Let's not forget that rape wasn't just on the wedding night...
OH MY GOSH THANK YOUUUU! I knew from the start that I absolutely DESPISED the Male Lead. I already disliked him from the syart with how mean he can be, And his struggle with communication DOESN'T excuse that. I'm pretty sure I saw someone say that the reason Rifta. Is so much more OBSESSED with the the FL than he ever was, was because as he fell for her, I thi k he wanted Ruth to show him an illusion of Maxi in his dreams, but Ruth got the Spell wrong and made Riftan even more OBSESSED.
BUt in any case from the Start the way Riftan is in general is the type of ML I hate. Too brute and crude, and just awfully rude to everyone " except" the FL and I say this in quotations because he actually is still VERY AWFUL to the FL too. Everyone kept saying they " Promise there is more to Riftan " But I think I should understand him even HERE without the POV and I'm not gonna read the Novel and his POV because I've confirmed that he's just awful. Even the previous chapter now proves, Yes communication is hard. But you'll notice that its the FL who actually pushes herself to communicate more with him. He just chooses to wallow in his insecurities about not being able to provie riches for her. And I also don't get this. Is it just me or has Maxi not made it clear SO MANY TIMES, VERBALLY OR THROUGH HER ACTIONS, that she's clearly not somebody who cares about those things.Any smart person can put 2 and 2 with all the context Maxi provides, She has very little self confidence, She barely ever asks for many things even when there is a lot she can get. She pushes herself to help others and she's not your typical Noble Lady. But yet he still has this preconceived notion that Maxi is this spoiled Noble Lady, who cares about things like this, And he's constantly brings that up. Riftan is just the problem in the entire relationship. One thing that pisses me off about this story is the smut aspect of it. Why is it that whilst they are still having a conversation Riftan has to start wanting to have sex with her. Its okay to want to be intimate but all the damn time they never get to have a MUCH needed full blown conversation without Riftan drifting it off to lets shut up and have sex Maxi. ONCE AGAIN Maxi is ALWAYS the one trying to communicate, But this man REFUSES to speak. And at rhe end of it all, He just starts screaming and being awful to her, and then ONCE AGAIN we end it with an UNNECESSARY sex scene.
As I said before Riftan is the type of MALE lead I've despised and found annoying for a long time. The type that treats others with barely any REAL decency and only treats the FL right. It may come of as sweet, But it just so wrong. Because imagine he starts to dislike the FL, or get angry at her? HOW DOES HE END UP TREATING HER?A typical ML like that would start treating in the same disrespectful way he would treat anybody else. And funny, this is EXACTLY how Riftan is. When he gets Angry, He screams and says all sorts of things to Maxi. And its not like he HAS to be overly friendly and Kind to everyone. He just has to be decent towards people. DECENT. Treat others with respect. Ik I can speak for a lot of people when I say this, But when a Man shows common decency, Something simple as speaking respect towards others, It shows that they have a good character which makes them more lovable. I'm not saying he should allow people to disrespect him, But I'm also sayinf he shouldn't disrespect others. BUT RIFTAN, Nooo he even disrespects his wife, He can't show his concerns towards Maxi about her being reckless without screaming at her and after all that he has sex with her. I SWEAR I'M SO HAPPY SEEING SOMEONE FINALLY SPEAK OUT ON RIFTAN, I THOUGHT I MIGHT BE THE ONLY ONE AND THAT I MAY BE A LITTLE INSENSITIVE TOWARDS RIFTAN'S UP BRINGING, But like, He's a grown man, At a certain we can't keep excusing your awful behaviour, Just because he was forced doesn't mean he should be treating her like trash. And I've noticed that people hate Maxi more than they hate Riftan, and it boils my blood. And I do understand the frustration for Maxi's character in terms of her recklessness, and that I wish she'd be more careful, ESPECIALLY with how weak she is. I wish she'd stop putting herself in danger, And almost dying, I've noticed that Maxi is ONE OF the only FLs that make my heart race with anxiety worrying for her. But I'd come to her defense Any day over Riftan, Yah I'll critcise her recklessness but I'd take her side. Because ONCE again Maxi is the one pulling ALL the strings in the relationship, This is why they also have NO chemistry or their relationship has never felt romantic to me. I keep having to repeat this, But while Maxi is communicating, Riftan wants to have sex. While Maxi's is trying make her point as to why she really wants to help Riftan screams shouts and then wants to have sex. Maxi despite her stutter, Pushes herself to actually be clear with Riftan, And yet ONLY Riftan, Is more unclear and unresponsive than Maxi. I'm so disappointed in people actually condoning Riftan's behaviour. And frankly I feel like its EXACTLY these traits that make Riftan look SO UGLY to me.
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk
Since you sat through *my* TED Talk, it's only fair to return the gesture.
Jokes aside, I can't tell you just how happy I am to see the growing number of readers finally realizing that Riftan is just a sick, insufferable, and overall awful character, and because of him, the story feels unsalvageable. The biggest issues I have with the series is that 1) the disingenuous and misleading marketing by Manta as well as the fandom had me believing the story was some epic, wholesome fairytale romance when it's the complete opposite, and 2) the fact that despite the story clearly being about growth and healing, this development exists for only *one* of the two protagonists.
