I read the novel and don't plan to read the manhwa till it's done but im here to spoil people. It's pretty interesting.
I'd say Ian is twisted AF but that's due to his past(we get vivid snap shots of it, not gratituous, just sad and realistic). I see a lot say there's a lot of suffering for Michelle but Itd not in the way y'all are thinking? Spoilers, but he never actually finds out about their backstory or why his family falls into ruin(his dad dies and one of his older bro dies and another gets addicted to gambling etc, the house title ends up falling to Michelle, the last functioning member of the family). He simply believes the family is unlucky and Ian reiterates this by even attending the bros funeral in his place and drugging Michelle to fall ill so he can't go, saying hes glad Michelle didn't go so he doesn't have to be infected by their bad luck lol. Ian just never tells him, not a word. Michelle lives in blinded happiness the whole book regarding Ian and his own family. The angst comes instead from 4 aspects.
One, from the glimpses of Ian's past we see. These are scattered throughout and some are only mentioned while there are entire scenes for others where Ian is referred to as just a northern slave Ain, not by his current name, as if it's another person. It's miserable, it's real. 2nd, Ian having a hard time accepting he actually loves Michelle, the son of his enemy. His feelings go back and forth in denial, Michelle can sense this, and the two bridge that gap. Michelle is made aware of his background as a sex slave and his identity as a bastard child, and those are addressed. So it's not too bad to me. Third piece of angst is the various murder attempts on their heads bc Ian has enemies. Michelle even has to kill someone and there was a rape attempt on both of them that thankfully didn't go through. They go thru a lot.
Fourth goes hand and hand with reason three, in the later part of the novel in what feels like an au but is canon, Ian gets a psuedo pregnancy. This is the most angsty part of the whole book. Michelle is very happy, as Ian had once said that perhaps even men could get pregnant if they love each other enough(and he believed it lol). Ian is skeptical and planning to abort it, believing its some weird curse or disease. But bc Michelle is so happy, buying baby clothes, wondering about the baby, Ian falls into a strange state of looking forward to it and keeps it for longer and longer. Ian has really bad pregnancy symptoms like vomiting everything he eats, fatigue, sleepiness. He has to be away from the public eye for months. Then his sister sends an abortion medicine in her letter upon learning he's pregnant. Ian contemplates abortion again. On Christmas I believe, Ian gets stomach pain. He can't even crawl to get help bc everyone is out celebrating the festival. But he does have a bell on the side table, but decides not to wring it in the end after mental struggle. He dreams about a child, a girl that resembles Michelle. When he wakes up he fears he's near death, crawls to the meds, and takes the abortion meds.
(Correction the pseudo pregnancy is au I misunderstood)
Michelle goes upstairs and finds him bleeding out. The doc makes Michelle leave, bc he knows Ian took abortion meds and didn't want Michelle to know. Ian survived, but is severely injured. He needs time to recover. Michelle goes thru his darkest period, even confessing he occasionally wished the child didn't exist when he saw how much ian was suffering and how he nearly died. Michelle says he believes the child really died bc he wished it. Ian comforts him. Later, Ian has a convo with some kind of witch who had been gone for months. Witch tells him he's lucky he aborted it bc it wasn't even human, it was a curse from some enemy, and took the form of a half dog half human. If he gave birth he'd have died. Ian asks the gender. It was male. Ian is glad his mother remains the only woman he has ever killed, so he doesn't have to remember this child forever. He also laments that his earlier thoughts were accurate and that if the witch hadn't been away he wouldn't have gone thru all this since he would've known it was just a curse.
Michelle is still grieving the loss but putting on a brave face for Ian. He puts all the baby stuff in a room, cries, and then covers it up and shuts it away. He slowly recovers.
Other angst points are like Michelles bros death, which he grieves for a long time. Ian gets him out of it(yes he had a hand in bros death and yes he also comforted him lol Ian is twisted). There is a side story with a real au of what if Michelle knew Ian was a servant of the family(not his dads sex slave) and they grew up together, and then the two run away together under Ians instigation.
i cant believe they made mpreg real
Lmao it’s NOT canon it’s an omegaverse side story. There’s the main story + 2 epilogues and then there’s an omegaverse side story, a “what if” side story that takes place in the south, and a modern au side story.
It's not cannon? I read it as a downloaded epub and it just said side story not au(but listed the southern side story as an au accurately lol). Thanks for correcting me imma edit and fix that.
So it's a thing where you look at Michelle and feel so fucking bad for him and then you look into Ain and you can say he had valid crashouts?
Or more on the side of "we understand you bear a heavy grudge but if you really love your twink you gotta stop fucking his shit up" ?
