own pawn.
But she's too goody two shoes. From one side she is "scheming and cruel", but from other side she is "compassionate and doesn't want to hurt anybody". like the same thing happened with Dulcinea. This bitch was responsible for the conflict that took away many lives, she is partially responsible for your father's death, why you pity her? Because she was a victim? She was not, she was a piece of trash.Girl, you always make assumptions about others and that will be your problem with many things, including ML.
All I want to say is that she's not cut out for revenge, at least not in my eyes. Because of her wavering ML had the chance to do what he wanted to do and basically did everything FOR her. And of course she was mad at him lol Even though she said not once she wanted to pierce Michel's heart herself. But did she do anything or explained clearly what SHE WANTS TO DO? Nope. I really couldn't see if she had any consequences if she just started conqering all land and capital too (thus she didn't proceed overthrowing the dynasty), if killing Michel openly would have consequences, it felt vague, so you are left with what author directed their characters to do.
Which was quite dumb. They conquered this land and they are summoned and this is where shit started going downhill for me, because they agreed as if it's something they can't refuse, while I thought, girl, kill the bitches and THEN bury your father in other place, Emperor finds out that Wilhelm is that illegitimate son, but the Empress is not having any of it, so they steal Rein's father's body *facepalm* and openly blackmails the two, so Wilhelm agrees to offer loyalty to the crown prince and lose the chance to get the throne to get the body back. Again, like there's no other option and nothing is explored, you get what you get. But while this is going on Wilhelm has secret meetings with Dulcinea and used her to kill Michel. This was frustrating tbh, but actually Wilhelm had his own accounts to settle, with Dulcinea too. He knew she was a bitch, so he didn't pity her ending. Actually, he was smart in using someone's hands to kill Michel to complete revenge and stay clean... but then.. he actually brings Michel's body to Rein. And I thought she'd be just mad, but as it happened, she is not better than him in being cray-cray, because she stabbed the dead body (btw there would be no splatter and they were all covered in blood, just for the effect) AND THEN THEY HAVE THEIR FIRST TIME and I'm like.. EWE.. are you doing it covered in blood? What about the stench? You see, I can't help but thinking such things. They make do, confess some things to each other and it feels like they will reach peace. But of course sadomasochistic stories don't exist without escalation.
And that is author decided to revive the character we thought was dead and not only, we also find out that Wilhelm lied about when exactly he got his memories back, meaning when he fought with Barbarians he could have saved Dietrich, but his jealous heart made him do the opposite. And for Reinhardt it was a big no, because he lied several times to her and she won't have any of it.
Honestly, for a woman who is 8 years older than him, she didn't act any wiser. Like we don't analyze why he did that. She becomes like just an emotional mess and is not less toxic than him. Which is unfortunate portrayal. Even after hearing his story. The reader might get some sympathy from it. But it gives him motivation to why he does things his own way, because unlike her he lived first life in a muddled way, was used and trampled on, so no wonder he had screw loose in his head and did not know how to live a normal life. So only after they break up again and she doesn't want to see him and they meet years later only for her to hear Dietrich relay Wilhelm's words that finally give her a wake-up call. That she loves him and she is bad at not listening to him and she rushes out after him. Like this all happens for the dramatic effect okay?
I can only see a redemption arc after it, if author does not decide to pull another trick, I'd say it would be a worst decision ever, because there are enough emotional conflicts already. They only now have a chance to show that they're not two bastard parents who treat their own children like crap, that they finally developed and matured themselves to sit and talk and not stand and shout. Honestly, the age by 80+ chapters is Wilhelm is 28 then she is 36. It's damn time for you to settle down.
Conclusion: Some short videos are so misleading. I saw a part where he recognizes his daughter and thought it's the "run with the ball(baby)" type of content, but nope. It's just acid, toxic acid.
DU DUN. This sfx pissed me off so much by the end of reading you have no idea :'D

Was interested in the concept, but the dynamics somehow spun out into everything I personally dislike. I had to tap out around chapter 79 (?).

Was expecting manipulative/dark FL and devoted/obsessive ML, and you get the ML in a sense, but the way it's done is personally unappealing.

FL:
She's set up as being manipulative and set on revenge, and she has some fun moments of that, but she simultaneously has too much of a conscience to really lean into the revenge/exploit the ML and too little of a conscience for me to feel bad for her. The ML basically does the entirety of the revenge - they throw in a few moments of her being smart at the beginning and then expect that to carry through the whole thing, and there are a bunch of stupid/bizarre things that happen out of nowhere plot-wise.

ML:
Now, ML is certainly obsessive, but in a direction I hate. He's all "I will do anything for you, I'm literally useless without you," but then goes behind the FL's back constantly and lies to her about literally everything. I mean, is it more realistic? Sure, but I'm here for unhealthy but hot obsessiveness, not incredibly frustrating obsessiveness. To be fair though, that is more of a personal preference point. The ML is overall just frustrating, and then

Overall, if you want to watch two people catapult their relationship into hell in the most frustrating way possible, go for it. Otherwise, I'd pass. If it ended earlier I would have called it unsatisfying but fine, but the next arc pushed it into full nope for me.

