I think we just read the story very differently tbh. I never got the impression that he was attracted to her as a child. His attachment felt much more rooted in guilt and regret over how he treated her, and his feelings developed later as he got to know her better.
I also don’t really agree with the step-sibling/incest comparison. They were never really raised as siblings in either timeline. Their whole relationship was pretty tragic from the start, and there was never any actual sibling bond or family affection between them. If anything, they only started trying to become a real family in the second timeline after the truth came out and everyone realized how badly they had treated her.
So calling it incest-adjacent or saying he “literally fell for a child” feels like a pretty harsh reading of their relationship. The romance isn’t perfect, but I don’t think the story portrayed it the way you’re describing.
Also, I think the manhwa art is doing a lot of heavy lifting here Ashiel looks much older than he’s actually supposed to be. He was only around 14/15 when Sienna was 11, so the whole “older teenager obsessed with a little kid” interpretation feels pretty exaggerated to me.
And honestly, the step-sibling argument falls apart once you look at the actual context. She wasn’t adopted, she was sponsored, with the expectation that she’d eventually join the family through marriage. Calling them “basically step-siblings” feels more like forcing a label onto their relationship than what the story actually presents.
i shouldve known he was the male lead but i held out hope up until she kissed him this guy literally fell for her when she was a child and he was teenager and his obsession is so gross sorry to me the romance is so forced it wouldve been better if she got with literally anybody else. no hate to anyone who fw it but the fact he was also basically raised to be her step brother (ik its not actual incest and its the "time period" but still if u can have magic why do u need to keep the incest and cradle robbing...) good plot but got cliche, time skip happened out of nowhere, and characters didnt develop further than their one dimensional tropes. feels like the only drama or plot points are just the same misunderstandings