So, "The Remarried Empress" ended today. About time, really, because that story did fall off a cliff some time ago. The ending was not very satisfactory. You could say that the story stopped being interesting as soon as Navier remarried.
Let's be clear, the story was only ever interesting as Navier vs Sovieshu, especially when it was made clear by the story how powerless Navier is when she is stripped of her Empress title through divorce. Because the mistress, Rashta, was too powerless at the beginning of the story to be an actual threat.
Now, I personally found it interesting that when Rashta got power, she was revealed to be a terrible person. Because people have a tendency to attribute good qualities to people who have suffered from misfortune. But some people don't oppress because they don't have the power to oppress. Rashta could have been a good Empress, but she was a terror, and at some point, no amount of feeling sorry for her could excuse the terrible things she did.
Rashta was the embodiment of the saying "your trauma is not your fault but it is your responsibility. Also it doesn't justify you traumatising others".
On that topic, Navier's new husband Henry is clearly a terrible person who does terrible things. So when the story became all about his Empire and the political intrigues centred around him. The story was just not that interesting.
Honestly, at some point the story was trying to do too much. I think it would have been much better as an examination of how powerless women, even "powerful" women, are because of the laws stacked against them. The story could have also examined how power can reveal that a person was always terrible but just not in a position to be terrible. But it tried to create a political intrigue and other stuff and it just became too much!
Finally, I also binged "To Whom It No Longer Concerns", and it was okay. That's another story that went off a cliff when it started incorporating political bullshit. But it's a relatively short webtoon to binge. So it has that going for it!
Wow, this really was "Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story"!
You know, everybody claims that their story isn't another Iseki but every now and then you get a story that really is different!
I loved this story, but I can't say more without spoilers, and this is one of those stories that should not be spoiled. So here's my non-spoiler elevator pitch for this Webtoon, it reminded me of Jane Austin's Northanger Abby in how that story offered a critique of the gothic romances of the time. Likewise, this story uses the premise of a Iseki reincarnation to criticise aspects of the romance genre.
So the story begins with a woman who died in our world ending up in the body of a villain in a romance story she read. She tries to not be a villain because she knows the villain is going to get killed by the secondary love interest. But initially, her efforts are thwarted as the story plot seems to want to revert to what was written.
This is when she discovers the world's system and realises that she is up against the original author of the story. So as the story unfolds, it becomes a criticism of author self-insert protagonists.
It becomes a critic of Marysue protagonists who are loved and given attention within the story that breaks the rules of the universe. For example, the family of the romantic male leads is supposed to be good folk who are mindful of their duty. There is no reason why these people would be overly cruel to the villainous or humiliate her needlessly.
It criticises the male lead in romances doing things they should not and cannot do within the world of the story for the love interest. For example, near the climax of the story, the male lead of the original romance novel abandons his post guarding the Emperor to rush back to rescue the romance novel's lead. But this is treason and a violation of military law. The story calls out the Romantic lead for it, and by the end of the story, the romantic male lead is exposed to be an empty vessel who only exists for the female lead. This is not a good thing.
The secondary lead of the original romance novel, who ends up being the lead of the webtoon story we are following, is a much more interesting character because he is allowed to have an identity outside of the "love interest".
Like there is a reason why fandoms often end-up shipping the protagonist with their best friend over the designated love interest. When you designate the character as "love interest", it is too easy to create a swallow one dimensional character.
This is a really good story, and more than anything else, it is a critique of authors who pit two female characters against each other unnecessarily. Especially when they probably could write a better story by having these characters support each other.
9.5/10 Second-best Webtoon I binged after The Spark in Your Eyes.
KPop Demon Hunters & I Abdicate My Title of Empress
I have recently got to know a person who has executive dysfunction that's bad enough to require careful management. I am beginning to think I have executive dysfunction, given that I keep putting off my work!
My latest weapons of procrastination have been finally watching KPop Demon Hunters and binging "I Abdicate My Title of Empress". I guess it won't hurt too much to share my thoughts before I finally, finally get to work!
So I enjoyed K-Pop Demon Hunters, but I was surprised that it blew up the way it did. Because the story is nothing new.
