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Beneath the calm surface of the Vasilios Empire, tensions are brewing. The empire is ruled by the Imperial Family and the Temple. Lady Medea Solon has lost her place beside Crown Prince Eros, yet she remains resolute to do everything necessary to regain her rightful position. Can she succeed in restoring her status? (From Line Webtoon)
Original Webtoon: Naver Webtoon, Naver Series
Official Translation: English, German, Japanese, French, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Indonesian
*Please do not alter the links.
I read it from the day it first came out, then stopped at chapter ~40 because the plot gradually got worse. After a while, I went back and read chapter ~80, everything gradually got more terrible, from the content to the drawings. I no longer follow the story directly, but I still update content via Twitter pages and forums. The author of the series is increasingly stuck in the "plot holes" she created herself. I watched the credits and saw a lot of assistants after ss2, but why did the drawing become even more terrible? How hard is it to recognize the "original" Medea and Psyche? Plotline lot...WHAT THE HELL? The longer the plot doesn't mean it's better, please stop. Knowing right place to stop means respect readers.
N/A
I don't feel the motivation to resume after the hiatus.
I feel like the plot just spins around the same place after the sides got more established who as the real villain.
The tension and high-stake drama just took a downturn and events feel more or less "as expected" due to the "plot armor" (every time you think the leads are in danger, and BABAM! the next chapter shows that it's within their plan to plan the event---like Aizen (from Bleach))... What to say, it feels like the author got cold feet and reuses the same formula so it'll probably feel samey till the end.
In short, it has a strong start and opening, but the author is now milking the development pace of the underlying mystery plot by reusing the same developments style over and over again. It's readable (as enjoyable as watching funny and cute YouTube shorts, I guess? but a different change of pace if you want more of a slow burn), but not a MUST READ. But OK if you want to kill some time if you enjoy girlboss female leads.
Now I just put it on the backburner until it's "finished" and hope to just finish it in one go the moment it's completed. Not worth it to follow weekly for a drop of information and progress (as you'll feel lost). It doesn't seem bad to "binge" it, but the weekly serialization makes it painful to resume the story's status. (think of D.Gray-Man, like I gotta reread everything again because of the incredibly long hiatuses---at least I don't have this issue with HxH which is more memorable) ... things that happen here in this series feel meaningless and low impact... just mostly for shock values and not much long-lasting impact. (Does that weird competition even matter? Does the brother even matter for the grand scheme of things? A lot of things just feel... empty and meaningless the way it's PRESENTED.)
There's just a lot of lore dumps but not enough excitement to compensate for it. It'll probably feel more like a breeze reading this as a novel more than a vertical scrolling manhwa...
Do I recommend this? Only if you've finished everything in your list. Put this in your backburner for when you have a lot of free time (like waiting for an 8 hours airplane, train, sick leave, hospital stay, etc.). Not the most fun to read a single chapter a day on the go. So in short, only when the occasion is right... Reading it a few chapters a day is more "ehh" than "fun" which might leave you with a feeling of frustration (minus the stronger beginning half of the story where it's not that bad to take small dosage).
Reviewed at ch 99
It has a couple interesting ideas, like the relationship between the two main women of the story and a bit of the magic (which ultimately suffers from not being explained enough).
But in the end this series is built around politics and plots...and falls short in this area. The plots aren't believable enough, for the most part. I'm trying to avoid an in-depth analysis here, or perhaps I simply don't want to as the story isn't good enough to justify the effort.
It also hurts that right before I started this, I had come off of reading The Villainess Lives Twice which I gave a 10/10 for its excellence in political drama writing and very impressive character work. I recommend you simply read that one, if you haven't yet.
Strong FLs, most characters have some sort of motive and act on it. Knocked down a few points since some of the antagonist are a bit cliche and the supporting characters can be underwhelming/one dimensional.
Personally, while I love a strong FL, I get bored when she's magically amazing at everything and all of her plans go as she expects. I get she's smart, but I prefer MC's that are more human. So the twists in the beginning hooked me in, but after chapter 80, I started skimming.
There is no suspense or stakes when Medeia is so flawless that no assassin, guard, maid, relative, Prince or any single person on the entire planet can catch her off guard. And when her plans that always go off with not a single detail different from how she planned, it gets repetitive. As does how, as a villainess, she still manages to get every person she wants on her side,
Lots of twists and turns to keep readers on their toes. I really like Medea, but Psyche's character development is also really cool. Season one has ended and I really hope Helio, my fav character, doesn't get the short end of the stick. Eagerly waiting for S2!
I have a bias for Medea because I love leads that aren't clear-cut saints. But I do like the other characters almost as much as I like her. Yes, Eros included. The characters are interesting and have clear development over time. Plot remains intriguing even after 126 chapters. I'm really hoping the author will indulge us in Medea and Heli's relationship in the seasons to come.