Unlike her beautiful and magically gifted younger sister, Elma was ordinary and incompetent. She had been shunned by her father and sister, and was bullied constantly. One day, she met a man whose face was hidden by a cloth. He was a knight, known as a “demon” who could take away the sanity of anyone who saw his face. Elma inadvertently saw his true face, but she wasn’t fooled. A man who was interested in her came to see her for no reason, and when he learned that she was unhappy, he forcibly took her out of the house.
At first, Elma was confused, but then she was drawn to his kindness. Meanwhile, while living happily in a safe place, Elma gradually regained her sealed memories. It seemed that the family that bullied her had some secrets of their own. This is a super royal Cinderella love story in which a daughter who was unjustly oppressed becomes happy after being discovered by a beautiful ducal knight.
**Spoiler**: The MC is indeed an unreliable narrator due to trauma and abuse. She describes herself as erasing certain memories and creating memories that are easier to digest. This is a very real and complex trauma response, but it feels underdeveloped in the story.
Content warning: Sexual Abuse
Additionally, the MC ends up sympathetic to the sister, which is part of my issue with the lack of depth. Throughout the story, the family only appears to torment and abuse the MC, making them essentially flat characters who are almost cartoonishly evil. If we were supposed to feel sympathetic towards them, there could have been more storytelling to make the family both awful yet human. Moreover, the sister kidnaps the MC and attempts to have her raped, which felt random and irredeemable.
I will say that the relationship between the MC and the male lead (ML) is cute.