I guess the "K-pop" part had a lot to do with it because the music is extremely catchy. So while the plot is something we have seen a thousand times. The music elevates the story as a whole. Plus, this is for the kids, and kids haven't seen this same plot a thousand times. So I guess the adults like the music, while the kids love the music and the plot!
So I don't know why I keep binging Webtoons, but I am running out of time on my deadlines. So this is probably the last one... for real this time.
"I Abdicate My Title of Empress" keeps getting compared to "The Remarried Empress", which I am also reading. But honestly, they are nothing alike. The dynamics between the Emperor and Empress, as well as the Emperor's mistress and the male lead/eventual love interest, are all different. The characters are very different.
Plus, there is an overarching conspiracy plot related to a political power struggle in "I Abdicate My Title of Empress", that some might say detracts from the romance. But I think it enhanced the overall world of "I Abdicate My Title of Empress".
I think what I like about "I Abdicate My Title of Empress" is how anti-trad wife it is because it is made very clear that if you depend on a man's whim for your power and your place in the world, you are a fool. I really appreciate that as a message after the trad-wife revival that way too many people are trying to make happen.
So yeah, it's pretty good. Nothing too groundbreaking but it's enjoyable - 8/10!
Okay, I really need to stop binging Webtoons and "The Spark In Your Eyes" is a great Webtoon to end my binge on!
This manhwa is a masterpiece. It's a true high fantasy. A lot of people don't understand what makes something high fantasy vs just fantasy. Well, high fantasy has something to say. It uses the fantasy setting to explore something deeper about human nature. This manhwa is definitely exploring something deeper.
I can't share my full thoughts without spoiling. So Spoiler Alert!
So the manhwa starts off pretty generic. The male lead, Erkin, is from a recently conquered nation. The conquering nation used a mystical knight to win the war. After the war, the mystic knight tries to live in peace, but starts to experience side effects from her power. So the male lead is brought into the story as a herbalist healer.
The mystic knight is the lead female character, Hildegar, who hides her identity. So at some point, she begins interacting with the male lead, disguised as a servant named Kaya.
At first, the story is pretty standard romantic shenanigans, except that from the beginning, it's set against a backdrop of war. A war that ended just five years ago. A war that started almost 50 years ago.
Obviously, it was an on-and-off conflict. Especially since "the North" wasn't a united nation. But at some point, the North was united under a leader who wanted to conquer the South, and the Southern king, Mormodus, decided to claim the power of a Sun Goddess to not only conquer the North but also become an immortal ruler of his nation.
King Mormodus is undoubtedly the irredeemable villain of the story. Now it is hinted that there was no good side in the war. But there is no justification for all the terrible, terrible things Mormodus did. Especially to Kaya.
So when the story starts to turn towards an examination of war, human ambition, belief, and especially trauma, there is no point where you feel sorry for Mormodus.
That's not true for the other main villain of the story, the Knight Commander Albrecht Widehen. He is 100% a tragic character who let his grief and desire for revenge corrupt his morals. But he also ends the story alive and being praised for his actions. His greatest punishment is that he loses the love of his nephew Terion and niece Lindia. But that was probably the greatest punishment he could suffer, given that the man adores his family.
The story is not for the faint-hearted, and it doesn't have clean morals. The new King, Leonard, makes a decision that's a real either/or. He has no golden path. His choice felt very real in the context of the in-universe world. It wasn't one of those narratively convenient choices that you often see in stories like this. It really felt like a decision real rulers have had to make in the real world in the course of history.
But the story has a happy ending. Although maybe it's bittersweet, given that Erkin and Kaya cannot be with their friends. But they are doing their best to live a peaceful life, which is all that either wanted.
The other thing I liked about the story is that everything comes back. There is no Chekhov's gun that is not fired. Indeed, some guns are fired that you didn't even know existed.
For example, during the "everyday romantic shinangians" portion of the story. There is a gate-guard background character. You learn his name, Pascal, but you don't see his face. So you don't really think about him as the story progresses and you move away from the everyday romantic shinangians. But at the climax of the story, he turns up for a few panels for a pivotal role!
