I wanted to give my two cents about this webcomic, seeing as many seem to dislike Areum for not falling head over heels for the Duke. I think that the author seems to have pretty intentionally made this a slow burn, and Areum attitude towards the Duke purposefully defies the cliché of the heroine forgiving the hero of the abuse he committed, because "he's misunderstood". I really like that aspect of the story. Areum isn't bipolar, she's doing what she thinks she must do to survive. She's a teenager thrown in such circumstances and yet she does her best to avoid angering someone who, in her first encounter, proved that could killed her if he got tired of her. She's quite admirable, actually.
What's more, the Duke used to hold a position of absolute power over her. Of course she can't see his actions as romantic, when she feels like she's under the constant threat of death. Yes, he tries to be kind to her, but she has every right to be scared of him. And you have to consider that, while many of his actions are normal for the culture he lives in (particularly considering his position), to someone like Areum they can seem monstrous. When he punished the maids for locking Areum out, it was... yikes. She might now know that, but we do. There's nothing cute about those actions.
All in all, after he apologizes, she seems to genuinely see him in a new light, or at least she's starting to do so. She is kind to him out of her own volition and not because she feels threatened, so it's not pure one sided love either. Think of this as a beauty-and-the-beast sort of tale: he needs to be kinder for her to respond with honesty, and she needs to see the good in him (which is... deeply buried, let's say).
To me, this story seems to want to execute certain clichés in a more "realistic" light, or at least in a more thoughtful way, and I can respect that. Both character have shaped their attitudes in response to different traumas, and these, let's say, "coping mechanisms" are the source of their flaws and miscommunications, which is a pretty interesting starting point. They both have LONG ways to go, so I'm interested in seeing how the story develops in the future.
I wanted to give my two cents about this webcomic, seeing as many seem to dislike Areum for not falling head over heels for the Duke. I think that the author seems to have pretty intentionally made this a slow burn, and Areum attitude towards the Duke purposefully defies the cliché of the heroine forgiving the hero of the abuse he committed, because "he's misunderstood". I really like that aspect of the story. Areum isn't bipolar, she's doing what she thinks she must do to survive. She's a teenager thrown in such circumstances and yet she does her best to avoid angering someone who, in her first encounter, proved that could killed her if he got tired of her. She's quite admirable, actually.
What's more, the Duke used to hold a position of absolute power over her. Of course she can't see his actions as romantic, when she feels like she's under the constant threat of death. Yes, he tries to be kind to her, but she has every right to be scared of him. And you have to consider that, while many of his actions are normal for the culture he lives in (particularly considering his position), to someone like Areum they can seem monstrous. When he punished the maids for locking Areum out, it was... yikes. She might now know that, but we do. There's nothing cute about those actions.
All in all, after he apologizes, she seems to genuinely see him in a new light, or at least she's starting to do so. She is kind to him out of her own volition and not because she feels threatened, so it's not pure one sided love either. Think of this as a beauty-and-the-beast sort of tale: he needs to be kinder for her to respond with honesty, and she needs to see the good in him (which is... deeply buried, let's say).
To me, this story seems to want to execute certain clichés in a more "realistic" light, or at least in a more thoughtful way, and I can respect that. Both character have shaped their attitudes in response to different traumas, and these, let's say, "coping mechanisms" are the source of their flaws and miscommunications, which is a pretty interesting starting point. They both have LONG ways to go, so I'm interested in seeing how the story develops in the future.