MC wanted to make OG MC lose face because she though herself to be on a moral high ground. MC gave the example of a woman who killed a young boy, and asked if she should be punished. All around her agreed. When she told them that in reality, the woman had a daughter. The boy whom she mu*dered had r*ped her daughter & killed her. Everyone was shocked but they agreed that the young boy deserved that. But still OG MC argued that since that was the case, then the woman should have approached the court of law for justice. The MC explained that the woman did but the boy was not punished because he was young or juvenile. Something about how young ones can make small mistakes. That's how legal justice was given to her daughter, who had to suffer in life and couldn't get justice even after her death.

So the woman took matters in her own hand. She can't be judged as wrong based on some lofty morals because she just took vengeance for her daughter, who cannot take it for herself & justice for her was even denied by the court of law.

Thus, MC defended ML's choice for which he was condemned by OG MC.

Diana who took the role of the female antagonist throughout the entire story completely disappeared from the ending. What ultimately happened to her and anything related to her was never mentioned after a certain point.

The female lead and male lead also had a good ending, but somehow it was quite normal and subdued. It wasn't particularly passionate and interesting. Instead their ending was like a very gentle heartwarming ember and strangely normal. The same could be said of the crown prince and his relationship. The extra special chapters were boring.

I wanted to see some other characters' perspectives. I wanted some public opinion looking in and wanted to know about the situation of the country, royal family, church, territories, citizens, etc. There was nothing like that. Instead I got a short family vacation that was even more normal and boring than my own family vacations.

EXCEPT the ending. IMO the ending is rushed. There are some parts in the story which are yet to solve and stuffs yet to be done. It would be good if the author comes up with season 2, just my wish of course. I think the path are very open for season 2. I really wish to see more 0f the two main leads being lovey dovey cos there was no much chapters with just two having a good time being couples and going on dates and stuffs.

FL did NOT want to come to the novel world. She did NOT want to die and be reborn again, let alone twice for that matter (transmigration first, regression afterwards). Her codependency to the ML make sense because she was coping from her unwanted circumstances. I see that a lot of people get put off with that aspect, but her fangirling is warranted and explained enough. Like the ml, she is also s*icidal from the beginning right to the end because of her circumstances (again), and the fangirling was her way to cope unhealthily with her s*icidal tendencies.

She preaches a lot about the aristocrats being wasteful to resources and all, yet she holds the second highest position in the empire and isn't willing to do something about that. She genuinely believes that she isn't wrong for that because she's using it to do good. She preaches about the church and religion a lot but the church is literally corrupt and stealing from the poor (and she almost overran the palace with church members that one time so you can only imagine how will that go). All in all, a hypocrite— could see the fault from others and criticize them for it, but couldn't see that she's doing the same thing and even make excuses for it.

Man, I get the FL almost being s*icidal again right after that. I mentioned that the ML was essentially her coping mechanism from being in a world she doesn't want to be in to, and he just did that to her. That must have felt like her reason to live was outwardly rejecting her.

Hestia is a realistic character. Her obsession with ML to a certain point can be too much but if you consider her situation it became bearable. She believes that since it's inside a novel, she can do whatever she wants and when things become clear that this is in fact reality, she had a hard time accepting that (very realistic), while other novel characters from a similar plot would immediately accept the novel as their reality. She's not s*upid and she knows her goal well and understand that by doing things differently, future events will also change.

Kaelus is very "professional". He fully respects and supports FL despite only being contractually married. He's too kind for his own good. Seems to be a very emotional man, and at the later chaps cries a lot though not a bad thing. Communication skill started off okayish as he didn't really talk much unless FL initiates, but as time went by and he opens his heart, it became much better and he is very aggressive and passionate.

Helios. Despite other opinions that he was forgiven rather quick than Diana, I think that is just to be expected since he recognizes his mistakes and constantly tries to better himself. He apologize and all, he did that after fully understanding the situation and his wrong doings, without justifying anything.

Diana was a hard-headed, stubborn character until the end. I honestly hoped she got a character development and somehow lived a happy life with CP. But until the end she was unmoved and hates changing. The amount of bad and wrong things she did just to prove others wrong is something to learn from. Also her apologies were never sincere, she's not sorry for the things she did, she's sorry because she wants to remove her own guilt or to make the situation better.

FL (Hestia) straightforward character. After transmigration, the purpose of her living was her fanatism toward ML (Kaelus). She loved him but didn't crave for his love like a fan. At first life in novel, she just existing (until she dies) like viewing a novel on VR. But after ML's death and coming back to 2nd life in novel, she wanted to change the plot in favor of ML and OG leads to apologize to him. Some of her schemes were questionable but she initially didn't care bc she view herself as "new author" and will be back in real world so she got no lingering feelings in the novel world. Glad she got realizations and have happy ending w/ ML.

Meanwhile, I liked the ML (Kaelus). He got moments of weakness but that heatbreaking experience... didn't stop him to love FL unconditionally in later chapters

"Romance alone is not enough for aristocracy and royalty. Love like novels are only on novels".

