The Abandoned Duchess Seems to Want a Peaceful Life

MTLed to Chapter 76.

The story follows a typical female main character (MC) who is transmigrated into an otome game set in a fantasy European land. She finds herself in a contract marriage with a stereotypical cold noble male lead (ML), who is one of the dateable leads playing a "villainous" role. What really kept me hooked was the author's dedication to developing the side characters. It was heartening to cheer the MC on as she won them over, building infrastructure, developing products, and nurturing the land and its people. I love these kinds of stories.

However, the MC’s perspective is heavily influenced by a "Japan-centric" mentality, which can be jarring. My immersion was broken when the MC gets kidnapped and, within less than a quarter of the chapter, forgives her kidnappers, and makes everyone who was concerned about her safety do the same.

By this point, it's clear that the end goal couple is the MC and her "husbando." After 76 chapters, he has no redeeming qualities and is a forgettable character that I want to skip over. He has a hinted tragic backstory involving his youngest sibling and how he sees hints of his sibling in the MC. This feels off-putting and almost incestuous, especially given their marital status. (To be fair, this could be a misinterpretation due to the MTL, but it still felt weird when it came up.)

Why is this couple so predictable, even though another dateable knight lead has been by her side the entire time? The story repeatedly emphasizes how she wouldn't survive as a divorcee. Despite her incredible achievements in raising the village, the narrative suggests she couldn't possibly survive social suicide. She would have to become a nun! The MC, her aides, her villagers, and her husband all believe she wouldn't be okay. But wait!

The whole premise of the story was her securing the rights to own the land, drawing up a marriage terms contract, and doing so much to ensure her independence. All this buildup is discarded because the MC and ML must be together. It's frustrating.

Another mild annoyance was the introduction of a third dateable lead—a sickly crown prince from a neighboring country with super powerful magic. He has to stay with her due to political reasons, and for some reason, she has to heal him, even though the true heroine was supposed to be the savior. But don’t worry, of course, he’s important. They share a picnic and enjoy her newly invented mozzarella cheese together.

TLDR: The first few chapters are enjoyable, but the story becomes boring later on. I might reread "Common Sense of a Duke’s Daughter" to get my fix of a female MC building towns. Maybe someone could tell me if it gets better after chapter 76...

I'm really enjoying this novel. It's a relaxing, slice-of-life story, and the heroine is relatable and not overly powerful. The side characters are well-developed, and the pacing is steady without being too slow. The translator is doing an excellent job. I'm currently on chapter 62 and plan to keep reading. It leaves me feeling happy after each session. :)

I agree with another reviewer that the story is mostly well-written... However, I can't fully endorse this because the writer repeatedly provides the same information. If it were just a minor reminder, it wouldn't be so bothersome, but it's presented as if the reader has never encountered the information before. This makes it feel like the writer is padding the story. There were plenty of other plot points that intrigued me, so I tried to keep going. But by the 12th chapter, which could have easily been condensed into 6 or 7, I couldn't take it anymore.

A very well-written but incredibly tedious story. The characters, their lifestyles, and even relationships are so realistic that it almost feels like reading a 16th-century diary of a noblewoman with an absolutely dry ham sandwich of a husband.

The author put a lot of effort into proper research on agriculture and the people's lives back then, which I appreciated, even though the plot seemed to be heading towards a familiar narrative—not a woman finding her own happiness, but another story of a faithful lady forgiving her husband's neglect and cruelty.

Despite the numerous bogged-down details and the cardboard-cutout portrayal of a cold Duke husband, I would recommend this to anyone with a sincere interest in history.

Mam I need to leave more comments the flashy karma circle is really kinda cool lol. I didn't care about it before but the more I see it the more I like it.

Omg what a good novel. . .
Never mind wrong novel.

Nemo (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

from 759 to 768 the second part of all the chapters are missing. i had to read them at other site. the story is picking up the pace, romance also does. its quite good if you can handle the interlaced faceslapping put there for the sake of providing us a cup of cringe