A Tender Heart: The Story of How I Became a Duke's Maid

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A lot of potential that I’ve seen vanish since season two.
Manhwa with a great initial potential but that fades away as the story progresses.
The premises are excellent: a girl is reincarnated (after exercising put to sleep, which even if it makes no sense you can pass over) and reincarnates in the word she had just finished reading, where she had felt compassion for the second ML.
Reincarnated in a maid is the only one to take care of the child ML who has been suffering from a curse.

From these premises then develops the plot.
Initially really nice (not excellent but it is still a romantic ... Isekai) but that then...boh goes to end like many manhwa/ manhua that I have already read.

The inconsistent ending and the ending of the secondary sotrie brought me a HUGE doubt.

Excellent drawing quality but little expressiveness of the characters, perhaps due to the fact that it is the first work of the artist? (At least to date only this Manhwa turns out).

Some things I didn’t like are:
SPOILER!
1- The curse. It makes no sense: the King about to die throws a curse and goes well. The curse should be infinite in theory, but it only manifests once.
2- Leaving aside that she is the protagonist, why is a simple waitress able to break the curse?
3- Why do FL and ML NOT age? O.O In the last chapters where there are the children of 17 years 2 are equal, when Diego is clearly seen that he has aged.
4- Since when does Diego have a brother? It has never been mentioned throughout the plot and in chapter 110 a brother comes out?
5- Princess Eleonora. She started working in a hospital for the needy but then? Did she manage to go on without Diego? Is she still alive?
6- The twins...cute and nice but too forced. Especially the brother who has the complex for the sister.
7- The son has never even thought of a girl? Remember that she is 17 years old in the last chapters.
8- But the sense of bringing students to a bookstore after the FORBIDDEN books are accessible as if nothing had happened?
9- What happened to Lorenzo? We were left that he had hurt himself but then? Disappeared into thin air?

I know the list is a long one but in some cases the details make a difference.

If I had a dollar for each sleepless night this manhwa has caused me, I’d have about 4 dollars.
Which is not a lot, but I do not forgive this series for the pain it has caused me mentally

Now l wanted to like this series, l seriously did. In fact, l found it was pretty interesting in the start!
The art was pretty, Liandro's whole curse thing was pretty intriguing, & with the slight angst sprinkled on top, I honestly saw it having the potential of being one of my top favs.
So I continued to enjoy reading it just like that...right? Right??

As you saw by ... my rating, l didn't end up liking the series as much as l thought l would. On the contrary, I ended up hating it.
This story had a lot of potential in the start, but it ultimately falls completely flat. & Alot of it is cuz of it’s main characters, well..... let's just say not having the best of writing. & Eveline suffers from horrible writing THE MOST.

Common sense is absolutely dead upon Eveline.
She questions things that should be very obvious, but sweeps the actual things that should be questioned under the rug.
She is seriously no better than Eleonora (the OG FL) she threw a tantrum over prior to her transmigration (Or at least how Eleonora was in the OG novel Eveline read).

Making stupid promises like the typical, "Young Master Liandro, I won't leave you". Yet also simultaneously thinking: “l do plan to leave you as soon as you meet the Eleonora”.
Like HUH???
Is your skull empty??
Why do you plan on completely separating yourself from him when you know full well that even after meeting Eleonora [OG FL] he will continue being mistreated & completely neglected, until he meets his unfortunate & pitiful demise?
What type of shit plan is that??

It's fricking laughable that despite how hard-headed Eveline is with her plans, if you think even a tiny bit too deeply about any of them they'll all crumble to dust.

To begin with, why did Eveline even want Liandro to end up with Eleonora so badly??
She knows full well that only a painful death awaits him (Or at best a tragic heartbreak leaving him miserable) if he falls for Eleonora, so why does she so readily push him towards that ending?
This woman cried herself to sleep over his tragic end, yet NOW she wants him to actively pursue his own death?? For what reason?

She promises to treat Liandro better than Eleonora treated him [in the OG novel], but she seriously doesn't??
At least in the novel, Eleonora HAD the decency to give him a straight reply, "Sorry I'm already in love with the Crown Prince". Whereas, our MC COMPLETELY disregards majority of Liandro's feelings. He quite literally BEGS for her to not leave him, yet instead of even giving him a proper reply, she has the gall to once AGAIN LIE straight to his face.

