Remarried Empress - Ch. 60

[hakunoyuuki]

"She isn't greedy and she knows her place" Sovieshu truly is a lousy judge of character huh lmao

It's kinda funny knowing Sovieshu's Masterplan while get completely wrecked though

 

[howalonnie]

@SumukluSupurge

There's just so much to your comment i don't even know where to begin, friend

Im not responsible for anyones education of sociological matters. That is up for you to google and I hope you do. For now, I'll leave you with two things:

1. slavery didnt end; only got replaced with the modernization of the industrial prison complex. And the lasting vestiges of that 'slavery period' you mention continue today in a frightful systemic capacity.

2. fiction doesnt exist in a vacuum. Even if this fantasy isn't earth, its certainly a reflection, a commentary, a refraction of Earth's societies. This means that anything bad in this world is still bad in that world and vise versa. Take our hatred of the emperor and his disgusting behavior, for example. Since we know infidelity is bad in our world, we know it to be also bad in this world. The question is, why aren't you extending the same logic to slavery? That is something you should reflect on, and i wish you the best of luck in your research!

 

[privkz]

Well, that escalated fast. Shame, I was enjoying the comments.

 

[icekatze]

Empire that supports slavery in the first place, maybe it deserves to fall.

 

[katichan]

We finally know what a di*k Sovieshu is... Now I want to see his regretful face when his new empress will ruin his country and ex-wife will start her family in new Kingdom!

 

[DeviLaugh]

@howalonnie She is the definition of greedy. As I have said, she could be protected and safe. The Emperor has vowed to protect her. Trashta is convinced that her position isn't safe because Duke Elgy (the spy) and Viscount whoever are lying to her to manipulate her. The Emperor has told her point blank he will do anything for her, especially if someone is threatening her and she won't confide in him.

And I just don't understand how you can read this when the premise is something you fundamentally disagree with. Like shit, I consider myself a socialist, eat the rich, down with the patriarchy, tits out for feminism, fuck the monarchy, all that stuff, but I can recognize when a story is fictional but is taking historical liberties. I just don't understand what you are expecting from all the characters. Trashta ran away from her slave life (slavery exists in this world for criminals, commit a crime, and you and possibly your family get sold to slavery), and for this crime she is being protected (runaway slaves get executed, they do not become concubines, this action alone is enough to throw the empire into chaos if it gets out, which Navier is keeping a secret to because she puts the empire over her pride, unlike Trashta), she is being given money, she is being clothed, sheltered, fed, educated, etc. But, what, the Empress is supposed to do more for her? She is already letting her live. I'm not saying I personally agree with the morals of this historical fiction, but I recognize the position everyone is in. Trashta is allowed to screw up over and over and we are just supposed to say, "it's okay because you were a slave."

I think you are seeing issues with this story that don't exist. It doesn't really have any tones of misogyny (more than is necessary given the historical context) and the classism is very limited. Don't think of Trashta as a slave or a pretend commoner, think of her as a criminal because that is what she is. Should we praise an escaped criminal who is living the good life and ruining an empire because she isn't content with her new freedom and "wealth"? Not to mention all the other crimes she commits while concubine...

 

[howalonnie]

@xxpunkgurlxx

I dont think rashta, as a victim of slavery should be villainized BECAUSE she used to be an ex slave and is now seen as "greedy" for wanting some social mobility for her station. As you state, if the horrors of her slavery, regardless of what type it was, had been explored more respectfully, i believe that would provide a more conscientious understanding of history. Readers would be less inclined to buy into this hackneyed narrative that just bc she's a mistress and didn't inherit nobility she isn't deserving of wealth or status.

I never said people of color or rape survivors cant become villains. Rashta is an antagonist, and you can sympathize with antagonists (see: maleficent, looking, etc.) Obviously rashta nowhere has the finesse of those villains but people can stand in solidarity with flawed characters. Rashtas not the paragon of humanity but neither is navier, as the monarch of again, a kingdom with slavery.

All im saying is that the rashta hate train narrative in the story has inherently elitist, misogynistic vibes. Conflating my sentences into extreme statements won't change that.

 

[__Nadeshiko__]

@howalonnie
I agree with you, especially regarding Rashta. SO FAR she really didn't do anything to make me hate her.
No I would never blame her for being a concubine, the power dynamic here is obvious. Its 100% on the emperor.
Yeah she is self-centered apathic and fake but given her past I don't feel like I can blame her for that? How can she grow up to be a decent human being when she lived as a slave for most of her life? That shit destroys everything beautiful in you. And really so far in the story, she doesn't seem to want to attack or ruin the empress' life, all she does is trying to keep her secret from getting out or clumsily defending herself from people who attack or threaten her. And most importantly, she just wants to secure her position, she is TERRIFIED of going back to her past life.. she is desperate.
I feel like even if she went full on revenge mode on all the royals I wouldn't even fault her, because as you said they allowed slavery to exist which is f*cked up.

On the other hand, I like Navier and it pains me to see her suffer with such a trashy husband. I can't wait for the divorce to happen because so far I quite like Heinley.
So yeah I really wish for both women to be happy and secure a better life.

The Emperor can rot in hell though.

