Words cannot describe the love I have for this story. I still remember getting into historical manhwas back in 2021 and remember randomly coming across this series when it wasn’t as big as it is today. I was so infatuated with the plot as no other historical manhwa I had read was like it. After season one ended I was so sad because I remember for months I would check if this story updated but it hadn’t and after over a year I was so happy to see season two was finally being uploaded and I decided let me let it marinate for a while because I couldn’t put myself through the one chapter a week feeling like I did for season 1. Well finally today 12/04/26 I decided let me finally catchup after seeing so many edits over the years on it. And I finished it in one day.
The love between Iske and Ruby will forever have a dear place in my heart. The way I yearned for the love that Ruby received from this man actually had me in tears thinking about it, they were so amazing. There is a song on tiktok trending, remixed with Katy Perry, called “LEGENDARY LOVERS” and it kept playing in my head whenever izke and ruby had any encounter. My heart genuinely ached when izke gave Ruby the flower crown because it’s so much deeper than just giving his wife jewlelry. It’s the fact that izke knew that Ruby and cezar had kissed and rather than being appalled and turn away from Ruby he knew deep down there was much more to it and stuck by her side. The hostility Ruby was so used to seeing in people’s eyes was nowhere to be seen in Iske eyes; the warm smile he gave her makes me want to shed tears because at that moment Ruby finally understood that she can finally receive what she has dreamed of her whole life: LOVE. Ruby crying made my heart ache even more because she finally understood that, even with her twisted family she’s deserving of love too, she doesn’t need read and dream about it, she can finally experience it herself, which she has been yearning for all these years. Iske and Ruby’s relationship exceed the bounds of classical cold duke and mistreated wife trope, their love is so much more than that, it’s what you call soulmates, true love, happiness so much more that words can’t even begin to describe.
The way we get a peak at izke internal monologue throughout the recent season has me in tears because he truly has intangible love for his wife. The scene whereby Ruby states that what would he do if she had committed smt rlly bad, instead of pushing her and stuff he literally says “I’ll be your accomplice” WHICH IS SO SO AHHHH. It just shows the devotion Iske has for Ruby and confirms how he will forever be on her side, just like the title of her story. Instead of standing with the majority when Ruby gets shunned, he stands by his wife hand in hand ready to slaughter those who dare to disrespect her. He was willing to get himself killed just to win her a crown for her to earn the respect of the nobles. Izke the man you areeeeeee <3333.
Ruby, sweet sweet Ruby. This whole time reading I just wished for her to be happy and I’m glad in the end she will be happy. The fact that she goes against her family standards of what it means to be the princess of Romana, what it means to be useful, what it means to be Rudbeckia de Borgia in order to save Iske and stay by his side is so admirable. She truly deserved the warmth and love she has been craving all these years and it’s so appealing to see her finally getting the love she deserves. I can’t get over that she truly did love him in her first life and she gave up her life in order to correct the mistakes she had committed. She was willing for another version of her to experience the true love she craved for and pushed away in her first life. It pains me that Iske in his first life truly did love Ruby but it was rejected. I’m so happy that in this life both of them are able to reciprocate the love they were desperate for.
I can’t talk about this series without mentioning Cesar de Borgia. I have to exclaim that Cesar truly is a despicable man. The suffering he has caused to Ruby and the people around her is baffling. The fact he is willing to kill his own brother in order to bring Ruby back, from a place she was happy in, shows the complexity within his character. I need to outline that just because one is abused doesn’t mean they need to inflict the abuse back. Cesar and Ruby are clear examples of outcomes of ur environment. While Ruby was abused her entire life, she learnt to deal with the trauma, move forward with the people she loved and make sure to break the chains to end the cycle. Whereas Cesar, who had horrific things done to him as a child also and experienced ongoing abuse from his father, he continued to strengthen the chains and continue the cycle. While Cesar actions are largely driven by how he was taught love as a child through his fathers mental and physical abuse, it doesn’t excuse the fact he surely knows as a adult that this isn’t the normal way to show “love” to your sister. In another life I hope that they were able to experience an healthy sibling bond without all the twisted thorns. It’s clear that Cesar feels obsession over Ruby due to the fact they both endured such hardships during their childhood as De Borgias. Truly seeing Cesar backstory made me feel pity for him. Pity does not mean I justify all he has done but rather I understand him a bit more and what led to CERTAIN things happening. May there be timeline where Cesar heals from his trauma and is able to be the big brother Ruby deserves.