I'd have no reason to feel such passionate disappointment for this series if it told a well-written and consistent story about the messy cycle of abuse and the healing process that follows. It's why I love other historical romance manhwas like My Beloved Oppressor. The issue is that unlike MBO, the narrative seldom, if ever, calls out Riftan's problematic behavior, and when a character *does* happen to do so, the narrative never has Riftan sit with that reckoning, it never fully holds him accountable, and ultimately it's why he never develops in any meaningful way. Any self-reflection that his character would've benefited from is scrapped in favor of poorly-timed, tasteless and unnecessary sex scenes. In contrast, many *perceptive* readers love Maxi despite her obvious flaws because we see her being proactive in her pursuit of growth and self-discovery. We watch her struggle and stand back up, and she visibly improves over time, yet—as you mentioned, for some reason, Maxi faces more judgment than Riftan does.
Riftan, by comparison, feels lacking in both growth as well as in personality. He's supposed to develop and heal in conjunction with Maxi, yet if anything, he serves more as a constant obstacle for her to overcome. They're perpetually at odds with each other because—despite Maxi's repeated attempts to get through to this moron—Riftan would rather solve all of their issues with sex instead of genuine communication. A story where only the FL develops while her husband acts as a blockade in her character arc is far too exhausting for someone like me to sit through. Ultimately, the disappointment hits especially hard because of how both Manta and the fandom hyped up the story as well as their relationship. I was basically lied to, and I wasted months of my time and strained my mental health in hopes of seeing whether or not their relationship would improve. Such a damn waste.
Yup, and his apologists swear that what he did was not rape. I swear, they're fucking delusional.
I feel you so much on this. I mostly read this story on Bato, and on Bato they'd constantly hype up the ML, say he's hot and he has more context as to why he is the way he is. But I'm sorry even if you give me his sob story I'll never like him. He has low EQ. Him only expressing his love through sex spells out a very BIG issue in our society. Because yes I believe sex is the Most intimate activity between a couple. But when a couple is this strained in their relationship, Sex only leaves a bad taste in my mouth. They haven't fixed their underlying conflicts in their relationship, they haven't cleared out any misunderstandings and they haven't grown together, Only one keeps trying and growing, And the other refuses to change. To me Riftan is like a man Who views His partner as a simple Sex object, Have my fun with her, and thats all the discussion we need. And him having this idealised illusion of Maxi in his head makes it even more disgusting. Its sad to say but Maxi other flaw is not seeing the bountiful amount of red flags this guy has. And I can't blame her on it, But its also weird, Everyone else like the Knights and Ruth treat her with a great deal of respect, and one might say well ofc they treat her with respect she's their Master's wife, But thats beside the point. Its just the fact that they treat another man's wife with more dignity and respect than the actual Husband. Why must Maxi latch on to this false sense of love, when she's been giving better care from others than her own husband. Heck a few chaoters before he literally threw her on the bed and started screaming at hef, in WHAT WAY is this cute or romantic? This " Love " is love, and their relationship is just a classic tail of Victim x Abuser
It’s so funny to me y’all are giving your opinions and being critical like y’all spent a dime on this webtoon. Reading on a pirate site and treating the characters like they’re irl celebs whose morale should align with yours because you know best right ?
Very stupid of you to assume considering I actually did spend money on this garbage story on the Manta app, and considering how garbage it is, I regret ever spending a single dime.
Also, what's it to you if I criticize an awfully written character. Get bent.
did they hint or show this in the manhwa? i cant seem to remember
So, the scene it's pretty watered down in the manhwa, however if you read the chapters in the novel version, it's much more explicit and graphic.
Tell me what Reading on this website and not paying has anything to do with criticism, Valid Criticism. You people act like everyone has their own money, Some of us are broke as hell, Don't you think the lot of us would actually pay to read these stories if we had the money, But hey SPOILER ALERT, We're not made of money. All the time when someone is criticising anything about the story, WHICH is very valud, Y'all wanna come talking about, " Its just a comic its not that deep " And who said we're treating them like celebs, You're not making any sense Shin, At the end of the day we all have every right to criticise Riftan's behaviour as viewers, You acting like criticism is something we shouldn't be doing just because we're reading on a Pirated websites says a lot about your insensitive self. If there was an opportunity or a chance for me to buy these Manhwas and If I had the means, I DEFINITELY will buy it, But the only way we can slightly engage in content like this is through pirating, How do you think people started to read manhwas? There is no other choice but to Pirate, Some of us don't even have a dime to our names. And if you're going to criticise people for being on this website, Why are you here? Acting all higher than thee
I don't know if you talked about it because I read up to the point where you read about Riftan asking Ruth for a spell? But he got confused and it turned out that he was obsessed with Maxi because of it. My internet connection is poor, so I'll read the rest when it gets better
I didn't cover that part in this rant, but I made reference to it in another comment, I think.