Now I binged the stories, but others would have been reading them for years. Imagine how shocked they would have been when this character, whose face you don't even see, comes through to save the day in his small way that they hadn't seen in years!
This happened a couple of times, where something from the earlier part of the story comes back in an unexpected way in the later part of the story.
Also, there isn't a lot of wanton cruelty in the war section. There is 100% cruelty but it's more everyday human cruelty. For example, at one point, the Northern army starts hunting for a woman with red hair. They torture their own people who happen to have red hair because they are trying to find a witch.
One of these "witches" sets fire to their camp while trying to escape. This woman was shown kindness from Erkin's parents, and she knew that Erkin's parents were locked in their cabin. But in order to save herself, she left them locked and thus ended up burning to death the only people who showed her kindness.
This is an "ordinary" war tragedy, and that's what gives it impact. This wasn't the case where some "super evil psycho commander" orders these kind doctors burnt to death. It was an accident. A tragic, horrific accident.
Honestly, it's so refreshing to see characters that feel like real people and not just carefully crafted villain characters or for that matter, carefully crafted good characters. All the characters have their flaws and good sides, which makes everything just that much more tragic.
Which brings my point that this really deserved the tag of "high fantasy". I genuinely don't remember what compelled me to click on it and start reading. I do remember seeing it was tagged "high fantasy", which is not a tag I see on Webtoons. Not every fantasy is tagged "high fantasy", as far as I know, and that is correct.
Not all fantasy stories are "high fantasy". For a story to be high fantasy, the story has to reach for something loftier. It has to have a message and must be written with the intention to explore something deeper. This story does that with war, trauma and the human condition in the context of war and trauma.
I highly recommend it, even though it can be hard to read sometimes. "The Spark In Your Eyes" is truly a masterpiece!
I really should be getting back to work. But I had a family emergency. It's all taken care of now. But the whole thing threw my productivity off. So I opted to do a bit more reading before I get back to being productive.
Since I was still in a bit of a romance mode, I picked up "Behind Her Highness's Smile" and while it is very, very dark. I think this is a good replacement for the newly finished "From a Knight to a Lady".
It's still ongoing in manhwa form, but the novel is finished and has a happy ending. Which is important for me because I could not read a story like if it did not have a happy ending. It's just too dark otherwise.
Anyway, I am happy to put this Webtoon on my weekly read list. I hope there are no delays.
But now that I have caught up to the latest chapter, it's time to get back to work!
I have been binging Webtoons over the last week. I finished about 5 webtoons. A couple of them I was reading already, but the series finished last week. While others I started and finished during my binge. So here is my ranking of all the series I finished recently!
The Age of Arrogance - hands down the best Webtoon I read recently. The cover art caught my attention a few times, but I never got around to reading it. So I am glad I finally got a chance to read it! Of all the Webtoons I read, this is the one I hope gets an anime adaptation!
How to Hide the Emperor's Child - I really enjoyed this, enough to want to binge more romance webtoons. The world-building could have done with more work, but overall, it was great!
When Two Villains Meet - this one I was already reading, but the series concluded with the conclusion of 2025. This would be higher up if the ending didn't feel rushed. Also, the last few twists and turns left more questions than answers. Not to mention, there were many questions left open.
You Can't Kill Me: The Secret Bride of the Black Wolf - This is another one I was reading already, but it concluded (on Webtoon) literally this week. I didn't like all the reveals. Also, its depiction of domestic abuse and violence stops me from recommending it to friends. But it's still very good.
They Wish to Take Away My Child - This series is very controversial based on the comments I see on Webtoon. I liked it, but I probably wouldn't recommend it because of the controversy. It's enjoyable enough, but the main male character is not necessarily the type of love you want in your life. That alone puts it at the bottom of the list!
Okay, so "From a Knight to a Lady" did not finish within the last week. But it did finish, on Webtoon, in December. I don't want to rank this because it wasn't part of my binge. But this is hands down my favourite finished Webtoon. This was excellent from start to finish, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to read a manhwa!
10/10 - "From a Knight to a Lady" is one of the best Webtoons I have read!
