Part/s I liked:
The twist. Well, partly. I've read a few isekai stories and the common denominator has always been a sole FL whose goal is to avoid conflicts or death since they knew how the story would end. But not this one. Evie actually had no idea how the story would unfold despite being aware that she was reading a novel prior to her death. Another point is that I was surprised by the revelation
of one of the candidates being actually one of the protagonists of their multi-volume story.
That twist alone could give this manhwa plot extension and rising conflicts without forcefully dragging the story to end. But, yeah. This has only 71 chapters and I am convinced that it's too short.
Evie. She stood out not only because of her commoner social status, just like some other series. Cliche but I love how her physical appearance smashed the stereotype. And if I remember correctly, she was the only one with that kind of hairstyle, which is why her character stuck out symbolically as well.
Part/s I didn't like:
Weak to no character development. First and foremost and I'm sorry, the execution of the ML's character. Like Dengeki Daisy, I think the author intended to make the ML's identity seem obvious. If that was the case, they should have revealed it within the first few chapters. The author put the reader in the FL's shoes initially but I personally think that that tactic failed. Otherwise, I don't see any reason why it had to reach numerous chapters before
Violet's character was "revealed". It would have been more surprising if the masked version of the ML had different physique and interacted a few more times with the characters.
That way, they could lure the readers into thinking of another character. It's actually pretty predictable that I had an internal debate whether to put spoiler or not.
Violet was like he skipped a large gap to arrive to how his character ended up.
Numerous times, he declared that he had to play the bad guy.
But honestly, I didn't see the depth of that. I also didn't see him as a partner to Evie. In fact, I was rooting for Renok and honestly, I felt like he's got more potential character development albeit rushed.
And what about Selena?
She was dead set on declaring that her position was secured right from the start. But for me, there was really no final showdown between her and Evie--the latter was obviously the winner in the first place (no pun intended) because of her trump card.
Weak conflict.
Violet repeatedly spoke of how he was sorry that he had to play dirty and that the crown princess was already chosen to begin with.
But towards the last few chapters, I found it hard to believe that he was actually struggling. There was no scene where I felt that I could sympathize with the ML simply because I didn't see an inner battle against himself. No, he wasn't torn between his duty as a crown prince and as a lover.
! He simply decided that he'd choose the FL just because of one dance.
And because of that, the king (who was also the primary antagonist) looked like he was just designed solely for the purpose of the story having an antagonist. There was just one scheme from him towards the end of the series but it didn't seem a dramatic climax and "final boss" to me.
I seriously think that the only thing that compelled this story to reach up to more than 70 chapters was Evie's desire to bring a revolution to the way the contest was held. There was no apparent and permanent end to the corrupted system of the contest either. That final resort served as a deus-ex-machina just so Evie and Violet could have a happy ending.
I could also overlook those random numbers at the start of the story given that Evie was the protagonist of the story (or the world) she was in.
That could be her luck, but it was too much of a coincidence that her birthday coincided with the crown prince's rule of "numbers no more than 45". What frustrated me the most was his surprised reaction when Evie told him the reason behind her choice of numbers. I thought there was something significant about it that would be revealed in the later chapters but no. That was purely random of a reason so Evie could join the contest.
All in all, I didn't enjoy the romance. What got me hooked was how the formed alliance thought of tactics to win the contest. It was more of a story about friendship and girl power to me.
(-8)
(+373)
