Overall I liked the story, but like a lot of stories, the second half felt weaker imo. I wasn't fond of the direction it chose to go.
I kind of think they could have dropped the demon subplot. If Erez was just a regular human who turned back time, it wouldn't change much. But I recognize Demon-Cosette needed to be a thing to explain why that 6 timeline was awful.
That said, Raganbach just being a solo instigator to start a war "just because" was kind of a bland motivation. I think just being evil for the sake of evil would've been more believable. Maybe it actually be real-Cosette wanting to stir chaos would've been more compelling.
I kind of wished the first duchess was a bigger character too in that regard considering how badly she was wronged (I know real-Cosette saying her mother's side we'd terrible people too was suppose to give Keira an out for the guilt at what happened, but for real, that lady was so badly wronged, my god)
I was wondering if there was supposed to be something more about the grandfather saying he controlled his daughter so completely. Like, not sexually, but to imply the second wife didn't love the Duke at all (tho tbh I didn't get the impression he loved either wife, he was just fulfilling his duty to have kids for the sake of an Elementalist being born).
I personally was more interested in the familial aspect of the story, so I wanted to know more about the grandfather and Keira's mother and Cosette's family, but alas.
As for romance, I still stan Joseph lol, but I recognize he's been written to be so pure and safe that he could be rejected safely (actually I don't think Keira ever actually rejected him, he was never even in consideration. Poor guy...)
Erez is...fine. Like, he objectively is the reason why Keira got her second chance and made changes to save the world. That's pretty strong pedigree to be the ML. I just didn't appreciate his callous attitude towards the humans that were brainwashed into thinking he was family. Rather than erase that history, he could've thanked them or something for allowing him to be part of their lives. Something to show his feelings for Keira had some foundation (but again, it's her that made him feel things I guess...)
By the end everything just got wrapped up neat and tidy-and that's fine. No hate, but I don't think I'll be rereading this any time soon.
I'm not dropping this story or anything, but...
Im kind of confused what I'm supposed to feel about the plot for the side story.
I'm trying to not be totally anti side story, and I think there is something interesting here with Sunjong having some potential terminal illness that Taekseung could relate to since he had a similar situation before he had his surgery...
But it's not really going in that direction? It seems like "here's a guy whose objectively better than Sunyeon that Taekseung is catching feelings for". Maybe this is some convoluted establishing-plot-thing to give Sunyeon some motive to woe Taekseung, but I don't know...









I binged this over the last few days. Isekaii stories always seem to grab my attention. The inserted-into-someone-else trope does leave room for potential drama, but this story isn't particularly concerned with that beyond a few chapters.
It kind goes at a slow pace, but not boring imo. The hook of the story being about tea was something I was able to connect to as I enjoy tea myself, and genuinely learned some new stuff through this story.
Whenever stories have a class divide and the MC is of a higher class and able to easily slip into that hierarchy even though they were likely middle or lower class in their original life, I do kind of side-eye the character a little. But eventually their modern world view does lead to progressive changes in their world, so like, okay, fine I guess, lol
I thought characterizing OG Chloe as someone who actually caused harm to others (the innocent maid she randomly blamed for that ended up getting lashes for her mistake) was meant to villainize her, but we find out that her upbringing sucked and she was surrounded by people sabotaging her place in society (that maid who got executed for threatening MC's life because she was so insecure). The story gives as reasons for the way people are are, so there's depth that way.
That she ended up being in the MC's world herself and preferring it over her old life wasn't too shocking, but we didn't get much of her adjustment to a modern world, but I get the story isn't really about her story. The very brief explanation for the transmigration happening was unique imo
I was fine with the romance, the ML having a bad childhood backstory to explain his cold way, and MC being able to open his heart is very cliche, but I liked the actual progression in their relationship (even the lady who raised him after his father died noted MC wasn't trying to change ML, but accept him as he was)
This wasn't an explicit story, but I liked the MC was an adult woman with experiences in her old life, so there wasn't as much trauma about having scheduled sex with ML to produce an heir. Allowing her to having Chloe's memories obviously helped.
I was disappointed by the Prince plot line. He was a womanizer who was intrigued by this new Chloe he rejected in the past, but going crazy trying to get her was kind of weak imo. I rather he had some realization about how he treated others, especially since the pink haired lady dumped him after he got irritated at her being concerned for him. They try to humanize him in a few points, but he just sucked man, lol
I did kind of chuckle that MC turned into a crazy influential figure in the world by copy her world's ideas, haha
Overall I liked it c: