Why 3 stars? Because I can smell the plot from here. So far we have- cute caring strong sexy ML, strong realistic mermaid MC, innocent (?) selfish creepy OG FL, inferiority-complex selfish OG ML.

Here are my predictions:

ML will have a backstory of meeting/seeing MC's mermaid form as a child, from the beginning he went to the ball to see her. They had s*x and she ran off, so he used the explanation of 'you took my first time' to chase his wife. Yada yada the romance doesn't matter but somewhere we'll learn that he was misunderstood and wronged, he is a decisive & cold emperor but incredibly warm to MC.

MC... doesn't matter what her future is. She will end up with ML anyway.

OG FL will definitely cause trouble and fizzle out in the corner. Her greedy nature will see how ML treats MC and she'll want that affection for herself. So after earning everyone's disgust- she will fizzle out.

OG ML will seduce MC since his inferiority complex towards ML will have him covet anything ML wants/has. This will cause trouble since he isn't the ML anymore, the world buff was removed and he will develop 'protagonist syndrome' leading to ultimate self-destruction.

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Am I right? Those are my predictions, and I don't plan on reading a story that isn't new. I can read repetitive comedies since the humor is always fresh, but these characters aren't humorous. ML is very sexy but I can't hang on him for the whole novel since the other characters are cliche.