To be honest I was surprised to like it as much as I did. As not a big fan of angst this has a lot of it. But I can bear drama, if it has reasoning behind it and not simply a tragedy for the sake of being a tear-jerker and nothing more.
#regression, drama, misunderstandings, political intrigue, second chance
Ariana regresses in time and it's been some time of her and Kenneth being married. In her previous life she was despised by him and everyone around him all because of her family.
Kenneth and Ariana actually met a long time ago when she was still a girl, she was always kept inside by her cruel mother and not allowed to have anything because everything will eventually belong to her brother.
Kenneth saw a shy girl with big blue eyes that longed for going outside caught his attention, he took her out and saw her happiness. They grew up slowly and she asked him out after graduation, not realizing that her family will use that to their advantage, despite Kenneth actually supporting Ariana's brother in business, he was betrayed by her family, because of their date at opera his location was compromised and the shooting happened. Ariana thought he died, but she hoped he was still alove and safe.
Meanwhile her family rejoiced as imperial family's dogs, finally reaching the place they thought they deserved, they threw their own daughter / sister in the hands of a cruel prince who others known as benevolent but who was abusing women behind the close doors. What did it matter to them if she suffered.
But Kenneth returned and he pointed his rage at those who betrayed him, including Ariana's family.
When that family fell imperial family even benevolently offered Ariana as a bride, since she did not have time to become princess.
Ariana asked for help to be saved, but she had no idea how different her words sounded to him, who thought for all these years he betrayed him.
She loved and felt guilty, endured.
He loved and hated himself for his feelings.
Few years later when Ariana was driven to the edge she shot herself in front of her husband. But instead of dying she regressed in time where she had one more chance. All she wanted now is to ensure that she became pregnant with her daughter, the only ray of sunshine in her life. And then she wanted to disappear.
If you expect him to grovel, he will grovel. They will go through many things together to finally reunite.
I find that her ability to give him a second chance has a certain strength. As you might read it right now, you may think he does not deserve it. But you have to wait till the moment when we see the past and the Kenneth's side of the story is revealed what he did. It's a lot. Eventually by the end of the story the power dynamic changed and Ariana is the one holding reins over who is in charge. Kenneth would get along with any of her decisions and that is his atonement.
When I finished reading it I really felt like I was looking at a torn family picture that was put together again, you can see the image, but you also see the tear marks.
Maybe this will sound like I'm going on a tangent, but I liked the built-up misunderstandings between them, it's not some empty ones that characters created for themselves. They have real basis and something that created a rift between them, eventually making them lose any desire to be honest.
And Ariana held the shortest end of the stick here.
First of all, let's not forget the fact that many miss and even author to me kept not mentioning when it should have been mentioned. During the opera attack it wasn't just Kenneth who was targetted but his parents were killed in a gruesome way. He knew his location was compromised because of Ariana, but despite her screams she was dragged before she could do anything.
Later she was claimed to "seduce the Crown Prince", basically her reputation was ruined by imperial family and her own. There was one striking moment when the prince told her to smile otherwise she knew the consequences and for survival she smiled as brightly as she could, that became a photo in a newspaper that Kenneth saved and looked at from time to time.
Imagine being betrayed like that. He was already prejudiced towards her but then she asked to save her. He loved her and wouldn't actually want anything to happen to her, but he loathed himself and this feeling.
Eventually she was guilty for what her family did and thought it was unforgivable, but she also still loved him, this is why she endured a lot from him. The staff didn't treat her with care because of their master's attitude and they even openly discussed what would happen if a true lady came into their household.
The breaking point for her was the loss of her daughter who was only year old. With no adequate medical care the girl was gone. And the father did not treat this episode with care.
Later she shot herself and regressed.
Now she wanted to only have her daughter and disappear. Many of what happened created and built small misunderstandings as well. Like the Theodora, the woman everyone waited to become next Kenneth's wife. Or Kenneth actually thought she still had something for crown prince. And Kenneth loathed imperial family, they were the ones who orchestrated the whole incident, but pushed Ariana's family as scapegoats.
The way we deal with imperial family is a separate line, but honestly it comes to others as surprise that Theodora belong to a family who are praised for standing up behind Kenneth but actually acted under imperial order now. They planned to place Theodora as a wife and slowly swallow the family worth behind Kenneth.
Even Ariana's image slowly changes because of revelations about the crown prince. But does she care? Not.
During an incident she takes a chance to disappear finally and after few years she and her cute daughter now live happily. Although it's still sad to see how while she gives everything to her daughter she can't protect her frm all harm and prejudice as a single lady.
Meanwhile Kenneth was still searching for them, he believed that before he sees her body he won't stop searching. I mean he even visited graveyards, imagine going there in search of your beloved woman.
This is big spoilers but the fantasy part mainly concerns their regression and unfairness towards Ariana, all thanks to nun. She asked Kenneth to not let the war happen when it was in imperial family interests. He worked tirelessly, mind you knowing that he buried his wife and also his daughter was buried too. He only hoped that she will be able to regress, not to the ideal time, but least somewhere when their daughter was not born yet. Eventually he achieved what he was hoping for, but he died because of it. He regains those memories only later in the novel. Of course he is devastated by everything, but the moment is interesting, before he regained memories he was acting how he would always do, a it of manipulation a bit of emotion, but from tat point on he realized the weight of his action and he would move only according to her will. He might perish, but she must stay safe.
What I liked the most when he told her - Nothing is your fault, all my words and all my actions are my sins to bear.
This time when he said he will act only as he wishes she could finally believe him, she stopped being afraid and feel guilty for everything. Which also allowed her to give him a second chance and give them a try.
RATE: 5/5.
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