Cwumzie

That really is an interesting point of view. If I may I would like to give my opinion as well here, may I?

Soo, I think Your opinion could be true if she has a quality that can be redeemed. And it would be a very beautiful ending as well.

Unfortunately, so far, she was given numerous chances to redeem herself, but she never picks the path that did. Her superiority complex, jealousy, envy, selfish and sly mind kept refusing Paula and any care she ever given to her.

Now, due to her abuse, It might be her way of survival, but she only used the hand that helped her for good things and dispose of them when she find a better one. That hand is Paula. She thought all Paula did to her are only "expected" to, and take it all for granted.

She kept wishing her sister to find her demise after being useful to her. Regardless of how she was abused in the past, she grew up to be a selfish girl that didn't have a single empathy and emotion for her one and only sister that cared for her. I don't think she would get anyone's sympathy beside Paula's.

Here is the thing. The sympathy you wanted and the one giving her a chance for redemption has always been Paula. Not even us, it's Paula all along. She is the only one that still saw her as only a kid she needs to protect. She knows how bad it has been for her since they have gone through similar childhood. After shoving Paula to the mud and stealing what she has again and again, I think it would be quite too much to ask.for emphathy for her at this point.

Even with all that, reader calls Paula stupid for kept defending her sister, while why she did that, is probably just Paula hoping for her sister redemption, and she just wanted to live happily with her, and even get along with her if she can. Even the readers are sick of Alicia and wanted to get rid of her, but Paula (and you eheheh), is the only one who genuinely wanted her alive. as annoyed and irritated she was, always tried to take Alicia with her.

That is how she chose to grew up into. Even after seeing all her sisters died, she felt no guilt or sadness. She never even emphatize with Paula, because she was raised with praise, she always think it was only right to look down on her.

I agree with you to a point, I think what OP meant is that at this point the author has definitely made Alicia's character in redeemable but she could have been written differently. She could have treated Paula badly as an outcome of her trauma in a way that makes her a rich complex character instead of a one-note selfish entitled villainess. It would have been more compelling or just straight-up better writing to see Alicia's character as a response of her own trauma that came from the same context as Paula's. Instead it's just she's just a conduit of a trope and a way of show-casing how Paula's empathetic to the point of self-flagellating and therefore the only pay-off is Alicia's punishment. Even as an unredeemable villain, Alicia is a very uninteresting one and she could have been more than just that imo

But this kind of people exist, tho? Even with "abuse" that they got, they still ended up shitty because they are shitty, not because their trauma, at most their trauma become their excuse (not reason why they are shitty. I kinda think the sister character as villain not that uninteresting, tho. If all the villains must have sad backstory and not shitty because the are shitty, thats would be disney villains.

i think it's realistic to believe she would hold this kind of resentment. as someone whose sister is not kind to her, it never mattered how many concessions i made or how much effort i put in to try to understand her. her resentment had nothing to do with me. these kind of people do exist. people cope with abuse in all sorts of ways. and alicia just needs someone to blame for her choices. it is easier for her to see paula as the enemy rather than realize they were all victims.

I agree with this. Even in real world, its normal to find a siblings that kept seeing us as an enemy... for Alicia, I think it would be so out of the blue if she suddenly be able to change her mind when she already hates Paula to the guts for whatever reason she has.

And actually the author is kinda soft to Alicia to in the ending (not spoiling you to much).

Exactly!! I wished the author explored her character more. She had such potential.
And honestly, the part you mentioned about her father is very very possible.
It's really a miss that the author only wrote her as a 'villain incapable of redemption and only good enough for the story to go forward and to bring ml and fl together'

It's just my opinion. Like, i don't necessarily want a redemption or anything. I just want her character to be explored more. That could've added more depth to the story also give the feeling of 'what if'. Honestly, not all characters need redemption but it's always good to see the perspective of the villain. It gets even better when the antagonist has a reasonable backstory to help us understand (NOT JUSTIFY)why they are who they are but in the end something horrible happens to them as a consequence of their actions before they get a chance of redemption. It leaves a bitter taste and I LIVE FOR THAT FEELING

I didn't mean that her trauma justified anything or that she needs a redemption because she has trauma.
I think it's a shame that in a series that isn't shy about showing their characters as morally grey, showing their flaws and putting them in uncomfortable situations we just have this other character with so much screen time and incidence but adds very little in an arch that draaags. I think if she was a more interesting character handled with the same level of care as other characters I would hate her even more and be more invested in her downfall or whatever, but at this point she has been more of a pest, a low-level threat.
Now that I think about it, I would probably not have as much problems with her character if her arch was shorter. Not every character needs to be super complex or developed, but she's been here forever. She's done the same thing over running on flimsy plans and Paula's guilt and the stakes have never been lower in this manhwa.
So yes, trauma doesn't necessarily make us good and I think that's actually one of the story's themes, but real people don't necessarily make for good characters. It comes down to the writing, which I think in case of Alicia's character falls short especially compared to the rest of the series. Thanks for coming to my TED talk

you should read the novel if this is how you feel. you do get a better idea of why she feels the way she feels. she hates paula for being "ugly" bc if she was uglier she wouldn't have been sold off and treated like a sex object by her father. whereas paula was abused for being hideous and useless by her father and was forced to take care of all the other siblings so she envied her sister in a lot of ways bc she wasn't beaten like paula was but Alicia's powerlessness against her father made her direct all her anger and frustration at paula bc paula was weak mentally bc of all the physical and emotional abuse. and she could take her anger out that way. they're both just in pain. it's much clearer in the novel why they are the way they are. alicia is horrible but she's that way bc she's been abused too.

paula understands this and blames herself for her siblings deaths so she LETS alicia treat her that way. she's constantly hoping alicia will get all her anger out and let go of her resentment but instead she perpetuates it by never forcing alicia to suffer the consequences of her actions. they're hurting each other bc they are caught in a cycle with no way out. there is no real world where the two of them could be normal family.

I did read the novel though didn't read the side story. I don't remember reading a part like this. Maybe i forgot

i mean that's what i took away from what i read. the manhwa is missing A LOT of that bc i went to search for certain scenes in the novel the other day that i was expecting to see in the manhwa and figured they were coming up but they had already happened. i think they're skipping over some of the darker stuff

EXACTLY THIS!! I should’ve added to my original comment that it would’ve been fine as well for her to be strictly a villain too if she wasn’t so flat and the same regurgitated typical villainess. There were sooo many ways to make her interesting it’s unfortunate she wasn’t and I think it’s way more obvious to me here than in other stories bc the other characters aren’t nearly as one dimensional as she is. And I guess I just feel bad for her cuz ultimately she DID have a really shit upbringing even if it was better than Paula’s. I read another comment that said in the novel she was actually sold by her father as a sex object?! If that’s true I feel even worse for her tbh