I'm Engaged to an Obsessive Male Lead

Eh. Predictable AND problematic.

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MAIN CHARACTERS

👒 Veillyn Orlando (FL)

• kind, innocent (doe-eyes look), naive
• eldest daughter of family
• bullied by younger half-sister
• father had wanted a son
• mother sold off into marriage. Family debt
• ill from unknown disease. The cause?
• dies of disease early in novel

⚜️ Jellan Lieseltein (ML. MC of novel)

• confident, obsessive, possessive, smooth talker
• illegitimate son of Archduke
• ’jealous’ older brothers
• always trying to prove himself
• businessman

🍂 Nellan Chester (MC of novel)

• appears kind, innocent, naive in novel
• now: dismissive, cold, calculating
• has lived through this life before?
• target of Jellard’s obsession
• was trapped in toxic relationship. Tried to escape
• owned a produce shop, helped Jallard (in novel)
• owns Chester Merchant Group (powerful)
• skilled animal tamer
• promised himself to break all ties with Jellard

🌙 Etelina

• used to love and attention, transparent
• Nellan falls in love with her…(in novel)
• Veillyn’s half sister

🍷Dorel Adelvian

• snobbish, confrontational
• “they’re all just after me for my wealth”
• well-known
• sole heir to Adelvian family + fortune
• personal tutor and friend of emperor
• exclusive rights to magic refining tech
• emperor had been romantically interested in him
• friend of confidant of Nellan (in novel)

———ASPECTS / TROPES

• realised she was in BL novel

• depressing, toxic BL story

• ‘I just want a fulfilling life before I die of the disease’

• FL becomes etiquette teacher to ML

• contract engagement

• Terminally ill FL

• Dense MC’s

• Dungeons, mana stones

• Art looks a bit off in some scenes (faces)

• 2D villains (‘ugly’, visibly angry)

• FL with few deceased mother

• “she’s not like other girls” undertones

• Nellan incompletely different from novel

• Slow burn romance

• Finally a good change with ch 79: FL finally moves out and lives on her own like she always dreamed of. With people that only see her as her and not ANY family name. (Of course it doesn’t last though

• Still utterly hilarious that when she left, the only thing she took was** a giant ss portrait of the ML*. Which she just kept…in her tiny cottage…to stare at…

• Father of ML had neglected his wife and taken on a mistress (mother of ML). He spent all his time and money on his mistress then favoured the son of said mistress, Jellan, over his other sons who he considers incompetent. Considering that, is it really that unbelievable that those sons, who grew up seeing their cold father give all his attention to his mistress, would be resentful? On top of being neglected by their mother. Then when those sons fail or don’t immediately know the answer to something, the father gets frustrated and thinks’s their incompetent — instead of guiding them as a father should?!! Yet the father is portrayed as a good person and an ally?

• Even considering the plot twist (the other two sons were products of the wife’s affair and not related by blood to the current Duke), he just decided to kick out the children. And after knowing all that the wife was doing keep her children’s hair black and eyes blue (sign of the family lineage) — forcing them to drink dangerous concoctions, etc. He knows he turned a blind eye to the abuse. Yet he never apologised! And he makes it out like he only bothered to keep sons not his by blood was out of honour. Then acts so proud of himself to let go of that honour and kick the children out with nowhere to go.

• Dorel is only nice to FL after advice from father to be ‘more gentle in presence of women’ and after seeing her in pain and calling her fragile and weak?!

• I really hate that they make Nellan the unreasonable villain. He was kidnapped, trapped within a toxic relationship and raped by Jellan. For years. Under the excuse of love. He’s angry, he hates Jellan, think’s he’s a monster and wants him dead. How is he not the victim in all this?

• Now Nellan wants to join with the FL, hoping she of all people (as someone who knows what had happened to him) would understand. It just makes you realise that she never once had a moment where she considered the ML’s actions in the past timeline. She wanted to save Nellan from the abuse yet, she never even acknowledges the other side of that; that the ML is/was an abusive person. Did he really reflect and change or will he turn out like that again in his lowest moments?