How could I not mention Freya. Freya as a character genuinely just makes me speechless thinking about her actions. I liked how the manhwa showed the parralells between Freya and Ruby but Ruby clearly distinguished the differences between them: while Ruby did lie about certain things she didn’t openly hurt the people she cared about. I also think freya is somewhat a product of her environment because I think besides her own feelings towards Iske (and even Ellen), her family did influence her actions largely which doesn’t justify it. I feel like the manhwa did explain somewhat that her family had filled her head with the idea of the crown but like just damn Freya, the torment u put Ruby through genuinely cannot be justified. When Ruby exclaims how freya should’ve told Iske how she felt it really showed me something: you could be in the place u want to be if u just take that initiative earlier. I think Freya did truly love Iske in her own childish way but her tactics about it were extremely harmful like lord I just keep remembering the scene of Ellen finally puting an end on the friendship, my poor girl Ellen may she find happiness. Ahh I’m thinking of so many what if’s. What if in another timeline it was Iske and Freya, what if in another timeline it was Freya and Ruby as friends, what if in another timeline EVERYONE was happy. Oh lordddd.
Anyways I want to conclude it here but I truly appreciate the beauty of this manhwa. The amount of feelings I felt during reading this will hold a special place in my heart. While I don’t actively seek romantic relationships, seeing the love portrayed within Iske and Ruby makes me know for sure that is the type of love I hope to experience in the near future.
Words cannot describe the love I have for this story. I still remember getting into historical manhwas back in 2021 and remember randomly coming across this series when it wasn’t as big as it is today. I was so infatuated with the plot as no other historical manhwa I had read was like it. After season one ended I was so sad because I remember for months I would check if this story updated but it hadn’t and after over a year I was so happy to see season two was finally being uploaded and I decided let me let it marinate for a while because I couldn’t put myself through the one chapter a week feeling like I did for season 1. Well finally today 12/04/26 I decided let me finally catchup after seeing so many edits over the years on it. And I finished it in one day.
The love between Iske and Ruby will forever have a dear place in my heart. The way I yearned for the love that Ruby received from this man actually had me in tears thinking about it, they were so amazing. There is a song on tiktok trending, remixed with Katy Perry, called “LEGENDARY LOVERS” and it kept playing in my head whenever izke and ruby had any encounter. My heart genuinely ached when izke gave Ruby the flower crown because it’s so much deeper than just giving his wife jewlelry. It’s the fact that izke knew that Ruby and cezar had kissed and rather than being appalled and turn away from Ruby he knew deep down there was much more to it and stuck by her side. The hostility Ruby was so used to seeing in people’s eyes was nowhere to be seen in Iske eyes; the warm smile he gave her makes me want to shed tears because at that moment Ruby finally understood that she can finally receive what she has dreamed of her whole life: LOVE. Ruby crying made my heart ache even more because she finally understood that, even with her twisted family she’s deserving of love too, she doesn’t need read and dream about it, she can finally experience it herself, which she has been yearning for all these years. Iske and Ruby’s relationship exceed the bounds of classical cold duke and mistreated wife trope, their love is so much more than that, it’s what you call soulmates, true love, happiness so much more that words can’t even begin to describe.
