Thank you for the update!
Below this is just my thoughts on the story now. It’s a long rant if u don’t care pls just skip it.
TL;DR I enjoy the latest 2 chapters after being frustrated with the heroine after she came back to the palace.
Even though this “past story” is cute and enjoyable and all that, I can’t help but feel conflicted.
We have this present timeline where everything and everyone is not moving anywhere, just sort of being in the limbo of more conflicts, mysteries, and misunderstandings. I don’t want to mention the heroine lack of personality since she came back to the palace. But man, I seriously considered putting this one on pause until 10 chapters because it is frustrating to see the heroine changed from someone I like into someone I feel annoyed by.
I think the author is trying to run away from the present timeline because they cannot go forward with the story. So they decided to just fuck it and write this past story to keep us readers from running away. Which works, at least for me. When they opened the last chapter with the past story, I was hesitant but I really enjoy the chemistry between these 2 characters. They feel so human-like and fantasy at the same time.