Summary. The setting is vaguely mid 19th century Germany. Shuli, the matriarch of the Neuwanstein family, a stepmother of four, and a favorite subject of gossiping nobles finally makes good on her husband’s dying wish. Her oldest stepson is getting married, thus making him the new head of the powerful family. However, due to estrangement from her stepchildren, she is rudely asked not to attend the ceremony. Full of regrets and pain, Shuli leaves everything in pursuit of freedom and happiness. At the next moment, she miraculously wakes up on the morning of her husband's death, seven years prior. With no way back, she embraces the opportunity to live this new timeline differently. Since she is now a more mature person (23) in a young girl's body (16), her new goal is to be a more emotionally present mother and to live to attend her son's wedding day.
Shuli is a character I have a lot of feelings and respect for. Essentially, she is a child robbed of her childhood. As a young girl, Shuli was forcibly married to a wealthy widower who entrusted her with the protection of his children, treasures, and political power until his oldest son reaches adulthood. Out of duty, she does it all while surviving in the world of adults and being barely older than kids she swore to protect. In the new timeline, we follow her transformation from a withdrawn and always on defense girl to a more emotionally open and confident young woman.
Not to spoil anything, but stepchildren are also written very well. Aside from the understandable cold greeting, their slight rudeness towards her in the past is acceptably explained very early. Keep in mind that they are motherless and fatherless kids, jet unable to properly express their feelings, just as Shuli was. That makes some ending parts of the season emotionally devastating when you see how misunderstandings can keep people apart and in the end estrange them forever. (No, I am not going to cry).
If I had to say something bad about the whole experience, that would probably be that the first few chapters have too much humor in them and thus spend too little time on more important things like the current state of the family and the country. Letter chapters do get better in balancing serious and funny while showing us POVs of other characters, so these things tend to go away. The main villain also feels underdeveloped, but I think that is because the main obstacle of this season was the characters themselves, not something external.
Context and design-wise, don’t expect historical accuracy. Everything seems like it’s pulled from different periods to make for an aesthetically pleasant and dramatic read. Likewise, manhwa isn't too focused on the complex of political intrigue, but we do get some good scheming and ok broad strokes of global politics. Art is gorgeous, with some occasional jaw-dropping panels.
