Jan 28, 2025
Welcome to yet another fantasy regression manhwa starring some misbehaved noblewoman who gets betrayed or whatever, pays the price, and uses their second chance as a do-over. From the outset, this one is definitely a little different from the norm: Calmia, our protagonist, decides she's not satisfied with just being the daughter of the house, and chooses to chase the exact same thing she sought before she regressed. Whoop-de-doo. Revolutionary. From then, you get some genuinely really compelling, interesting, and unsettling stuff in the first season, as Calmia and her surroundings in childhood are explored. This all culminates in a dramatic, shocking, and really interesting
...
season finale.
The first season really is excellent. It knows what subtlety is, and it's not afraid to ask its readers to engage their brains. Great stuff.
But in season 2, why is there SO MUCH sex????? I'm not reading all these goddamn webtoons just to watch people fuck every five chapters and not do anything else. If I wanted something *this* trashy, I'd be reading action manhwas (which I actually do sometimes!); that's not what I wanted going into this.
Now, sex scenes aren't inherently bad. I think depicting two people sharing themselves with the other person in (arguably) their most vulnerable position can be a great storytelling device for a romance like this. Even if sex is casual to some characters, I think it can still be a very important moment in a story. And if characters enjoy having sex, that's okay! Puritanism is a thing of the past, after all (at least in theory).
But I don't really think this author understands romance. I understand that the protagonist and ML's relationship is somewhat casual (largely due to the disconnect between Calmia and Rudbeckia) but characters that already are in a healthy, loving relationship probably wouldn't be acting like this. Even after Calmia and Rudbeckia "actually" become a thing, they still act like this. Where's the character interactions? Where did the chemistry go? Was the author replaced by Cathy from high school? This is a very juvenile way of writing romantic relationships, where everyone's horny all the time and ready to go at the drop of a dime. It's like a teenager wrote this! I mean, I do honestly get it. I've been there before. But I grew up, and compared to the first season, where actions had meaning, this is just mind-numbingly trashy and stupid that at some point I couldn't even take it seriously anymore.
Relationships are all about communication. Sex inherently isn't communication. Rather, sex is the result of communication. Sex happens through communication. You don't ever see these characters properly communicate with each other; all they do is flirt and then fuck like 3 panels later. Their interactions amount to either that or being passive-aggressive assholes about each other. And then Calmia boasts about how she loves having sex and has a lot of premarital sex to her critics who try to come after her for various things (ok you know what I fully support her on this one). Point is, the story loves to conflate eroticism with romance instead of letting them supplement each other. It's different from, say, Moby-Dick, where Ishmael gets real freaky but also expresses genuine affection for others, namely Queequeg (so long as he isn't talking about largely incorrect whale facts). And Moby-Dick isn't even a romance—it's a book about a guy trying to kill a whale and failing miserably. Like, come on.
And as an aside, if you're gonna include THIS much sex, at least let me see Rudbeckia's thighs or something.
Season 2's story also ends up feeling a lot more rushed and shallow. If you read it you'll see what I mean, but the climax really ends so abruptly and has no real payoff. The story uses the first season to build up to some really high highs and immediately catapults itself into the Grand Canyon (though with a parachute to slow its fall).
Overall, did I enjoy it? I mean, yeah, I guess I did. The first season was really, truly very good stuff. But season 2 is just a clusterfuck, literally, to the point where it kinda becomes the other kind of "good" story; one where you're having fun, but you aren't really sure if it's actually that good.
Also, this got paywalled by Webtoon about a week after I finished reading it, so keep that in mind if you REALLY want to check this out.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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