Transmigrated Into A Tragic Romance Fantasy Chapter 49 Discussion

This is a common plot saddled with an unreasonable premise. This is a serviceable "transmigrated into a villain" story, as long as the reader does not think about the characters or their motivations too much

First, a story should be "reasonable". EG, if a story is set in a modern, contemporaneous world, it would be strange if people run around shooting fireballs at dragons. If this does happen, there should be an in-universe explanation for why this happens: a mysterious tower appears. People should also have reasonable emotional responses that drive their actions. EG, the main character loses her family in a monster attack. She studies the blade to kill all monsters. It would be strange if she turns into a mu*der hobo and starts killing the townspeople. If this happen, there should be an in-universe explanation: the town used her family as monster decoy.

So: TITRF opens with the main character transmigrated into the villain. He, along with three others, are in the final rounds of a competition to marry the future duchess. We later learn who the duchess is, and why these four has made it through the competition so far.

Spoiler

The duchess attended an academy in disguise, and was ab*sed and bullied by the four contestants. She has staged this competition as payback: she puts the four through trials to make them feel the shame and hurt she suffered at their hands in the academy.

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This setup does not make any sense. The condition of the contest is she has to marry one of these four people. Does this seem reasonable? The author provides no explanation for why she would be willing to do this.

Spoiler

The author goes further to show she still has nightmares about the past ab*se, and suffers from what seems to be PTSD. And she's going to marry one of her ab*sers? Why?

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This premise is the root of the story, drives the action, and shapes how the story develops. But it does not make any sense. I constantly face-palm myself and ask, why? On some level, the author seems to be aware that the story does not make any sense, as well.

Spoiler

The duchess has an "advisor" who tries to unravel why this is happening, and tries to make sense of the facts as he sees it.

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I'm willing to hand-wave away incidental details of a story, but this is the core of the story. Everything else that happens around it just feels pointless.