... Last updated on July 3rd, 2024, 9:13pm

I just finished chapter 75 and that’s not the end just yet. Here’s what I thought:
Really toxic relationship.
The good part was romantic and well done. Great chemistry together.
But! But…. ML is a yandere. It wasn’t obvious at first, but it got craaaazy. FL’s got some crazy in her as well (it’s a revenge story, so gotta have some of that). ML more crazy than FL. At the same time, if you can ignore all of that, it’s kinda romantic how into her he is. He’d go into great, great length to be with her. It’s extremely toxic. The man’s a walking red flag. But a hot red flag.

Reading this was like a rollercoaster. Some really unexpected plot twists.

I see some mixed reviews here and I agree with them. It was hard to get through. It’s like watching a train wreck, but I’m still watching it cuz I’m no stranger to this genre and I’m hoping and praying still for some kind of happy ending.

My rating is for the story NOT the art. The art itself is actually nice. I don’t even know where to begin with this story. I started to read it because it seemed very interesting. I usually love revenge stories. This is the only exception that not only do I not like, but I can’t stand.

On the subject of grooming during the reincarnation. When the FL meets the ML and he is still a child, she clearly takes him in with the intention of using him however, I do not think there’s any grooming actually happening, she doesn’t even consider having a relationship with him until he’s already older.

The story itself had so much potential to be amazing. There’s a few elements I can’t really deal with, and I don’t understand why it’s included in the story. In my opinion the story would have been better without these:

*Spoilers ahead*
- The FL never gets over the fact that the ML care of their revenge, she had been plotting the entire story after her reincarnation. Years go by where she can’t get over it and she does horrible things because of it…
- it turns out that the entire entire time the FL is a horrible person… she starts to show how selfish and self centered she is. She literally only cared about about her revenge. She didn’t care about the ML or the kids she ends up having with the ML.

Some may argue that she actually loves her children, but is confused… She doesn’t - she literally hates her first son and only shows “affection” for her second child (her daughter) because of the guilt associated with how she treats her first born.
- She takes all of her anger out on her first born son, everyone knows she’s doing this and nobody does anything to stop her.
- the fact that this happens at the end of the story after the main antagonist is murdered and it’s reveals that the ML kept his memories from the previous life as well just really takes away from the story. It’s almost like the story becomes about something else when it’s supposed to be a revenge story about the FL getting the crown prince to pay for what he did.

I can’t root for a FL who takes all their toxic traits (after they’ve already lived twice) and decides to use them against their own child. as an extension, I simply can’t root for a story where this is happens either.

I don’t recommend this as a reader for anybody. I think that there are much better revenge stories out there. There are much better stories with toxic couples (if that’s your thing).

... Last updated on April 17th, 2024, 8:13am

Dropped on Ch 12, probably too soon, but meh.
The FL and ML relationship was too weird for me to continue. Even if the age gap is not that big (maybe, I'm still not sure), he behaves like a child anyway.
Dietrich should be the undisputed ML, I was liking his character. We need more Dietrich-like ML!

... Last updated on January 24th, 2024, 9:31pm

If you're turned off by the whole child-to-lover plus age gap thing, good for you because yuck, but also the situation is not what it seems. What we were shown isn't the full picture, and the full picture really changes things fundamentally.
Big story spoiler from chapter 55 explaining the above:
Female lead isn't all that likeable. She's a bit dreary, but that's understandable. It's not a comedy, so a woman set on completing her revenge for trauma that she's unable to escape from isn't going to exactly be all that charming, or nice. She's cold and selfish and withdrawn, unwilling to form sincere and genuine close bonds with people. I don't need to like a character to enjoy the whole story and world. She's not grating or annoying or dumb.

Update: it gets awful after 70 chapters. I REALLY enjoyed it at first so I'm pretty disappointed at how much the story unraveled and how terrible the direction the characters went is. Just miserable.
Don't bother with this story.

... Last updated on June 23rd, 2024, 8:28pm

Somehow, this was worse than I expected. And not because of the grooming. No, see, ML clearly and obviously looks like a child (Like, half the FL's height) when they meet, fair enough. Boom, he's actually 16! Fair enough as well. The problems start with the 2 month timeskip. 2 months was all it took for ML to grow one and a half of his original body height. That's a 150% increase in height, in 2 months. No. Just, no. Add this to ALL the signs of a bad/toxic dynamic and it's a mega-drop for me.

I come to this webtoon with a very low expectations but i was blown by it, first of all this webtoon hardly explain how the universe work but they slowly show it. Some plot hole here and there but eventually, they show bits by bits and then it end up making me wonder and think alot.

Like at first i was so pissy because they did not explain the coming back to the past power at first, but suprise they did not just forget about it but slip it in!!. This also happen alot in few images that i feel like its intentionally, it's how they want to tell the story. Without explaining, i feel like this is actually a good drama webtoon which make you connect dots slowly because they just throw stuff in.

Probably the only thing i didn't like is that the MC is mentally stable on some part 💀 like uhhh okay i guess.

Also TW with toxic relationship and grooming (but actually the LI

So yeah 9/10 because i enjoy reading it.