I just finished the novel. Its pretty good. But the plot is honestly uncannily similar to Cry, Even Better If You Beg. The ML has the same complex as Matthias. Also the inclusion of war etc. completely gave me that vibe. the ML is slightly better than Matthias but by no means is he innocent. Anyway, good enough read 8/10. I still love cry even better if you beg more hehe
Their dynamics felt really similar to Layla and Matthias. Theo got engaged with the other girl and wanted to make Vanessa his mistress. He knew FL's uncle killed her parents and took their property etc by fraudulence and he wanted to trap FL by making her uncle mortgage all those properties to him. Vanessa coincidentally found out about her uncle's misdeeds and investigated all his past actions. Also that her father left her inheritance and her uncle usurped it. Alongside, Theo gifted Vanessa a renowned jewellery piece called 'mermaid's tear' in a public event which basically marked her as the duke's property/mistress to everyone and the tabloids after he announced his engagement. Everyone started trash talking about her. Then, Vanessa found out that River Ross is actually Theo after she became pregnant
Blair is not an illegitimate child. Blair and his sister are truly henry's children. They are not Vanessa's uncle's children. It was Blair's mom's misunderstanding!! Unfortunately his mom finds out about it after Henry (her husband) passes away. Blair had a child with his fiancee who looked exactly like henry which confirmed this. Blair's mom got drunk and didn't know properly who made her pregnant which led to her misunderstanding. Also Henry had infertility issues this made it seem like blair and his sister were illegitimate but it's not true it was confirmed near the end of the book!
Aw thats sad for the handsome ahjuicy dady (sorry). I hope they change it a bit in the manhwa