Oh, I sorry then
So, I originally wrote this as a review for the series, but I feel the need to address this here because, frankly, I'm sick of the gaslighting from the UTOT fandom.
I noticed that on Goodreads, there are several 1–2 star reviews bombing the story (as they should) for the graphic depiction of sexual assault in the first few chapters of the manhwa and *especially* the novel. Despite the obvious rape scene, I've noticed that several fans of both the novel and the manhwa have vehemently denied that the scene was non-consensual. So, for the sake of accuracy and integrity, I did my own digging. From Reddit discussions to actually reading the novel, including chapters of Riftan's POV side story, I can confirm that, despite what many believe, Riftan 100% rapes Maxi. Full stop, so let's quit pretending he doesn’t just to preserve his image.
This isn’t going to be a review of the story itself, but rather my take on why the ML, the author, and the fandom deserve criticism.
Firstly, before officially confirming it, I figured as much that the main defense many fans use to justify Riftan's assault—claiming it was "non-consensual for both parties"—is that Riftan was forced into marrying Maxi by the Duke—Maxi's father—after Riftan’s stepfather was kidnapped on the Duke's orders.
Here’s the main issue that readers intentionally overlook:
Riftan was only forced into *marriage*—*not sexual intercourse.* At least, not the way many fans claim; while he had no say in the overall arrangement, he absolutely had the agency and responsibility to stop the moment Maxi expressed discomfort—*which she does repeatedly though tears.* And yet, despite this, he didn’t. Not once. He becomes belligerent and forceful, and when he finishes, he leaves her traumatized, though not before leaving her, without word, for THREE WHOLE YEARS.
Hell, right before the assault, he even asks Maxi if she wants him to leave the room. This makes it apparent that he didn’t see sex as a strict marriage requirement, considering he was seemingly fine if Maxi refused. With that in mind, he could have compromised at any point, even if he didn't openly communicate, since this was still early in their relationship. At the very least, he could have just claimed they’d “fulfilled their marital duties” both out of respect for Maxi and her body as well as a "fuck you" to the Duke. Honestly, had he done this, he could’ve been a much more compelling and layered ML: cold, detached, and aloof on the outside, but prioritizing his wife’s comfort over his own. Instead, we get the tired, problematic ML that’s become synonymous in many Korean novels and manhwas—a lust-driven, emotionally inept, borderline abusive cave hobo (commonly one who has tanned skin) who can’t keep his hands off his wife because he "LOvEs hER SO MucH UwU!!!"
Something worth mentioning: upon his return, he's visibly upset with Maxi simply because he expected her to be happy to see him after being gone for several years. So, he rapes her and leaves her without explanation for three years, and yet, somehow, he thinks HE deserves to be upset with *Maxi??*
Also, before anyone says otherwise, yes, as I mentioned earlier, I am aware that the Duke had essentially threatened to harm Riftan's stepfather if he did not comply with the marriage. Here's the thing, though: after Maxi's discomfort becomes apparent—her explicitly *pleading* with Riftan through tears, mind you—at no point does Riftan attempt to stop. Instead, he continues his assault, and he becomes more aggressive, even verbally hostile at one point. His sympathizers argue that because consummation was expected, Riftan had no choice but to comply. But that’s not really accurate. Consummation only requires sex to happen, but it does not require it to happen in *that* exact way, and certainly not while Maxi is crying and begging him to fucking stop. At no point during the scene is Riftan forced to continue having sex once it begins. Simply put, Riftan might have been a pressured groom, but he was NOT a coerced sexual participant.
Now, for the sake of the argument, suppose that sex was 100% a requirement imposed by the Duke himself. This absolutely does NOT excuse Riftan’s appalling behavior. If he was aware of Maxi’s visible discomfort, then he could have simply approached her gradually, guided with trust and care, checking in with Maxi, exploring her boundaries rather than outright ignoring them. He could have focused on easing her discomfort instead of escalating it. "He was a virgin." Okay, sure, but let's stop with these weak-ass excuses. He was inexperienced, not fucking stupid. The narrative makes it clear that Riftan was painfully aware of Maxi’s discomfort. Even if sex was 'required,' he could've approached it safely and consensually, instead of forcing her while she was crying and writhing in pain. His failure to do so was not an accident—it was entirely his choice, and that choice is the heart of why the scene qualifies as sexual assault.
So that’s it. After hearing this excuse repeated endlessly online by his sympathizers, *this* is why the rape night is allegedly “non-consensual for both”? What a fucking weak justification. It reeks of the fandom desperately trying to salvage Riftan’s character simply because they personally like him. How appalling. This wasn’t a well-written or compelling scene, as some fans claim. *This just reads as the author inserting her disgusting rape fetish in the very first chapter of the story.*
A word of advice for those who've ardently urged me to read Riftan's POV story to "understand him better," if the author needs a fucking side story from the male lead's perspective to justify an assault scene’s impact on both characters, then the original narrative has already failed—what could have been compelling drama instead reads as gratuitous, harmful writing.