As someone who has read the novel numerous times, I realized that a lot of the main characters are victims to their social class. For Matthias, he's a victim of a society that expects him to be perfect in everything he does, his feelings for Leyla are viewed as a moment of folly even by him in the initial stages. He's from a social class where love is frowned upon and viewed as a weakness and as such, he himself was never really taught that type of emotional love between lovers which breeds his own twisted sense of love for Leya in the early parts of their relationship.
For Leyla, she's a victim of her past where her fears of abandonment drives her to cling to them even if it's not what she wants. Case in point, her engagement to Kyle, she loves him as a friend and didn't want to lose his friendship if she rejected his proposal so even tho her heart wasn't in it, she accepted it because she feared losing him as a friend and for her that would feel like being abandoned. And we see this in the choices she makes when it comes to Bill. She's also trapped by the choices of her mother in the past which has led to her struggle in agreeing and maintaining a relationship with Matthias.
For Claudine, she is a victim of a society that deems her not a suitable heir because she is a woman and as such she resolves to strengthen herself even if it means using someone to do it.
I rlly like ur insight on this! I feel like these characters are overhated. I get that the plotline is sort of regurgitated and appears to be the typical Cinderella story, but I feel as though there’s a lot more depth to each character than people give credit for. like I’m not a huge fan of matthias, I feel like he’s sort of bland in terms of personality, but he is very intelligent and calculating with how he executes his plans.. and I feel like people just hate on layla because she isn’t a badass femme fatale.. when it’s more realistic for someone who went through so much abandonment in her life, she feels like she has no other choice but to choose matthias in the end.. plus, we have literally seen her have a backbone against matthias.. like are we forgetting that women were treated as less thans back then? even now, it’s very difficult for a girl with barely any family left, a lot of emotional baggage, and coming from poverty to work around someone has powerful as a DUKE. and I love Claudine’s character because her ambition and goal actually makes sense.. she isn’t petty for no reason, nor does she despise layla for capturing the duke’s attention… she just deems her as a threat to her future title as a duchess which makes complete sense.. like I actually really sympathize with her character and like her as an antagonist (she isn’t a villainess in my eyes).
And this is why Matthias' redemption is so fitting, after knowing how everything ends you can see that Matthias clearly loves Leyla more than Kyle even if he couldn't describe his feelings for her at first. This is one of the reasons I never shipped Leyla and Kyle because unlike Kyle, Matthias is able to stand up for Leyla even against his own mother and mind you, Matthias' status is way higher than Kyle so you know he has a lot to lose by choosing Leyla but he did it anyway. Even though I dislike Matthias' mother for a lot of her ways, she would never stoop that low to sabotage Leyla, so for Mrs. Ettman who is chasing status for her son, this just proves that she is well below even commoners.
Yes Well said.
There are some readers under the misconception that Kyle is this wonderful guy, but as someone who read the novel multiple times, I can tell you that the webtoon doesn't show it but Kyle basically emotionally manipulates Leyla into accepting his proposal with the benefit of attending college like she always wanted. In fact Leyla first rejects him and tells him that she wants them to remain friends because she does love Kyle in that way. Kyle keeps showing up at Leyla and Bill's cabin to propose everyday until Bill thinks it's not so bad if Leyla married Kyle as he is a good kid, Bill expresses this to Leyla who always wants to make Bill happy and as such accepts Kyle's proposal.
I also read the novel and that is hell of an exaggeration to say he "manipulated" her. Leila liked Kyle but also suffers from very low self esteem and social status of Kyle is a big intimidating factor for her. Kyle couldn't respond to that properly and instead of reassuring her of her worth as a person (which he believed in unlike certain trash ML) he tries to portray the things he can do for her if she allows him. This ends up worsening her social status anxiety but ultimately decides to trust Kyle as being Kyle and not the son of a doc. Kyle by no means was the trashy man in this story and if anything, he was too naively good to realize the harshness of her situations. You are pointing finger in a wrong direction when we have one of the biggest black flags in history of manhwa walking all over fl every damn encounter.
Leyla doesn't have low self esteem in front of Kyle, it's actually Matthias. This is pointed out early in the novel when Leyla was younger and Claudine has given her the gold coin for playing with her, the coin falls and rolls to Matthias' feet where he steps on it and Leyla has to retrieve it. When she bends down to pick it up and Matthias looks down on her, it highlights their respective status. Leyla has always been herself around Kyle so saying she has low self esteem around him is not accurate. Another example of Leyla's low self esteem around Matthias in the novel when she has a flashback of helping out a farmhand feed hay to the horses and she sees Matthias and Claudine taking a walk, Leyla notes that they seemed like a perfect pair and compares herself who is dirty from working in the barn, she hides from them because she was self conscious of her present appearance verses their elegance and nobility.
Also Kyle's discussion and agreement with his father for his acceptance of his decision to marry Leyla. Leyla also specifically told Kyle that she couldn't accept his proposal because she didn't have any romantic feelings for him, her feelings were strictly platonic. It was Kyle who couldn't accept it and continued to basically pressure Leyla. In fact in the novel it was Ms. Mona who convinced Uncle Bill that a marriage to Kyle wouldn't be a bad thing because Bill was initially against the proposal as well. And he could see that Leyla wasn't romantically into Kyle. He only gave his consent after Ms. Mona's input and then realizing that Kyle could give Leyla a good life.
I swear the artist has no right drawing Matthias so beautiful!! I know the novel has always described him as handsome but the artist took it to another level, this man is downright beautiful!!
Not only is this a straight omegaverse, but we also get a FL who isn't shy about having sex with her partner. It's a win-win
Being a parent doesn't mean you spoil your child or try to prevent your child from facing the consequences of their actions. Being a parent means accepting when your child does wrong and allowing said child to accept the consequences of their actions, good or bad. And for him to go apologize and then turn wanting him to be merciful to her is really shameless of him. Doo-joo was already merciful on her first attempt on account of his relationship with the teacher which is why she only ended up in a psychiatric hospital and as a result he almost lost her wife and child. How does he even have the face to go and beg Doo-joo a second time.
i believe he just loves his daughter a lot i’m not saying it’s right. but ik my parents would do the same for me if needed be.
But if he continues to do that each time she does wrong then the cycle will never end. My mom would do anything for me and my siblings but she won't help us to escape punishment when we do wrong. As much as a parent loves their children, there comes a time when they have to take a stand and let their children own up to the consequences of their actions.
Me sitting here and sipping my tea, waiting for Navier to get pregnant and watch Sovieshit's descent into madness once he finds out about it and also learns the truth that he's not the father of Trashta's child. And that his entire plan was just one big joke from start to finish.
Beach same.
Wait.. That second child is also not his?
Same here
Lol yup it ain't his kid
I'm ready sis
How she got pregnant after coming to the palace
Her and Duke Elegy were fucking LOL
She was already pregnant when he picked up the Trash
Sovietrash is a punk ass bitch, karma got him :D
Yeah her past makes it hard for us to hate her but you realize that her greed and desire for power is what makes her despicable.
Maybe it's me but what's the point of making Na-in and Amon mates if you're just going to throw Gwen into the mix?! Like aren't mates supposed to be strictly exclusive?! I feel like Gwen was just inserted into the mix to contrast Amon's indifferent and rational personality when it comes to human emotions. It would have made more sense if Amon was taught how to cherish his mate rather than share him with someone else.