Eveline constantly asks dumbass questions like, "Why is Liandro soo attached to me?"
Like, WHY DO YOU THINK SHERLOCK!?
He was being abused & severely neglected by almost everyone around him since a very young age. He lived in a filthy room until you came along. You were the only person who did the BARE MINIMUM towards him. Why wouldn't he try to grab onto the ONE person who reached out to him under these circumstances??

Not only this but she also constantly pushes him away when he is no longer in a pitiful state.
She treates him worse than Eleonora ever (directly) treated him in the novel. Specially when being by his side starts to become inconvenient for her own self.
I know the the author didn't intend her to be one, but Eveline's actions make her seem like such a big hypocrite.

Also why is her entire character role in the story SO dependant on Liandro's existence to begin with?
Majority of her relations, to some extent even her personality, & SPECIALLY her role in this story, are all for some weird reason directly or indirectly dependant on Liandro as a character existing.
Like, Eveline only became friends with Liliana BECAUSE Liandro ordered her to accompany Eveline, majority of the things that happen b/w Eveline & the other maids are DIRECTLY related Liandro’s closeness & possessiveness of Eveline, etc etc. Heck, even her being "caring" (one of her already very few character traits) is also deeply reliant ON LIANDRO as she is only ever caring towards him (& no her helping out, bg maid xyz that one time does not make her "caring & kind" character).
Take him out of the equation & her entire role, purpose, & “character” in the story INSTANTLY falls apart.
& This is not good thing!
If the MC in your story doesn't even have THEIR OWN character foundation, they aren’t well written.

To begin with does she even have her own story?
We know practically NOTHING about who she was in her previous life. Considering how good she was with maid work, maybe she was some kind of caretaker in her previous life? But that's just a mere guess on my part.
Her life as Eveline (the girl MC transmigrated into) is no better either. Eveline had no previously established relationships, she has no family that we know of either. & Heck, we arent even given Eveline's exact age. We are literally just given an approximate guess based on her physical appearance by the MC.

Did-...Did Eveline just poof into existence just as MC transmigrated into the novel world?
Is that what what happened?

Why does the MAIN PROTAGONIST- THE MAIN POV character not have any presence prior to the beginning of the story??
Liliana (a side character) had a presence, so why does Eveline not have one??

She has zero individuality, to the point where that one maid from the start of the series who steals sh*t from Liandro has more of a story than her!
Why does she have a habit of stealing? Is it cuz of some family problems?? Thats more questions than l ever asked about Eveline's backstory.

[I couldn't fit this anywhere else but in Chap 9 Eveline mentions finding Liandro's dad (who absolutely neglected him) gorgeous.
As a writing choice, why this was even included l will never know.
Like, "By the way l know Liandro's dad is shitty & he abused & neglected his son, but he's kinda gorgeous isnt he?" (Not an actual quote but you get what l mean).
It’s not like it did anything to move the plot nor was it ever brought up again, so you even excuse as it being “necessary to the story” or something. It was just so out place honestly, so why even include it…?]

Talking about story, Liandro's story had potential.
Yet 50+ chps, a 2nd season, & a 3 yr time skip in, this man continues to act the exact same way he did when he was 13 with barely any changes in his attitude towards anyone who isn't Eveline. Which becomes even more odd once realize that his growth was both physically & mentally stunted at age 13…

The author absolutely wasted Eveline's character, atleast give Liandro SOME character development. But no he gets none.

For the record, his absolute obsession & possessiveness of Eveline is not “adorable”. It just makes me see him as a more pitiful person as it makes realize that, other than Eveline, this man doesn't even have anyone else close to him. It doesn't make me see their relationship as “cute” like the author intended, it just makes Liandro seem even more tragic.

Also can we talk about how absolutely sh*t both of their chemistry is??
Nah nah scratch that, do they even have chemistry???

I wanted to ship the main couple very much, but the story failed to convince me on why l should even care about this ship.

