[respectthepetty]

Am I watching My Royal Nemesis simply because I noticed it was color-coded?

NO! I started watching it because I noticed the almost $4,000 red leather Gucci purse.

And that's how I realized the purse (along with everything else) was color relevant.

So now I am watching it because it's color coded.

But that's not the only reason I'm watching it! I'm also watching it because it's sun and moon coded/light x dark dynamic, which is why an eclipse happened in both timelines.

But also, there's a whole thing about red flowers, specifically peonies, "the king of flowers," and how they are the most beautiful flower in a garden full of beautiful flowers.

(The flowers are her)

Because she was the most beautiful flower blooming in the royal garden before she was plucked and crushed.

But she wasn't always the red flower and her love interest wasn't always the dark cloud.

He was blue. Loyal. Smart. Kind (to her).

And she was pink, even in the current timeline.

So I think the past and the present Shin Seo-Ri are the same person since the grandmother mentioned an accident occurred and Shin Seo-Ri forgot who she was then, so maybe she had an accident at work again and woke up with full memories of her past life . . . but that's not what this post is about. It's about the colors, and how slowly, these two are getting back to their softer colors.

Instead of always being red and black, they are gradually moving to pink and blue one color step at a time.

And it's probably because they found each other again in the midst of an eclipse with a shining red comet included.

Or maybe it's because love (mixed with this bokeh effect) reveals everyone's true color.

Either way, count me in!

[vexthejester]

Giving her an utterly charming music box WITH A DOG and decorating her home with twinkly lights even after she pushed him away is so freaking sweet and romantic I think I actually had to clutch my chest. That's insane. That's wild. It's so THOUGHTFUL what the heck

[elena-lila]

I think one of Ferrante’s big theses in the Neapolitan Novels is:

1. that feminism and advancing the status of women is not a given under socialism and/or communism, and that it needs to be intentionally and thoughtfully integrated into that sociopolitical & economic philosophy (in practice, into the legal and policy environment). Lila is in a lot of anti-fascism & pro-communism spaces where gender issues are treated as secondary, tertiary, some nth order problem.

2. that class awareness is not a given in feminism and requires similar integration into that philosophy. Elena ends up in a lot of feminist circles that ignore the plight of poor women like Lila. That’s why it gets this reputation of being something not accessible to poor (or otherwise marginalized) women.

3. that without proper & intentional care for both these issues, liberation is completely unattainable.

[buddhamethods]

bit his dumbass so hard he fell in love with her that very moment

Reborn (2025) Episode 1

[moonlightsdream]

⁂ Reborn 焕羽 (2025) Episode 14 | running out of courage   

[bublegunn]

REBORN 煥羽 (Adapted from the web novel "Huan Yu" 焕羽)

[sporadora]

dwelling on what if's

based on my oomf's post https://x.com/kajinmao/status/1960799565105520746?s=46

[godilyn2001]

The Apothecary Diaries Gif Appreciation Post

(Lady Ah-Duo)

[sporadora]

some things never change

[neo--queen--serenity]

I think it’s easy to forget how Ah-Duo and the Emperor’s relationship haunts the romantic narrative between Maomao and Jinshi.

It’s not addressed often, but based on what little we’re told, it’s very likely that Ah-Duo was (and still is) the love of his life.

She was the Emperor’s childhood sweetheart. She was his only consort for over a decade. Ignoring how rare that is—how it would have been encouraged for a prince to take more than one concubine—he refused to take on any other consorts for the first ten years after Jinshi's birth. He only accepted other concubines after the former emperor passed away, and he ascended the throne.

For as the current emperor, he could no longer avoid the obligation of taking other consorts, producing heirs—especially since he knew Ah-Duo could no longer bear him children.

Despite losing her womb, the child Ah-Duo gave him is the only one that has survived into adulthood. A child he dotes on, loves dearly, and who he deeply wants to be his heir, despite Jinshi's clear objections. And it makes sense why he'd want Jinshi to succeed him. He's the only child he bore with the woman he loves most, who bears such an uncanny resemblance to her, who shares her intelligence, charm, and cleverness.

He loved her so much that he kept her—a woman who could never get pregnant again—in the rear palace for over eighteen years. It hurt their relationship to have her caged there. The one solace they had was being able to be near Jinshi as he grew up.

And by the time the Emperor gives in to the political pressure to replace Ah-Duo with a younger (fertile) consort, he does something that we haven't seen any other emperor do so far: he allowed Ah-Duo to leave the rear palace. Not only that, he gave her the Southern Imperial Villa: an entire compound (comparable to a small palace itself) to call her own in the royal capital, where she can live her life comfortably and privately. It isn't true freedom—not really—since she doesn't have jurisdiction to travel the world as she's always wanted, but it's a hell of a lot more freedom than any other consort has ever received up to that point.

And he leaves the palace often to visit her there. This is extremely uncommon; in theory, an emperor should have no further reason to interact with a former consort if the woman cannot serve the baby-making purpose she was chosen for. He gave her a residence in the royal capital because wants to keep her close. He wants continued access to her, even after she's comfortably installed in her new life outside the palace.

Jinshi knows all of this, and is painfully aware of how easily history could repeat itself with him and Maomao. Jinshi knows how trapped and stifled Ah-Duo felt in the rear palace, knows it strained her relationship with the Emperor, knows that it ultimately pushed her away from him, emotionally. It did not affect the Emperor's love for her, but it did affect Ah-Duo's love for him.

Jinshi watched his own parents' romantic relationship fall apart due to the absolute power that came with his position. He wasn't able to avoid claiming his title as the Moon Prince; he'll do anything he can to avoid making Maomao feel the same way Ah-Duo felt.

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

Something about Apothecary Diaries and the complexity of what it means to have a mother. Something about Maomao and her only memories of her mother being silence or a pain that has nothing to do with her but is reflected onto her anyway, and yet still engineering things so that Lakan, years later, would come to find and marry her. Something about all of the courtesans in the Verdigris House being like mother figures to Maomao, yet never paying attention to her when she cried. Something about Loulan doing everything in her power to not be a mother - taking drugs to avoid it, knowing that to have a child would be a selfish, cruel thing, even down to 'killing' the children who adore her. Something about Jinshi, and both of his mothers - the one who birthed him and the one who raised him. Anshi, and raising him to be mature and older than he should have had to be to be the opposite of his grandfather, the man who victimized her, and Ah-Duo, unable to be in his life because she chose to give him up. Something about mothers not being unconditional and uncomplicated; something about motherhood being absent, ugly, confined by circumstance or by past pain. Something about not wanting to be your mother; something about being too much like your mother. Something about how your mother haunts you regardless.

[squeeegs]

the most beautiful girl in the world

[lesly-oh]

Them ✨👏

[theroseadage]

my doomed yuri

[blessedndchristpilled]

more than anyone, but not more than you

[yorsun]

Stark is just That Guy. "He helped me push my cart" "he hung out with us kids" "he rescued my cat from a tree" "he stopped my rampaging cow" he helps people and makes friends in every city he goes to. It reminds me of tiktok comment sections where people lie about how some guy helped them dig their car out of mud or gave them his winning lottery ticket or something equally ridiculous to gas him up, but stark is Just Like That.

It's also cool how the series uses this to build the relationship between fern and stark while maintaining the pattern of prioritizing scenes of how well liked a ridiculously strong character is over showing how strong they are. A core component of this series is that each character's worth comes from their relationships to others, and their strength comes second.

[andengeu]

There, there

****

Of course, I'll draw this scene again 🥲

[impossibleanimegirl]