You Can’t Kill Me: The Secret Bride of the Black Wolf
In my last post, I mentioned that the last Webtoon I was going to binge, because I have to get back to work, was "You Can’t Kill Me: The Secret Bride of the Black Wolf".
Well, I just finished it, and it's 7.5 out of 10. Some of the revelations, twists and turns didn't work. But the story had extremely good emotional resonance with me. So I am happy to let the flaws slide.
But this story has a massive trigger warning, and the abuse depicted is not for the faint-hearted. I also feel like they really captured the brutality of Southeast Asian medieval culture, where nobles really could do whatever they wanted to the peasantry.
Also, no, it wasn't the same everywhere. A lot of regions gave their peasants a lot more rights. In the very least, the nobles couldn't just kill their servants on a whim without repercussions. I thought the story depicted well how bad it could be in societies like that for a sociopath to gain power.
That said, I would never recommend this story to anyone due to the portrayal of abuse. It's not groundbreaking enough to put aside your discomfort. It's a pretty good romance story about how love can change fates. But overall, the extreme depictions of familial abuse and domestic abuse are too much for a recommendation.
That said, I did like the story. It's definitely high up on my list of Webtoons I completed over this New Year break!
Since My Happy Marriage story failed to scratch the romance story itch I had. I decided to binge a couple of more romance webtoons. I ended up reading two completed contract marriage stories: The Age of Arrogance and They Wish to Take Away My Child.
Of these two stories, The Age of Arrogance is most definitely the superior story. There were some issues with the world-building. But honestly, it had better world-building than most stories. So I am not going to nitpick.
The story starts with Prince Carlisle entering a contract marriage with Countess Asha so Asha can gets the funds she needs to keep her people fed. While Prince Carlisle can rebuild his support base after a recent setback at the royal court.
I think what works for this story is that both the main characters had believable arcs. Prince Carlisle, while an extremely competent warrior, really was an arrogant dickhead who didn't care about his subjects at the beginning of the story. He changes because of the influence of Asha, who, in turn, learns to think long-term and grow into her role as the Empress. While at the beginning of the story, she had been at war for so long that her thinking was small and focused more on immediate survival.
It also had some great action sequences, and the slow-burn romance wasn't too annoying. I really liked it, and it seems to be one of the more popular titles on Webtoons. I hope it gets an anime!
8/10 - it only loses points because of the weird AU they inserted at the end, which is apparently in the novel, but it was apparently explored better in the novel. Also, I felt the in-universe religion could have been better depicted because you can't have God's, plural, while using Christian imagery with crosses and stuff. Because what does the cross represent here? Is it one of the gods? The symbol of the Pantheon? When religion plays a central part in the story. You kind of have to think a bit more about how you depict it.
The other story I binged was They Wish to Take Away My Child. I really enjoyed it and would give it a solid 6/10. But based on the comments, a lot of people hated it.
The primary reason is that the main character, Theo, has many dark traits which he inherited from his grandfather. His grandfather is truly a toxic family member who essentially tortured Theo's mother, and fostered a newly orphaned Iris so he could make her and Theo marry once they came of age. Which is were the contract marriage comes into it. Iris is contracted to marry Theo while they are both children.
Now, apparently, the grandfather knew Theo would fall for Iris because Theo was like him, and so he made an educated guess that Iris was most likely the type of person who could win Theo's heart. But let's be clear, the grandfather was toxic and controlling. Extremely classist and not a nice person.
So when the story suggests that the grandfather was "redeemed", readers didn't take it well. But I don't think he was redeemed by the story. It certainly showed that HE thought he had good reasons for doing what he did. But the sheer amount of misery he caused was also evident.
It's just that the grandfather, who is very old, cannot be meaningfully punished because, toxic or not, Theo doesn't hate his grandfather enough to go no contact and lose his inheritance. Iris is also not the type to smother an old man. He lives because he was a rich, smart old man who had the love of the main characters despite not deserving it.
The villains who died were both less powerful and more stupid. They committed crimes for which they could be very easily prosecuted under the law.