• (like above) There is so much potential for internal conflict and a more complex plot. As well as the proper respect for such sensitive topics as rape, domestic violence and trauma.

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CONTENT WARNINGS

Parental neglect, parental abuse, verbal abuse, slavery (mention), toxic relationships, incest, heteronormative thinking (‘if he’s into guys, he can’t be into girls’), BDSM/some appearing non- consensual, old-fashioned sexism (‘you must be more gentle in the presence of women’), prostitution (implied), infidelity, PTSD, suicide ideation,

I really like how jellard treats mc as an equal especially in matters related to business but that, the art and the fluffy moments in the beginning all I like about this story.

No way you're telling me the victim is the villain cause he hates his rapist and mc is in the right for protecting him.

I also wonder what was going on with Jellard's father cheating on his wife with another woman when she was sick and then not understanding the hate his children have for Jellard (personally I'd hate the father cause he is the one who cheated but I guess I understand how jellard became a target).

The ending was super rushed and the story had many plot holes that were never truly addressed, answered, or elaborated on. The villain’s ending could have been been better as well. Overall am I mad about the story, no. But the story premise itself had way more potential then the author had skill-wise to write it and make for a great read. I feel the author needs to work on making their storylines well rounded and with more depth.

At first I was so excited about the premise of the story but the author really f*cked up in two ways:

1. Ogml was an innocent kind soul who was kidnapped, confined, and torture raped repeatedly by the ml til he died. The FL not only didn’t see anything wrong with that, she loved it and wanted the same to happen in this timeline (what’s wrong with you). Now ogml regresses and becomes a villain in this timeline cuz of course he’d want revenge against his rapist. The author writes him horribly as just another nuisance in the ml fl’s love life and makes it look like ogml is in the wrong for wanting revenge, then kills him off (wtf seriously author what’s wrong with you)
2. ML’s dad is a cheater who was horrible and completely inconsiderate of his wife’s reputation. He had zero respect for her and practically lived with his mistress when his wife was still alive. ML is of course the mistress’ son. Then the father’s wife dies and he expects his two legitimate sons to not hate and not treat ml horribly. He’s supposed to be fair and meritocratic but he’s unfair to the ml when it came to distribution of the land, and yet he constantly puts his other two sons down for not being as good as the ml. He’s basically setting and enforcing the brothers’ hatred for the ml while expecting them to get along. Gtfo. But the worst part of this is that the author tries to make the father look like a good person and his cheating romantic, and then the artist draws the two brothers super ugly so to make readers ignore the fact that they are victims here too cuz of their father. They make the father look like a great man while making the brothers look like dumb bullies even though the brothers’ backstories really explained why they hated the ml so much and it’s literally all the father’s fault for openly cheating snd neglecting his family (the author has got some seriously messed up standards)

I don’t like how the author write Nellan’s ending. They also try to justify ML actions on the first timeline. Criminal (rapist) like ML should be punished, but here victim turns into villain and got bad ending just because plot. I would still turn off my brain and read this to past time if they just leave the victim alone and focus on leads’ romance, but no, the author must pull victim into the drama to spice things up. I feel so frustrated and unfair that I have to write this long as review to warn other.

The whole thing is cliché and the story somewhat revolves around misunderstandings from as far as I’ve read. MCs are portrayed as very intelligent but they can hardly read each other’s obvious expressions. But all in all it feels like I’m watching kids trying to figure out what they are feeling so it’s pretty cute and especially how the ML reacts, so my rating is basically on my enjoyment and not analyzing the plot or whatever stuff makes a story perfect

It’s kind of shallow and inconsistent where convenient, and the ML is being glorified for doing the bare minimum (fulfilling contractual obligations and treating your fiancé like a person) but it’s cute so I don’t mind hanging around for now.