It's kinda the first in terms of feeling bad for Michelle feeling bad for his family bc Michelle's family is just so damn evil. So u kinda gloat with Ian when Michelle fam goes under but feel bad for *Michelle* feeling bad. It's the second part for Michelle's emotional angst regarding their actual relationship. Like when Ian goes hot and cold or purposefully tests Michelle like this chapter, you can't help but be like bruh we know you got demons but Michelle is an angel and knows nothing? This book is saved by the fact that Michelle is quite innocent and naive and has decent mental fortitude to look on the bright side of everything. So while Ian fights his demons, Michelle is in rainbow land(kinda), so it doesn't feel too angsty. On the other hand, watching Michelles innocence is sometimes so painful as reader bc I even hated him at times(Michelle) bc we know Ian's backstory. Throughout the book Michelle says "I want to be a one on one couple with you just like my father, who loved and was loyal to my mother blah blah blah" and even I wanted to smack him even tho he knows nothing. Like having your lover tell you with pride that your rapist is their goal and standard for a relationship has to warp your mind.
So actually maybe more the first lol? Bc even I felt I would go insane if I was Ian. I can only say Michelle's ignorance is his bliss.
I see. I THINK I'll put this on one hell of a long hold then. I would understand Ain but I already hit pause when he manipulated Michelle this chapter. My cortisol will not accept Michelle being coerced and manipulated, while at the same time being pissed off that he's so oblivious...
Thanks for the info, you deserve to get smooched by your fav person
It's a 9.5 and it still deserves better. It's just so good so lovely. The bottom being a true middle aged man with a beard, some pudge on his stomach, some "greasy" habits is so hilarious to me. But he's so lovable as a person I love his sense of humor lmao. He's also surprisingly open minded and proactive about the relationship for being the one who was confessed to, which I appreciate. The top is so sweet, so caring, and he actually LISTENS to the bottoms cues during sex. For once I could laugh about the "can't get out of bed the next day" sex jokes in these stories bc the top didn't purposefully abuse the bottom in bed. The bottom just has old bones and the top is unfortunately big to even his own regret so it's destined to require lots of foreplay and patience lol. Reminds me of that manga Kobayashis anaconda I believe? Lol.
It's slice of life but I just love that. No weird jealousy or random 3rd person or rival. No misunderstanding. Just two people falling even deeper in love. And this has 3 volumes and didn't mess up not a single one for drama. That is a feat.
Lastly I fully expected the double date with the side couple on the trip they went on to result in jealousy on tops side just cause I'm so accustomed to that, but none at all just two couples double dating and chilling as a friend group. Even the scene in the hot spring was cute. I've noticed that authors tend to only let 2 tops and 2 bottoms befriend each other and no interaction happens between the top/bottom of the opposite couples which has always been weird to me. Like what do they have in common besides a sex position that makes them only befriend the top/bottom of the other couple? The tops are always friends/brothers and the bottoms are always best friends. But the author here even let them all chill together in a sauna naked, have individual convos with each other, no weirdness, and i appreciate that. They're all men after all, sex positions don't make a difference in whether your lover can be cool with them.
Anyway it was great, cute and hot. Solid all the way through. Loved it.
I rlly want to read this for the MC(I love a selfish and egocentric MC) but is the ML rlly as annoying as they say? I can deal with yandere, but if it feels like he always has one over the MC or is playing the MC in the palm of his hand I don't want to read it.
Slight spoilers. So the deal with the ML here is that he's an enigma in the beginning, there's something off about him but you can't tell what. Then you slowly get to know him and the more warning signs showup. Then it gets pretty bad and it really does feel like the ML is actively manipulating the MC. At one point the MC will learn about this and in turn manipulates the ML instead. After some stuff happens and they separate for a but they find themselves back together at the very end. The ML still has a slight manipulative streak as that's part of him, but at the end the MC has gotten used to it and actually finds it endearing.
Personally I dont find the ML annoying, but he can definitely be off putting for some. If manipulation is something you don't like you might wanna skip this because there's a lot of it from both the MC and the ML.
Thanks for the spoilers. I might read it still cause u rarely get a MC with this personality. I just wanted to be prepared so I'm not too frustrated by ML. Thanks for letting me know.
The MC is really complex and enjoyable to read. Sometimes i’m frustrated with him, but he’s also extremely relatable. Try it, I think you will like reading his perspectives!!
I really love this story so I'm happy you still want to try it. Jun and Yohan are really well fleshed out characters that drives the story. So as long as you can stand the two of them and their antics I think you can really enjoy it. Also, Yohan won't fully explained until the very end so be prepared for that, it's part of the purpose of the story.
Also the reveal of the blond dudes face was a jump scare I almost sprayed raid on my phone screen.
realest words ever spoken. like jesus christ. ICCKKKK
Nah man I need this light haired MF to die. Bc I just know he purposefully took advantage of MC innocence and loneliness and then did that sht to him. Mc feelings must be so conflicted. Knowing the person you leaned on and trusted in your low moments was also the one who ruined your life. Fck you man.
This has nothing to with this last chapter but they rlly are my Roman empire rivals to lovers. Real rivals to lovers that use overcoming each other as motivation like that hits so hard.
ugh my favs
Meant to upvote. Sorry.
For realll
I just realized the art change and the MC basically got a jaw shave lol. His face shrunk. It still looks nice tho.
Are the tags right? I will read it regardless but I doubt this is regular romance maybe shounen ai?
I'm still rooting for them but the way this is so miserable it might rlly be a BE. Perhaps double suicide?