Ok I'm about 2/3 through and am taking a break cuz I'm mad but I am up to I believe 122 in the novel, the main story ends at about 143 minus side stories and since I know the inevitable, I want to rant so spoilers down below
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Ok so boom, where we left off here, the hunting event is here and everyone shows up. Dora and and the Fairfax siblings travel together and Dora and william share a sweet little moment (a small tool that will help us later ass foreshadowing) anyway, everything is in full swing, and all the guest assume the event was a giant engagement announcement between Dora and Ian. But come dinner/ lunch (I can't remember the exact time) Ian and Laura show up hand in hand, with Laura wearing the late Mrs. Daltons dress. Ians sister requested she use her mother's dresses and jewelry cuz it's collecting dust. So during food time, Ian announces Laura to be under the protection of both the Fairfax and Dalton families (he words it as she is now a part of the family. Not so suddle :| ) and that she is his paint instructors daughter, and that his art is displayed for the guest to see. Many gasp were had throughout the announcement, Dora is rightfully confused, so is everyone, so she begins to spiral. Now ppl can't talk bad about her.
Skip around the event, and it is evident that Laura is the person running everything as would the lady of the house so Doras gossip loving friends begin to put ideas into Doras head, which eventually leads to Dora reacher her own concussion that Laura is Ians Mistress and the he is coercing Laura in some way because she's too kind hearted and knows better than to seek ians affections as a spinster. So she takes it on herself to "warn" Laura like she did for her a few chapters back. Laura is rightfully confused and embarrassed, ends the conversation which leads Dora into believing Laura is acting that way out of shame. Laura is upset and goes to bed early, Ian notices and goes to her room (it's well past the party and is now night) she thanks him for his concern and tries to make him leave but his prying makes her cry cuz she remembers the conversation. He burst into her room and demands an explanation, so she tells him that she was called a mistress, he gets mad, she tells him that she is going to keep her distance from him, he whines and leaves. For the rest of the event, till the last day he is brooding and acting like a kicked puppy till he comes to the conclusion: "Laura just doesn't understand how I feel. I'll ask her to marry me and won't accept no until she weds me. We'll even have separate rooms till she loves me. And if she still says no I'll just threaten to kill myself, she's to kind hearted, so that would for sure make her say yes!" :D....
Anyway, his plan is to ask her during the final ball on the balcony and threat to jump off is she says no. Hes all "ah yes, jolly good plan" and sets off to do just that. During the ball, Dora is under the impression that Ian will propose come the end of the might, William, after overhearing about the Ian Dora rumors is all, "oh shit", Ian is running around like a mad man looking for Laura, Laura is actively avoiding him. Shenanigans ensue, and both Laura and Dora (who have kinda made up) overhear william reprimanding Ian about how he toyed with a lady's heart to win over Laura. Ian denys ever doing that, and pretty much says "ain't my fault she fell for me when I wasn't even trying to flirt, I already have someone I love, not my problem" Dora storms in and is rightfully(?) upset and storms off, she, with williams help, leave the villa that night and she has some hella self reflection. Tbh I feel for her fr. Cut back to Laura, she pretty much says "dude, that's mess up. I quit" and leaves.
Ok here's where my anger begins.
The next morning she tries to leave back to the Fairfax home to quit, Ian stops her and shoved his way into her carriage and leaves with her. After a while of silence, she says he's damaged Doras reputation, he says he doesn't care. She asked why, and he confesses his love for her. She tells him no, and we all know her reason. He said that's not a good reason, she still refuses. He goes on and on that her leaving him is gonna end him, he's gonna kill himself, how can she just let him feel like that. She still says no. She realizes that he lied to her as a means to suduce her and is very upset so he pulls out a ring and practically forces it onto her finger, says he'll never to let her go and, this made me so happy, she slaps the shit outta him twice. Like he's bleeding, that's how hard. And I'm thinking, "omg yes this is awesome, make him work for it" but then (I am black so exscuse me) this nga goes and starts crying like a damn toddler , and only then does she completely throw her resolve out the damn window and he takes note of that and kisses her. She doesn't resist and that's all he needs as a confirmation about her love for him so now all that previous bullshit gets forgotten and he's all "SHE LOVES ME" while she pushes him away and runs inside.
Like are u kidding me, the man that lied to you, messed up someone's life, won't take no for and answer, and threatens to kill himself, and it takes him crying like a loser for you to be all "oh you poor thing." Be so fucking fr
Anyway would you believe it gets worse?
