im rather biased regarding this series and cant praise it enough but i believe it is for a reason so brace yourself for unashamed gushing https://66.media.tumblr.com/2ec564809f4f35828d0bea5c04c93e99/tumblrn6tmieVcH01snhlvjo1400.gif WILL CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS + TRIGGER WARNING Glossary: FL Rubyfemale lead ML Izekmale lead Summary: I thought Id finally escaped my hellish life when I died in an airplane crash but I fell into another nightmare when I awoke as Rudbeckia de Borgia a minor villain from a historical novel destined to die at the hands of her husband Izek van Omerta. Surviving with the dysfunctional Borgia family is hard enough but now I have to marry the man who will kill me Still its okay I just have to convince Izek his family and all his countrymen that Im completely harmless How hard can that be? The first thing to talk about is of course the art because Im an aspiring artist and am really noticing little things in art that makes it truly good. I know Ive talked about atmosphere in manga/manhwa art in every review Ive written so far but I cant stop as it is never talked about enough and plays an extremely important role in every piece of great art. This series builds mood wonderfully with its art and Ive gotta appreciate that. Its a delight in terms of visual imagery too: https://i.pin.com/236x/72/c5/0c/72c50c461edc0534238a37a6ef1c1f12.jpg I love the style its just the right amount of detailed and overall very pleasing to look at. My favorite panels because I decided to grace your eyes with their beauty: https://i.pin.com/236x/af/62/ae/af62ae15ae12de94a42ff925ab9efec8.jpg https://i.pin.com/236x/df/3c/fd/df3cfd926a7228d19bb9de5977eee0b2.jpg 237https://i.pin.com/564x/dd/c1/85/ddc185881d6777f321908ae5772fd7f2.jpg The plot is just chefs kiss. One unique thing is how unreliable the narrative is as were seeing the story unfold from the deeply traumatized FLs lenses and I doubt that wed ever notice it on first reading. Peeling off the layers of her thoughts to uncover the truth on rereading was certainly interesting and so was reading all the analyses lmao. Mostly its some extremely painful and well written angst but there is budding romance in the later chapters which makes it all the more sweet and satisfying. The storys strongly characterfocused and I think the portrayal of trauma is very well done in both of the leads affecting them each differently. From Rubys breaking down and apologizing when her trauma surfaces to how Izek faces and treats others and how emotionallystunted he appears to be. The way they bond and help each other get over all the trauma in the later chapters when their drama is resolved and they stop tormenting each other at least is just beautiful and I dont think I could describe it accurately sooooooooooo you should just see it for yourself. They are both wellwritten in my opinion. Ruby the main character is a traumaridden individual and it hurts so bad to see the affects said trauma has on her and the portrayal feels very realistic. Shes a damsel in distress indeed but for valid reasons. She pretends to be your typical lovesick damsel in distress to protect herself honestly she deserves an Oscar for all the acting she does but when all the glamor falls off whats left is just a fragile hurt kind human who is indeed distressed. 250https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/943448319315812366/1040160615303479397/image.png 250https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/943448319315812366/1040161335121551440/image.png 250https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/943448319315812366/1040159858462302258/image.png Feels man. The same could be said for the MLs backstory....... Lets say that while he hasnt gone through as much pain as our FL he certainly has had his share. As we see through FLs POV from the first 30 or so chapters he is a exaggeratedly condescending scary asswipe. As I said FL is an unreliable narrator and he definitely appeared worse than he actually was but there was still huge character development to be made and the story delivered wonderfully. He had already displayed crooked actions of consideration in early chapters but the way he realized his mistakes and apologized for them and actively tried to make amends is great development for me. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/943448319315812366/1040168825661952000/unknown.png Contrary to the leads writting I think most side characters except for a few of the MLs family members fall pretty flat especially the antagonists. What exactly is the motivation of the white lotus woman who wants the male leads love? The main antagonist FLs halfbrother and abuser is not fleshed out at all though he certainly strikes me as terrifying because FLs trauma responses are really something....His heinous acts are certainly there but as a character hes bland as fuck and I want him feel real pain then fuck off from the story forever. We all know the reason why he did the things he did is because hes a sick fuck but I want multifaceted villains Well I supposed you cant have everything and other aspects of the story more than makes up for its flaws. What can I say more? I just really love this story and I hope you check it out if you havent already https://i.pin.com/564x/16/b3/16/16b316d5399c80d1e9b1fadbd2cfe121.jpg