The way we get a peak at izke internal monologue throughout the recent season has me in tears because he truly has intangible love for his wife. The scene whereby Ruby states that what would he do if she had committed smt rlly bad, instead of pushing her and stuff he literally says “I’ll be your accomplice” WHICH IS SO SO AHHHH. It just shows the devotion Iske has for Ruby and confirms how he will forever be on her side, just like the title of her story. Instead of standing with the majority when Ruby gets shunned, he stands by his wife hand in hand ready to slaughter those who dare to disrespect her. He was willing to get himself killed just to win her a crown for her to earn the respect of the nobles. Izke the man you areeeeeee <3333.
Ruby, sweet sweet Ruby. This whole time reading I just wished for her to be happy and I’m glad in the end she will be happy. The fact that she goes against her family standards of what it means to be the princess of Romana, what it means to be useful, what it means to be Rudbeckia de Borgia in order to save Iske and stay by his side is so admirable. She truly deserved the warmth and love she has been craving all these years and it’s so appealing to see her finally getting the love she deserves. I can’t get over that she truly did love him in her first life and she gave up her life in order to correct the mistakes she had committed. She was willing for another version of her to experience the true love she craved for and pushed away in her first life. It pains me that Iske in his first life truly did love Ruby but it was rejected. I’m so happy that in this life both of them are able to reciprocate the love they were desperate for.
I can’t talk about this series without mentioning Cesar de Borgia. I have to exclaim that Cesar truly is a despicable man. The suffering he has caused to Ruby and the people around her is baffling. The fact he is willing to kill his own brother in order to bring Ruby back, from a place she was happy in, shows the complexity within his character. I need to outline that just because one is abused doesn’t mean they need to inflict the abuse back. Cesar and Ruby are clear examples of outcomes of ur environment. While Ruby was abused her entire life, she learnt to deal with the trauma, move forward with the people she loved and make sure to break the chains to end the cycle. Whereas Cesar, who had horrific things done to him as a child also and experienced ongoing abuse from his father, he continued to strengthen the chains and continue the cycle. While Cesar actions are largely driven by how he was taught love as a child through his fathers mental and physical abuse, it doesn’t excuse the fact he surely knows as a adult that this isn’t the normal way to show “love” to your sister. In another life I hope that they were able to experience an healthy sibling bond without all the twisted thorns. It’s clear that Cesar feels obsession over Ruby due to the fact they both endured such hardships during their childhood as De Borgias. Truly seeing Cesar backstory made me feel pity for him. Pity does not mean I justify all he has done but rather I understand him a bit more and what led to CERTAIN things happening. May there be timeline where Cesar heals from his trauma and is able to be the big brother Ruby deserves.
How could I not mention Freya. Freya as a character genuinely just makes me speechless thinking about her actions. I liked how the manhwa showed the parralells between Freya and Ruby but Ruby clearly distinguished the differences between them: while Ruby did lie about certain things she didn’t openly hurt the people she cared about. I also think freya is somewhat a product of her environment because I think besides her own feelings towards Iske (and even Ellen), her family did influence her actions largely which doesn’t justify it. I feel like the manhwa did explain somewhat that her family had filled her head with the idea of the crown but like just damn Freya, the torment u put Ruby through genuinely cannot be justified. When Ruby exclaims how freya should’ve told Iske how she felt it really showed me something: you could be in the place u want to be if u just take that initiative earlier. I think Freya did truly love Iske in her own childish way but her tactics about it were extremely harmful like lord I just keep remembering the scene of Ellen finally puting an end on the friendship, my poor girl Ellen may she find happiness. Ahh I’m thinking of so many what if’s. What if in another timeline it was Iske and Freya, what if in another timeline it was Freya and Ruby as friends, what if in another timeline EVERYONE was happy. Oh lordddd.
Anyways I want to conclude it here but I truly appreciate the beauty of this manhwa. The amount of feelings I felt during reading this will hold a special place in my heart. While I don’t actively seek romantic relationships, seeing the love portrayed within Iske and Ruby makes me know for sure that is the type of love I hope to experience in the near future.