So for the sake of time, there are lesbians in this so HUZZAH, and it's Ms. Hyde and the author lady she is infatuated with. Save this for later.
So Laura tries to quit, the sister convinces her to take a break from the job and come back in spring, and if Ian falls out of love with her she can come back but if not she'll give Laura a job recommendation. The sister suggests Laura rest in Bath the london equivalent to vegas, where her friend Ms. Hyde is. She agrees and leave. Ian shows up right as she left with a bouquet, all of the keys to his manor, and the ring expecting her to accept because "she loves me". Is very upset when he finds out she left and that his sister won't tell him where she went, and he throws a literal tantrum, it's like so fun to see. But ofc Oliva snitched on where she is and right before she left she left him a note that's pretty much says "your not my first kiss, I'm not the pure woman you thought I was. Loser" Ian gets depressed again cuz "how could she love someone before and the fact that she told me herself? Ouch" and wollows. At this time, his plan to destroy Laura's family begins.
So boom Laura's is in bath, she crashes with the lesbians and it's great. The author lady is a strong independent woman who hunts large animals like lions and shi as she's sexy (they highlight this a lot, especially Laura lol). At this point we learn about Laura past lover who didnt actually abandon her. The woman who was sponsoring him, John, had caught wind of their relationship and kidnapped him and forced him to marry some random on the day they were supposed to elope together. He couldn't write to her, or else he risk his place, yk the drill. Anywho, he is also in bath after his wife passed to care for his sick daughter. Ian learns about this through Anna who told him about it as a means to stir the pot. So he goes to bath. Days past and the author convinces laura to become a translator for works from publishers and it makes more that her current occupation so she's making steps towards a better life then boom, she begins to get stalked. To the point where she is running and being chased and she bumps into John who offers to help her. She says yes and he takes her to his nurse so she can switch cloths with her and escape the stalker. Two days later she returns the clothes and catches the nurse as she was about to leave. When asked where she's going, we learn that John got the shit beat outta him and it caused his daughter to go into a frenzy so she's going to care for him, Laura goes too. Now when I tell you John got fucked up I mean it, like he got two broken ribs and his face is unrecognizable. Laura gives her condolences and before she leave John says it was Ian who jumped him. OUT OF NOWHERE!! Ians main reason was that John was still in love with Laura which is true but dude he didn't even do anything yet. All he did was save her FROM YOU!!? like I was genuinely so confused. And to make it worse, Laura was more concerned about if Ian was hurt than the man who was jumped and the aftermath almost caused his sickly daughter to go into shock like aur!?? So she goes back to the hotel and tells the author, who previously said she'd shoot the stalker for Laura, (W) she has to use a cane because a man who proclaimed to love her (she was entitled to 200k in inheritance so...) and shot her in the leg after she rejected his many proposals(mainly because she was a lesbian /Gen), and when she offers to shoot Ian, Laura declines. When Laura explains her situation, the author has the same sentiment as me: "so he lied to you, threatend you, stalked you, and beat someone up, but you want me to leave him be?" And when Laura defends him the author come to the conclusion that Laura is playing mind games to get him to either marry her or to sleep with him. Either way shes all, "lol u naughty girl, have fun" (queen), Laura denys it. So the author gives her the same speech of "status doesn't matter, love is love" which like yes, true but are we just going to ignore all the shit he did?? And right before she talked to the author Laura sees Ian in a hat shop with his face equally fuck up which like LMAO bitch deserved, but since hes the one walking around he won the fight. Sadly :/
We also learned that Laura's family is officially ruined, Laura had no reaction when told lol but I'm sure she will when she finds out who caused it.
That's right about where I left off, and I'm going to finish it and maybe update this but yeah this was a rollercoaster of emotions and I know how it's going to end, but the only way I'll be satisfied is if Ian truly gets knocked down several pegs. I got what I wanted from my inistal post but my god this man is genuinely a loser lmaooo. Like he was so haunty, but as soon as he gets told no he turns into your average incel. The only difference is that he's not mean to her I guess, unless you count following her so much it caused her to run in a panic. But I know a lot of people are probably going to think "oh that's hot, and Ian is her perfect match, but I hate a man that NEEDS to have is way. That's not hot, thats bum behavior, or at least to me lol. If he had taken her no like a champ and tried to approach her genuinely instead of through schemes and lies I would have a different opinion but the way this is going, Laura is just going to ignore his transgressions because she's blinded by love.
