Idk maybe I'm old but this is so shoujo school romance coded, not that it's bad but I can't see them as actual working adult woman and a wartorn emperor while spewing such childish line. ( T﹏T
ML's passing for "shy" when he's actually "inexperienced." As for her, I'd say she's a case of what they say: that the older you get, the more nervous you become when you genuinely want something lasting with someone, or, when you finally have something "good"... because, then, you get more nervous since you are already aware, by then (and by experience), of the 100 ways you can accidentally ruin it.
I'm not arguing their characters or their state but the depth of their normal conversations, like their restaurant date fir example.
Mc us a grown woman who's struggling to cut a steak, and ml cuts it for her, then he smashes the dish with extra force by mistake, she laughs.
Why is a fking grown woman struggling with steak? Usually it is offered by mls because its time consuming not inability.
Also I can't take them seriously when they walks around for a date in the capital, as if the capital is a walkable small village, and trains exist. It becomes shoujo coded because he's walking her to the the door instead of carriage escort.
Or when she asks are you busy and he interprets it as "I'd rather you be busy" while they are familiar with each other, because a grown person would understand that as concern.
Not one interaction is unique to the two, even buying the tickets for the exhibit was Kyle's idea and ML just acted as if he's the one who knew her preferences. That's shallow in my eyes. The story itself is skipping meaningful conversations, their dates are simply "spending time with each other" instead of "exploring each other"
The novel has a lot more depth and complexity, the manwha adaption is not bad but lacking (as adaptions often are sadly).
But I agree that it is a very fluffy story, minus the angst that we'll soon encounter.
Atm we are just watching two inexperienced people falling in love for the first time :3 which is adowable and certainly shoujo (for now)









The angle of Francois in the corner hunched over being hit by Emilia looks like domestic abuse.
I mean low-key kinda is they are married.