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WHAT A STORY!

I love every character in this story. They all feel so real, and I love how distinct their personalities are. Richelle is such a great FL. She’s not one of those overpowered Mary Sue FLs who can do everything perfectly. She’s strong and intelligent in her own way, and that’s what makes her character so compelling.

Allen is great, too. He’s someone who has been suffering for so long, yet from the very beginning, he has always looked out for Richelle. I can only imagine how painful it must have been to watch the people he loved slowly lose themselves, knowing that the very reason behind their suffering was right beside him and that there was nothing he could do about it. His helplessness must have been unbearable. It’s heartbreaking to think about how much he has endured.

Then there’s Rose, the main antagonist, whose character I found equally fascinating. From the beginning, he felt so complex and otherworldly. But beneath all that, he was still capable of very human emotions. He was essentially a being with abilities no one else possessed, but his capacity to love and grieve was no different from ours. He loved Edgar, and he lost him. After losing the person who gave his existence meaning in that particular form, he was left feeling lost. He was angry, and he sought revenge on Niel. Of course, Rose isn't human by nature, so his way of thinking will never be entirely like ours. But the way he loved Edgar? That was human in every sense of the word. I LOVE AND HATE HIM AT THE SAME TIME.

The real monster here is Niel. He never fucking changed. After all those years, you would think he might have reflected on his actions, reconsidered his choices, or at least developed some self-awareness. But no. He remained the same pathetic man he had always been.

I loved Jacqueline, too. In many ways, she reminded me of Richelle. She was strong in her own way, but unlike Richelle, she had no one standing beside her. She tried to fight back, but the person who should have supported her was nowhere to be found. Her own husband was, in her words, "a craven man." A fucking coward.

I felt genuinely disgusted when he tried to convince himself that Jacqueline had married him partly for his fortune. It was as if he needed to believe that she had ulterior motives just so he could ease his conscience and avoid confronting the guilt of dragging her into that hell. Instead of acknowledging his own cowardice and failures, he found ways to justify them.

Richelle, at least, had her servants, whom she considered family, as well as her friend and Allen. Eventually, she realized that she wasn't alone, and that realization became one of her greatest sources of strength and courage. Jacqueline never had that. She was alone in that manor, surrounded by people and circumstances that only brought her more suffering. Her twins became something no longer entirely human, while her eldest son seemed destined to follow a path much like his father's. She had reached her breaking point and was simply waiting for an opportunity to leave.

When she finally fulfilled her role by handing the keys to Richelle, she was finally given that opportunity. It felt as though she had nothing left to hold on to, no purpose left to fulfill. I'm so sad that she died without getting to speak to her son one last time, but I'm glad she was reunited with her twins. She deserved that much peace after everything she had been through.

I also really liked Richelle's mother, haha. Grief can do so much to a person, especially when the person they've lost is their other half. What makes their relationship even more heartbreaking is that they actually had a chance to reconcile as mother and daughter, only for Rose to interfere. I hated him for that.

Even Richelle understood that what they needed was communication. The love was still there. They clearly still cared about each other, despite everything that had happened between them.

Rose compared Niel and Richelle's mother, claiming that they were the kind of people who would never change. But I disagree with him. People are always capable of change. Whether they actually change, however, depends on them.

Niel never truly cared about Edgar. He was narcissistic and concerned only with himself, which is precisely why he never changed. Richelle's mother, on the other hand, genuinely loved her daughter. But losing her husband changed her in ways that also damaged her relationship with Richelle. I'm not saying she was blameless because she definitely had her own faults, and there were many. Still, we were given glimpses of her willingness to change. Richelle gave her mother a chance, and for a moment, it seemed like they might finally find their way back to each other. But Rose took that chance away from them. That was just cruel.

Charlotte too, what a smart girl. She’s very different from her grandfather. She got her intelligence from Edgar aside from his looks LOL. Charlotte had a big role for saving Richelle and Allen. Until her dying breath, she kept looking for ways to end the family’s suffering. She finally achieved that through MC.

Anyway, I've said way too much, haha. But the fact that I can still recall each character and reflect on their motivations, relationships, and struggles like this says a lot about how much I loved this story. The author did an incredible job. This is definitely one of my best reads this year, and I'm glad I let it marinate before reading it. It was absolutely worth the wait.

The horror was SO good! I also loved that the story didn't put too much emphasis on romance. Although it was never even a romance to begin with, Haha. And that's what I love about it. The story was compelling enough that I wouldn't even mind if Richelle and Allen didn't end up together romantically. I'd be perfectly content if they chose to remain friends. That's how much I love what the story has to offer beyond romance.

If you've made it this far in my review, please remember that everything I've written here comes entirely from my own perspective. These are simply my personal interpretations and opinions about the characters and the story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did!

P.S. I actually clocked Rose's name from the very beginning, so the reveal wasn't much of a surprise to me. Haha.

CAN SOMEONE SPOIL ME PLS