same!! this is one of those few, sporadic cases where I'm willing to excuse (not justify, tho) the toxic because the story is just so good and I'm so invested! Author really did a good job in building up the plot (▰˘◡˘▰)
ikrrrr!!! like, the depth, the tension (not even in sexually way) everything is just so attractive to me. the way the story goes is quite unpredictable, not taking the mainstream turns if i may say. idk if it's just me or...
yup!! it's quite different from, dare i say, painter of the night. i kept reading bc the art was scrumptious, but the plot *to me* was almost non-existent and all the rape, abuse, stockholm syndrome type of beat was really, really, really hard to read.
Now this.
This is beautiful.
Yeah the rape elements are awful!! we know that! But we have other stuff that's going on that's literally more important than smut. I want to know about the *plot*, not the sex; and I love it because the sex serves to advance the plot itself. the angst is just too good.
Past two chapters were a bit of a hard read, but it kinda paid back in the end bc we got to see both of them coming to terms with their conflicting feelings toward each other.
ML showed us that "Yes, I knew- I suspected you wanted to kill me, but you showed me genuine affection and what was that? Was that just deceiving and lying? Was it ever sincere? Can I take that tiny, minuscule chance of it being sincere?" Ughh, we could actually see the hurt and the hope in his words. Like he really wanted it to be true, despite suspecting it to be a lie. Thus, the feeling of betrayal.
MC, on the other hand: "Yes, I want to kill you, I want to take revenge on you for killing my family (fair enough). But also you showed me that you had no other choice, and this is making me feel conflicted. And still, you shower me with affection. And still, you hold me in the highest regard possible. And still, I'm developing these awful feelings for you that I will deny and will keep denying because I can't afford that, and I'd rather kms than admitting and acting on them, because my revenge comes before anything"
This set up is just so good. I'm so excited for the next chapter because from the looks of it they will probably figure something out of this inexplicable, wonderful mess.
Sorry for the super long reply but I just love this manhwa so much
exactly!!! this story is so well-written so even the hard-to-swallow moments and aspects of it make sense because they actually do serve the plot.
omg yes theyre not toxic for the sake of being toxic! the characters have history & their toxicity actually works well together???? thats a good writing that is
ahhhh they're so toxic but i dont particularly dislike it, at all. i like it so much even. the story and the plot is good, this is why, toxic bls isnt the problem. it's the quality of the story that matters.