The grandfather's crime of controlling his family and abusing his peasant-born daughter-in-law are things we have a hard time holding people to account for in 2026. While the story is set in pseudo-1700s.
So I don't think the story apologises for abuse because the grandfather got away with it or because Theo ended up with Iris.
Iris had options, and the alternative love interest was genuinely a nice guy. But it was clear that she was committed to Theo, and they are super young in the story. Early 20s at most.
So I think the implication is that Theo and Iris will continue to grow together. But the story is very divisive, and if you want a moral lesson, you won't get it. Also, some of the world-building and story situations were not great. But I had a good time reading it. But it's definitely not for everyone.
So the last story I am going to binge is The Secret Bridge of the Black Wolf. I was already reading it, but I had to stop because I got busy. So I decided to wait until it was finished, which happened today!
So in my last post talking about that Manhwa - How to hide the Emperor's Child, I mentioned that reading it reminded me that I hadn't finished season 2 of My Happy Marriage.
I watched about two episodes of it when it first came out. But my routine got disrupted due to severe illness, and I just opted to wait until it finished to binge it.
So I am binging it now, and I will finish it. I have about four episodes to go, but it's been a slog. I just don't care about the supernatural shenanigans of the world at large.
I also found it annoying how Miyo ended up being a super special dream maid that everybody is fighting over. I just wanted a nice cozy story about a girl who was abused by her family. Who goes to her husband's house expecting more of the same. However, her husband turns out to be more than decent and together they forge a nice life togehter.
So why do I have to put up with weird cousincest and really dumb political intrigue! Especially since Arata Usuba isn't exactly a great character. In fact, season 1 took a nose-dive for me when he was introduced.
Also, there is some weird animation and flow issues that could have been overlooked in a cosy slice of life. But is really jarring when they introduce combat. For example, at one point, an intruder with Vader's force choke powers comes and starts choking one character. But there are two other characters, and the character being choked goes to the other character to "go for help". The Vader-force-choke guy just lets the person go... okay? I guess reinforcements were a threat, but the whole sequence was a kind of stilted and not good.
So now that we are in the middle of the political stuff. It's been a slog to get through. I am going to finish it as soon as hit post on this. But My Happy Marriage anime did not scratch the itch I wanted it to scratch. Too much stupid politics in my romance anime makes me super unhappy!
Edit: I have finished this anime. The political stuff was a slog. Maybe it's better done in the light novel. I don't know, but as I said, I could have done without the political stuff.
So I wrote in my previous post that I had binged this manhwa on Webtoons over the New Year's and I feel like talking about this a bit more because while the premise is not new. I felt this story worked really well.
I think one of the reasons why the story worked was because the stakes were sufficiently high. The Emperor, Kaizen, has very good reasons to be wary of Astelle and had good reasons to think he was doing her a favour when he divorced her. Astelle also has good reasons to keep her son away from both Kaizen and her father.
Also, her father is a formidable enough antagonist that the story has some real obstacles and danger. Indeed, one of the most unexpected things that happened in the story was how the "Emperor's child" was finally discovered.
The story set up so many ways it could be discovered, but when the revelation happened, it did come out of left field. But not in a Deux Ex Machina way. It's just not how anyone, inside the story or outside, expected it to happen. So that was nice.
It was also kind of amusing to read the comments and realise that modern audiences are so used to thinking of kings and emperors being able to "do anything" that there were complaints when Kaizen didn't just summarily execute Astelle's father.
Most kings and emperors were not tyrants. They did have rules and laws they followed and governed through. Now those rules and laws were fair and massively favoured the ruling class over all others. But rules and laws did exist.
It was very clear that Kaizen and Astelle couldn't just execute people who annoyed them. They weren't tyrants and didn't want to be tyrants. They wanted to rule through law and that meant that they had to be bound by law.
Now, is it a perfect story? Absolutely not. It might not even be a great story. But it's good and enjoyable. So it was a great way to close out 2025. Here's hoping for 2026 being filled with more great stories!
The story also made me realise that I had never finished season 2 of My Happy Marriage Story. So that's how I am going to spend today! A nice, relaxing way to spend day 2 of 2026!
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