Alright I can't do it anymore more spoilers down below, note that I didn't finish it with 10 chapters to go cuz I can smell the ending from a mile away
So, we learn through Ians Pov that he confronted John initially as a warning to leave Laura alone but John provoked him by bringing up how him and Laura shared many a intimate moment and that Ian has no way of knowing if Laura is pure or not. And L from John but he never really said anything false so idk. Anyway, Ian throws the first punch, wins after a tough battle, then kicks John in the ribs twice after he was already down. Common Ian L. We also learned that Ian is staying in the hat shop across the street from where Laura was staying since his day one, her day two in bath. He follows her and instead of seeing her look over her shoulder scared and thinks, "hmm shes scared, let me back off" he get all happy cuz he can see her face. When she runs hes like "oh no you don't" which leads to Laura and John meeting. He knew that Laura switched clothes with someone else and only then was he like "oh shit I made her have to do that, my fault' only to turn around and jump John Shortly after coming to this realization. Ian is also insanely mad cuz John is better looking than him, thought that was funny.
Inbetween this William sends Ian a letter essentially saying "you genuinely ruined Doras life (we learn that the Ton sees it as Dora getting her fiance stolen by Laura, which means that Dora must have a flaw so bad, it would mean Ian would willingly choose a spinster over the flower of high society) and that if he doesn't either propose to Dora or announce that he played with her to win someone else heart, he and Ian would no longer be friends. And this almost made Ian rethink his actions until William tells Ian that now that she's a translator she has no reason to return to his side in Winfield. This causes him to completely ignore the first half of the letter and get all in his feelings again. Like a loser lol
So now it's fall, and Laura had been visiting John in the hospital once a week and has bonded with his daughter who wants her to become her mother because she never received any motherly love. Laura convinces her that she is some sort of glutton with a black hole for a stomach that would eat a desk if hungry enough so she can't marry her dad. (Odd way of doing that but balright). John makes a full recovery, and finally explains his time away from Laura.
Some added details being that he couldn't bring himself to love his wife because he was still in love with Laura, which caused his wife to become very angry and jealous. The two fought often and the heartbreak from not having her husbands love and that Laura existed caused her to die. (Woof) Laura hears this, and feels more sympathy towards the wife because in her words " John should have just sucked it up and loved his wife." John gets upset because she is essentially diminishing his feelings to which she says "you dug your grave, lie in it" which like tru but she's being hypocritical here and we'll touch on that in a sec.
So, he confronts her and says "you can't come to love me, a blacks smiths son made lawyer, because you are in love with essentially prince charming." She, as usual defends him "his love for me is true, what do you know, he will always love me" whatever whatever. He brings up their different statues, and how as a lawyer cases like hers and Ians are very common and that she of all people should know better. She gets very upset and storms off to which she is having some self reflection and is all "everything John said was true but I love Ian so whatever" Then it cuts to her going to the hat shop to find him and that's where I stopped reading lol
At this point all of Laura's characters development just went out the window for me. Her whole thing was the fact that dispite what was said about her, she was a strong woman who earned peoples respect dispite her family circumstances. But now, she turned into any other "But Daddy I love him!" Character and it's genuinely infuriating to see. The fact that she now hates John not only for still loving her after all this time which caused him marital issues, but because he called Ian out? But aren't you, Laura, still in love with a man who is essentially playing with you and "you can't help it" as she says herself? So it's ok if you have someone you love and can't forget no matter what but as soon as someone else does towards you it's an issue that can be solved with your usual sensibility?? Be so fucking fr.
Ian has yet to redeem himself at all and you expect me to just sit here while Laura chases after him and they kiss and nothing gets resolved? And sure, since there were 10 chapters left they probably addressed some things but I also know that with 10 chapters left, nothing is truly going to get resolved. This had the angst I wanted but at what cost bro. This ain't a dark romance, this shit was supposed to be wrapped up in a nice bow but dawg they just put that shit in a Walmart bag with those cheap ass Christmas bows that keep falling off and then they fucking threw it at us. The only couples I'm rooting for are William and Dora, who during all this are having a nice moment, and the author and Ms. Hyde. Like why is the main couple so infuriating??
