Very well written. I agree with what you’ve mentioned in 2nd half of your post as I have not read the story yet. Is it possible for you to spoil it for me. I’d greatly appreciate it actually
Thank you! I will try to spoil some things without giving away too much but since a lot of things occur in the novel in great detail, I will leave the link to the novel forum where someone has summarized the entire novel in less words.
( https://www.novelupdatesforum.com/threads/cry-even-better-if-you-beg.110040/)
(SPOILER WARNING!!)
Unlike other problematic MLs like Bastian who have past tramua resulting in the way they treat FLs, Matthias has none of that. Like he stated in ch 10, he deems himself living the perfect life as he had the most ideal upbringing. He's a very reserved character who's good at concealing his inner emotions but he's a little bit of a brat. He develops this possession over Layla where he will do anything to get her: he sabotaged her engagement with Kyle and managed to stop her from going to college in another place just so she can stay in Arvis. He does little things that force her to come to him like taking her stuff or threatening to harm her and Kyle's messager bird. And if the cherry on top isn't the worst, he starts using Uncle Bill against her as a means to sleep with her.
The worst part about how Matthias treats her compared to the ML in "The Mistress Runs Away," is that Layla isn't recognised as an official mistress. While I wouldn't word her as the side piece since Matthias gives her more affection then Claudine, she is easily dismissed to the side when Matthias and Claudine are together. Matthias who wants the perfect life still wishes to marry Claudine who is of noble status however his greed also makes him want to keep Layla. If anything, the novel made me feel for Claudine who had a fiance rolling around in the sheets while she waited years to become an ideal lady worthy of marrying him. It is confirmed that Matthias did plan to eventually make FL his mistress since his father and grandfather had done so but she ran away while he was planning for it. The men in this genre never consider how both girls feel and the author handles pretty well how neither Layla nor Claudine are accepting of this predicament: Claudine feels robbed while Layla feels guilty. The two even met once Claudine found out and Claudine told Layla to leave Matthias which she accepted. Matthias is selfish enough to keep both girls as long as he obtains his perfect satisfied life and only finally lets go of Claudine after holding back their wedding for years when he realizes he loves Layla who had ran away.
Like the description explains, if Matthias can't have something then he seeks to harm it. When Layla ran away, Matthias went depressed and eventually enrolled in the military to cancel his marriage with Claudine since if he died then she would become a widow with no children so it forced her family to break up the engagement. By sheer coincidence did he find Layla again in an area conquered by war so he decided to go kidnap her and hold her against her will in confinement. (He did eventually realise he had to let her go when she grew sick due to pregnancy but by then, she came to accept her feelings for him.) After the war ended, he told his family he wished to marry Layla and pretty much threatened them to either allow his marriage or he leaves the family (which is pretty big since he's the only child and heir of the Duchy.) Matthias goes to many extremes to get what he wants, he's quite intelligent to work with what he has to create schemes that give him exactly what he wishes for.
Meanwhile I feel pity for Layla since she's a victim that does a lot to resist but she's depicted as a small prey in the hands of a powerful predator where she's helpless. It isn't until near the end of the novel that Layla comes to terms that she loves Matthias. For the longest time, she convinces herself that she hates him and hates herself when she starts to notice signs of her loving him back. Her character is honestly quite sad as she lost a lot of people and it comes to the point where the only person she has left is Matthias. I had mixed feelings about the ending in the novel, the two end up together and it felt inevitable but still somewhat bittersweet. It's pretty clear that Matthias is endgame however he does so many twisted things that make it hard to picture a good ending. I won't spoil the ending bc it was quite sweet and clever way to wrap up the main story but you can see it on novel forum.
I'd recommend reading the novel since it was quite the exprience. I hate Matthias but I liked the lesson the author told and how his characters delivers it pretty well: how toxic power/class difference is in a relationship.
thank you for the long spoiler! ╮(￣▽￣)╭ it helped me realize that i should drop the story, don't like this kind of weak FLs and a**hole MLs, too annoying :(
No problem! I also hate this normalised romance trend of toxic relationships where typically female leads are depicted as powerless against the abusive male lead. The reason why this story was so popular was due to the writer's beautiful use of metaphors because I doubt the ratings would've been so high had it been written like most other novels.
yes, the art is gorgeous, uncle rulz, but the fact that he is unfaithful is the most annoying this and makes him a huge AH from my pov.
Wow, thank you soooo much. I really Appreciate the post. I honestly believe you saved me the heartache from reading this story. The Art is so beautiful tho. And the novel sounds pretty complete too. My only issue personally in regards to continuing the story is the FL being in such a sad situation from what seems like the majority of the time in the story. Does she ever get the upper hand in this relationship of theirs. Or is it I’m assuming she was the overall prize of his selfish game. And the end .
But again thank youuuuuuu so much
Thank you so much. I will keep reading, the story is well written despite all the complains and the art is just too beautiful to miss.
I've read the novel and as much as I hate toxic male leads, that's the whole point of this story. Matthias is addressed as a cruel person by numerous people throughout the novel, that's the genre of the story. It's supposed to be dark, similar to Killing Stalking. While I completely understand the complaints, there's no point since the author wrote this story with the goal of it being about possession and power differences. Layla is like a poor bird trapped inside a painful cage by Matthias who would rather kill his birds then let them flee his grasp. Abusing his authority to bind her to him, that's the whole point of the story. I quite like how the story uses metaphors of how disgusting nobles treat those lower then them like animals. If an awful male lead isn't your cup of tea, then this story DEFINITELY isn't recommended for you. Matthias isn't a character about growth or change, he does what he does to get what he wants until he succeeds.
One thing I will admit tho.. romanticising this sort of behavior is extremely problematic and when writing this form of fiction, writers should be more clear within the story of what is and isn't ethical and moral for the viewers who digest this type of content wrong. Readers should also be careful when consuming this sort of literature, not everything has to teach a lesson of good deeds and acts. Some stories will purposefully depict horrid things to showcase the reality of the world we live in and signs to avoid.
My little ted talk is done, see yall for ch 11.