- #1
this was a surprisingly fun read! Though the glaring spoilers in the summary take away from the excitement of certain scenes, it's still possible to go with the flow and enjoy things as they come. The novel reads really easily: cg's translation is solid as always, and the plot moves pretty quickly. I got some complaints, of course, but this isn't the type of novel that you approach with the expectation of beautiful writing heavy with figures of speech or thought-provoking lines. It's all pretty straightforward, and it's obvious that the author wanted the readers to pay attention to the budding romance of the main cp above all. So, if that part is what you end up enjoying the most, not unlike me, you're bound to overlook its other flaws and just appreciate the story for what it does do well.now, let me get this out of the way first: the plot isn't all that impressive overall. There's some petty revenge and face-slapping (low-profile as well as high-profile), antagonists that can't and don't do much more than flaunt their position and taunt their underlings, and mean comments about the mc's 'wife' status that got old pretty fast. Nothing really gets better with time, it's just that the focus of the plot shifts to different things. It helps that the MC is pretty level-headed and confident, so the reader isn't left feeling frustrated whenever he's being targeted. He's more than ready to retaliate at any and every offense, and his (as well as the ml's) awareness and acknowledgement of his vicious pettiness is a fun running gag: they don't make excuses and they aren't evil people in any sense, but they do enjoy giving it back to people who mistreat the MC.by the time I got to the last chapter, i'd already forgotten that we started out with an arranged marriage and an MC who was feeling mu*derous about it. The main cp develops slowly and organically (that is, outside of their very much inorganic marriages) and the fact that they got forced in a relationship at first becomes irrelevant really early on. The MC has a clear idea of what he wants to do and who he wants to be, and the ML does Not fit in with those plans– that is, until it's revealed that he's just a sweet guy who also has zero plans of making it hard for the MC, and is instead willing to support him in all his endeavors. They go from partners in crime to friends to lovers and it all feels so natural that the rest of the plot just fades away and you're fully invested in the developing romance between the two. There's not much drama to it, but the outside factors (such as rebirth/transmigration putting them in awkward positions) do make it harder for them to just go at their own pace and not the one set by the circumstances, but their communication throughout it all makes for a pleasurable read without misunderstandings that would be unnecessary and maybe even ooc when it comes to these two.all things considered, i'd say mtsf is an easily palatable, enjoyable novel if you're not looking for too much drama but are looking for a sweet (and surprisingly unproblematic) love story. Actually, this could even make for a good soft launch into the historical novels genre if you're coming from modern or school setting novels, especially considering the 20-ish extra where we see the characters exploring their relationship in a modern setting, without the roles they were placed in in the ancient times. You can definitely get a chuckle or two out of those, but the main story also ends at a good point if that's where you choose to finish reading. Happy reading yall!