Quick question, why did Liandro fall for Eveline?
Um...because Eveline did the bare minimum & lend a helping hand to a child who was being absolutely neglected? Good, she's decently nice person ig. But then you start to realize outside of that the story never gives you any other legitimate reason as why the relationship is good/would be good romantically in the long run.
Like, as soon as Liandro’s curse breaks, Eveline starts distancing herself from him. & Then sometime later she leaves him for 3 yrs, so it's not like in that time we are given any more reasons either.
Liandro's love for Eveline is only ever shown stemming from the fact that she was like a saviour to him. It's likely the author intended for him to have other reasons for falling for her but how are we, the readers, supposed to know them when there are no implications to any of them.
[Quite frankly, Eveline treated Liandro kinda harshly too while she was pushing him away, so that just doesn't help this case AT ALL]

The type of mental dependency Liandro has on Eveline is seriously not healthy in a romantic relationship.
Before Eveline & everything else he needs straight up therapy.
He doesn't need Eveline's love he needs a therapist.

Just as Eveline's role in the story HEAVILY leans on Liandro's existence, Liandro's mental stability HEAVILY leans on Eveline's existence.
Ain't no way thats cute.
His obsession with Eveline is borderline tragic in of itself. This obsession of his, & his want to keep Eveline always with him, is eerily similar to his obsession with wanting to be with Eleonora in the OG novel. [& For the record Eleonora & Liandro's relationship is supposed to be tragic & unfair (for Liandro) in the OG novel. So why are there weird parallels b/w this & the relationship we are supposed to be rooting for…??]

I'm not even going to go over why Eveline fell for Liandro as other than him having abs the story just never touches upon it.
She leaves for 3 yrs & then when they meet again she just had feelings for him. Ig it just happened off screen somewhere.
The story doesn't seem give a sh*t about its own main character so I'm not even gonna bother tearing my hair out over her.

[Side note: For some reason after those 3 yrs Eveline also becomes insensitive.
She cracks jokes to herself about Liandro's execution & death, & the rebbillion he lead (in the OG novel). Which just completely contradicts her character that was established in chp 1. She had a breakdown & cried herself to sleep, praying & promising she'd treat him better, but now she's here saying, "If by any Liandro does try to rebel in the end....l'll just stop him by hitting him with a stick" whilst having an 'owo' face (this is an actual quote btw)

In nearly 60 chps, the characters in this story have no progression, so can we just not make it worse by having them completely contradict whatever few traits they had?].

In conclusion, as this manhwa went on it just developed more & more in the negative-y direction.

The character writing in series is horrible.
Eveline is both a bad character (from a writing pov) & a bad love interest. It would've been better if she just simply stayed as a big sister/motherly figure character for Liandro. Because at least that was properly established & was developed at a proper pace. Their romance was handled very horribly, giving us little to no reason as to why we should think this relationship would ever be healthy in the long run. I told

There's not as much to say about Liandro, just that man stays the way he was at 13 throughout the whole story, which is. It's just not.

[I told myself when I dropped this series that these two leads can never be good parents & that their children will probably not be raised properly. And I was 100% correct. Their children are f*cking insufferable. Arguably, even worse than their parents]

The character writing in this series is a tangled mess. Think a little to deeply into any their motivations & it'll all come crashing down.

I dropped this series about 60 chps in. It's seriously not that good of a story. It's hard for me to even call it mediocre.
It had potential in the 1st few chps, but it ultimately just drowned it's own self in the vast ocean of the similiar "l isekai’d into my favourite novel" stories.
There's literally no reason for me to continue this when none of the characters that matter to the narrative are even appealing.

The art is quite good though. It's definitely pretty, specially the eyes. But I will say, I do not understand the creative decision to make 13, going on 14, year old Liandro look like a toddler. I get that he was supposed to be malnourished, but not even that will make an almost 14 year old look 5. Actually, in the promotional comic for this series’ novel, Liandro looked closer to his actual age while also looking visibly malnourished/sickly. So honestly, I don’t know why the artist didn’t decide to that, specially considering, him looking 5 did not do his and Eveline’s age gap favour. But either way, if this artist works on another project, I will definitely check it out. I quite like their art.

I'd only recommend this to you if you either:

1) Wanna cry over Eveline's writing & how badly Liandro & Eveline's love was handled,

OR

2) Just want to completely shut off your brain & read something to waste your time, whilst also looking at pretty pictures.

I can kind of see why some ppl might like this manhwa, but this story just caused me severe headaches.
Interesting premise, below mediocre writing.