Laura you are right where you want to be, idc about how you feel anymore, I hope you and that bum as loser are happy (︶︿︶)＝凸
BRUHHHH
Wtf he sounds manipulative as hell
Thank you so much for this
DAWG HE IS
damn i was hoping to see how her mindset can be changed and some tearjerking romance not a toxic romance...also like the gossipers are at fault who ask them to be delulu out loud in public like wtf
Nah fr. Dora has a genuine self reflection moment and we learn that she comes to truly respect Laura who survived the Tons viciousness. Her and William have a cute bonding moment after the hunting event it's like so cute? The side stories im sure are very sweet but I don't want to see Laura and Ian happy so I'm not going indulge ╮(￣▽￣)╭
Damn thank you very much for the spoilers im gonna drop this very fast, I wanted to read something sweet&romantic and emotional not a pseudo prototype of dark romance or manipulation lessons 101by a man, I liked Ian but I must admit in the last chapters (manwha ) just before the hunting tournament his thoughts were derailing a lot from the style of "English Gentlemen"
I also feel sorry for Laura she actually seemed like an interesting character that I had great possibilities for her development lol
all's well that ends well thanks again for the summary ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~
Honestly, I hope she rejects him again lol not cuz I don't want them together but cuz her accepting him after all this would just seem... Idk easy? Like I truly wish she gains more self confidence, establish herself again in high society, and tbh I need Ian to practically beg her with tears in his eyes to marry him. Like I wish she finds out that he plans to or that he already ruined her family (as he should but still), gets rightfully upset for interfering with her personal affairs and rejects him again. I'm evil like that, I hate seeing a man get what he wants so easily. And yeah sure he's in his longing/yearnong phase or whatever, but I need him crushed. I liked it when he cried ლ(´ڡ`ლ)
oh baby it’s coming u should def read the novel LOLL
Oooh I'm tinglingly with excitement
NVM I found it ლ(´ڡ`ლ)
He lost me when he stepped on her foot bru omg. I skipped ahead after a bit to where we are now and considering her survival instincts, the believability of her genuinely falling for him after his half assed confession is so slim. Like u expect us to believe you loved her from the get go, but verbally, physically, and though I skipped and from what I can get from context clues, almost sexually abused her if she didn't agree AFTER his prodding. In reality, his presence in her life was more traumatic then when she was a shoe shinner and you want us to like that mf? Fuck no
I dropped this one a while ago (I think it was around the point where the ml was starting to chase her around at war) and picked it back up just to drop it again. The fact that he treated the fl like she was some evil manipulative woman when in reality she was just uninformed. They kept talking about how her ignorance was cruel or wat ever but genuinely it just wasn't her fault?? Like it was her father that kept her in the dark about what he did to those kids/ml, and while yes she was living off of his misdeeds, literally how TF was she supposed to know? Rather than treating her like fucking dirt due to the fact that she didn't know her father abused the ml and others, how about you open up to her and tell her why he's mad at her? But no he waits till after she leaves and finally starts to live her own life to continually interfere and force her to be closer to him because "wah my trauma that this woman is completely unaware of is the reason I despise her and treated her like shit. How dare she try to move on and learn to be her own person. I'm going to keep bothering her and force my "love" onto her and still keep her in the dark for an unnecessary amount of time and essentially give her Stockholm's syndrome. :D"
Fuck outta here
Omg and the fact that it took her attempting to really care about her is fucking stupid. Bro is /Gen an ass. Yes his trauma is valid and he has every right to be upset about the people that hurt him, but taking it out on the fl to the point she tries to commit, only to then think "I'm wild?" Is actually insane.
i feel like u shld continue reading it bc the story does kind of go more indepth on why he was being cruel to her. i dont think he hated her for being ignorant but rather it has more to do with his own self loathing/suffering and taking it out on her as a result. i really enjoyed understanding more about his side of the story and i can understand why he behaved a certain way
AAAAAAAAAAAAA God he just grinds my gears so bad like dude ofc she wouldn't know about kissing she grew up in a proper household not a brothe (╯°Д °)╯╧╧l. Not to mention he has the audacity to say "she dOeSn'T lIkE pArTys" yeah cuz your family bullied the shit out of her. You went to one event out of dozens and suddenly you know everything about her? Dude even when the make up and ACTUALLY COMUNICATE I'm not gonna be happy for him. Her? Yes ofc absolutely. Him? Lol he can jump of a cliff for all I care. ╮(￣▽￣)╭
Also i found it funny when she was all "another chance to off myself? Cool (no I don't find endgame funny just how they did it that one time)
Finally some good fucking food omg