Diana and Helios' loved dim after their passionate love in original main novel. Other than their love, they got difference in views in life. Also, 2 of them symbolized diff path... Helios admitted his fault, apologized and learned from it. Meanwhile, Diana remained stubborn and can't accept other's views... reason why she's the only one who didn't moved forward on the end

I just find "some" of FL'S schemes were unnecessary... bc me as lazybummer will chose to easily watch the OG couple ruin their relationship like in first life. Anyway, her schemes got good results tho w/ all her hardwork

Physical intimacy was late-stage, it was raunchy but as far as detailing goes, it was not as much as you'd expect from a 'smut' tag novel. S*x scenes didn't happen more than 4 times, becoming vaguer over time, the rest were all off-screen moments.

Her plans would fall through, or not be well thought out, she'd occasionally get carried away by her emotions when getting heated in an argument with her nemesis the saintess, or be full of schadenfreude in the og couple's misery.

Selfish, petty, and vengeful to her enemies; but devoted, hardworking, caring and considerate to loved ones.

I have no idea what to think of the sins the saintess Diana (ogFL) was condemning the ML (og2ndML) for; was it an unavoidable situation there because her life was threatened by the princess Letona (villainess in OG story) or more a carefully planned out mu*der? The whole country seems to know of it and nobody really cares for some reason. The only thing that's clear to me is that the way, both friend and crush, pushed Kaelus (og2ndML/ML) away after all he had done and dedicated to them, was his tipping point.

They have been wielding him like a tool for their means, to begin with, and were never ever sorry for using him until then or condemning him for 'overstepping' his lines executing duties of the crown prince or when he'd go off to comfort Diana etc. Felt like they had drawn a line WAY TOO LATE.

About MC's involvement in the first uninfluenced storyline:

How and where did she get all the money to buy a title? Woke up in a body of a commoner who just won the lottery? (*≧▽≦) ﾉｼ))

Also, more than unconditionally adoring the 2nd ML and feeling angry for him by taking his death personally, I believe when the church turned away from her when she was in need of succor was partially the reason why she was vengeful against them, Diana being a direct representative of the church, holding firmly hypocritically in her idealistic naive beliefs, would be the best striking dummy for her pent-up anger, including for having to hurt her bias on top.

It's hard to believe she was saddened to the extreme by the death of a fictional character, even if she had lived through the story on the sidelines, to the point of losing the will to live.

I feel like her ending was already a graceful one. She still had someone who stood by her side til the very end and she never experienced the hardships of life but merely had her interpersonal relationships crumble away (as it would have happened in the original anyway). She's naive but most importantly far too ignorant and patronizing. She'd treat others like they're all blind to the 'truth' and never compromises on anything she set her mind on.

Crown princess or not, her marriage would've failed mainly because of how inflexible she is. (Which it did, even w/o MC's involvement.)

Besides that, on top, she's been extremely indecisive. So far, she had people do the dirty work and make decisions for her, she just had to be a sweet little angel, giving waves and smiles. But living as a crown princess, she acted more like a saintess than before, demanding the unwavering support of her spouse to her cause and giving nothing back in return. Til the end, she refused to move on with life and blamed her choices on others. At least the ogML made some progress and was sincere in his apologies, still a c*cky b*stard though, that one.

About Helios:

Uncorregiable c*cky b*astard at first, but later improves himself by reflecting on his and his wife's actions.

He definitely had his share of faults for spoiling Diana by unconditionally shielding her regardless of the context and circumstances.

Then again Diana isn't the type who can take criticism, so it's 50/50 understandable why he coddled her that far; he tried to please her too hard at some point without even realizing it.

When he confronts her later on about their faults, she wouldn't have any of it and goes full victim Karen mode. By simply questioning her actions and seeing fault in her was the breaking point in their marriage.

I think it was said she was raised at the temple/church and been subtly infused with the belief that she can do no wrong, she's a saint, and whatever she says and does is the right thing. To be fair, the men who were enamored with her, did the same.

Diana is too childish to be a crown princess, she refused to learn from others and had offended too many of them to have the opportunity to redeem herself. So yes, Helios needed a new crown princess, someone who can pull their own weight.

Hestia's PTSD is not addressed nicely, the author just went out about Heli and Diana's story instead of how Hestia come out from the anxiety and loss of meaning after Cael decided that revenge to Diana is not what he wanted.

What's absurd is someone who’s emotionally detached from the world suddenly not being detached anymore. Maybe many readers believe and can accept that, because she loves Cael enough to change—I mean, she always says she's his fanatic fan—but I don't buy that shit. I know that Cael is the anchor that keeps her sane, but it’s not just him. Heli and Diana matter too.

Her desire for revenge, deep down, is denial—a refusal to accept that she's stuck in that world with no way back to her original one. She thinks if she can make Cael happy, she can go back (I mean, she must unconsciously think of a real happy ending one and obviously Cael committed su*cide is not) —hence, she believes that to make Cael happy, she needs to make Heli and Diana regret. But then Cael says he didn't want to be entangled with them anymore basically saying what she did is never his will.

This is never about making Cael happy, this about how to go back to her world. And she must started to aware of the fact she's stuck when she realizes that revenge is not the answer.

So what are you supposed to do when you can't deny that anymore? And that's where the author failed to deliver.