This one is a love it or hate it sort of story. They're both black bellied manipulators trying to maneuver each other to be submissive but secretly enjoying whenever they're topped. I don't mean that as in s*xual positions, but more power plays to their relationship dynamics.

The Omega is a political dark horse, manipulating thing from the shadows and is unwilling to share power. He wants puppets not partners. So when his "pretend" husband that he's kinda falling for turns out to be using him and keeping secrets, he's pissed.... more>> Does not help that during that time, an incident happens that makes the Alpha pull of his nice mask and lock him up for some black house play. (R@pe, confinement, violence, but no Stockholm)

Basically the tension of the story doesn't come from their s*xual attraction, as that blew up and was fulfilled nearly from the moment they met, but from their inability to trust each other, which ironically forms this weird trust with each other. Anyways, the plot isn't that complicated, but the emotions are. <<less

All I can say is, this doesn't suit those who's incapable of turning off their brain because the focus of this story is a journey how they once again found their soulmates with the coverage of Political Tension

I read this a loooong time back so I can only comment on what I remembered.

The plot is a bit exaggerated in a sense that the political portions are too easily brushed off. There's a small plot twist too. I really like the smut and romance though. And as an ABO novel, I like how mpreg is involved rather than just normal ABO society and structure. It was a easy short read and nothing angsty nor crematorium-ish.

It was my first ABO novel and it really opens up my reading genre.

I was torn between rating this 5* for ZM, and 1* for HY. In the end, I decided to rate it for ZM.

HY, what he did to ZM in the middle is simply inexcusable and imo, irredeemable. No amount of fluff or romance could ever mask or wipe out what was essentially a long period of noncon. It was so disgusting. The tags mentioned it and I thought it was going to be a one-time thing. But no:

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Spoiler

it happened once in the car and for an extended period of time (over a month?), ZM was chained to the bed. The effect on ZM was glossed over but just think about how torturous it was for him physically and psychologically.

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ZM, I love how unabashedly cold and ruthless he can be. I really wouldn't have minded it if the story ended when:

Spoiler

he shot HY. Unfortunately, HY lived because it was just an anaesthesia gun and ZM didn't shoot him straight in the heart.

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As author-sama say, just take it with a pinch of salt (ie ignore the bugs) cause this is for a love story and not a detective story

I love the length, just nice for our both scheming MC and ML. Good they manage to come to terms on what they want to achieve!

It was alright, but the title is misleading since the ML is not a stand-in for the MC's lover, but for his husband (whom he had no romantic relationship with). The plot is very dogblood and there's some r*pe that seems kind of illogical since apparently the ML snaps because he thinks the MC did something bad, then realizes shortly afterwards that the MC wasn't to blame, but still r*pes him for reasons I guess?

Anyway it was fairly decent and the point is that both MC and ML are sinister... more>> people. I wish the bad sides of the MC and the story as a whole had been fleshed out more though. The story is kind of forgettable though. <<less