 

[shinsenryuu]

for those people saying if it ever gets a TV series, it's already been announced that they will do a live-action series in Korea 😁

 

[sugascute]

Sovietrash and Trashta the most hateful couple in the history of manhwa.

I forgot to comment in the previous chapters and didn't see if anyone commented on it, but "Jim" is a way to say emperor or king, just like "Gong" is a form to refer to a duke or someone in that same status, I don't know Jim, cause I only saw kings referring to themselves that way, but to be able to call someone "Gong" you have to be a "Gong" too, or someone higher status like the Jim himself or his Empress/Queen, or a Crown Prince, otherwise is disrespectful.

 

[SumukluSupurge]

@DeviLaugh oh i totally forgot that slaves were criminals in this worlds setting. Its even more funny to side with a criminal while talking about morals or whatnot.

 

[Aelia]

Rashta is a villain but she is also someone you should be able to empathize with. She's been backed into a corner and she's grasping at straws right now.

Is she greedy? Eh. This is what she sees as a path to safety for herself and her baby. Her first child- Ian- is safe and I'd bet there's some postpartum issues there. PPD is a real issue that some of you may want to do some reading on to try to understand why a mother wouldn't be bonded to her baby, especially one she thought was dead.

In general, I think Sovieshu and Rashta are fascinating, multi-dimensional antagonists, and I love seeing their depth.

 

[SumukluSupurge]

@shinsenryuu will they cast Anna Torv? if they do then no problem. Though thanks for info i dont really follow korean tv.

 

[howalonnie]

@DeviLaugh
If you think rashta is greedy, you must consider navier inherently greedy as well, by virtue of being a monarch. If you're a democratic socialist as you say you are, monarchies by default are capitalistic exploitative systems. My problem is that the majority of the readers seem to point fingers solely at rashta for wanting a bit of wealth and status for herself instead of seeing the bigger picture - navier and sovieschu who sit in a palace all day and only are able to do so since their mommies and daddies have hoarded wealth for generations.

As for your other comment, people can enjoy problematic media. Explains the popularity of lady gaga and ariana grande's boppish tunes despite their history of blackface and brownface. If anything, it's healthy to consume media while acknowledging its flaws - thats the trait of a critical reader/viewer. Also, as i explained in a previous comment, fiction doesn't exist in a vacuum. Just because we enjoy a fantasy world doesn't mean its immune to critiques about the ways it speaks/reflects on the sociopolitical matters of our world. If you cant see the inherent elitist and misogynistic messaging of this narrative that pits a poor, deeply flawed woman against a rich, seemingly flawless woman, that's on you, not me, to research and Google. And I wish you the best of luck - since its quite a read!

 

[howalonnie]

@__Nadeshiko__

@Aelia

Glad to have come across critical readers! I quite agree, so many people fail to realize humans react in certain ways when fueled by desperation and fear. It pains me to see readers indulging in a female characters pain - even if she is very, very flawed and annoying at times. But rashta certainly isn't as one faceted as people or this story, for that matter, make her out to be.

 

[soowot]

Sooooooooo close!!!!! heinly come swoop yo girl
Thanks for mass release ❤️

 

[xxpunkgurlxx]

@howalonnie
“rashta hate train narrative in the story has inherently elitist, misogynistic vibes.”

I agree with such, but it historically makes sense in the story and Nobody is saying that her bullying of her status is righteous, but Rashta isn’t trying to get ‘a little bit of wealth and status’ she’s trying to become EMPRESS she wants to overthrow the QUEEN how is that not greedy???. And you want to explore her slavery more ‘respectfully?’ I can see how you would want her narrative to be explored more but I don’t see how it was “disrespected” but more unexplored, you then go to blame the Author of being blind to slavery because they didn’t explore in that subject more? That’s because her slavery isn’t the main focus of the story and that’s fine to me.

 

[uriekuki]

i hope sovieshu and rashta die painful deaths 😍

 

[strangeirdo]

@howalonnie Sure, Navier was born into wealth, but she was also born with a ton of responsibilities. She had to go through hours and hours of studying per day with tons and tons of restrictions. She was even politically married from a young child. So, she wasn't even allowed to experience love a single time while Rashta has two lovers. Not to mention that it was shown time and time again that Navier always puts the country first and foremost. She doesn't spend money extravagantly, nor does she indulge in luxuries. Navier was quite literally raised to be a future queen; to make it her whole identity.

 

[wkread]

Thanks so much for the mass release and congrats on the discord growth!! Yall've worked hard!!

This story is primarily told from the perspective of Navier so it's a lot easier to sympathize with her (esp early on when all we saw was Sovieshit preferring Rashta over her). I don't exactly hate Rashta bc so many of her "mistakes" are the bullshit noble social cues that she wouldn't know, and in the first place the biggest mistake of all is that Sovieshit did this to everyone involved bc he couldnt control his dick and has communication issues lmao.

Navier acts as she was raised to act (being empress is basically her entire identity and she acts to protect that) and Sovieshu is the one who 'diverges' so to speak, getting angry that Navier doesn't 'love' him like he wants even though they've been raised to essentially be business partners (why does it bother him that she's professional SHE'S LITERALLY THE EMPRESS IT'S HER JOB). Also him treating Rashta like a cute pet rather than a person with feelings and ambitions, which makes her distrust him (which is fair bc here we see him ready to throw her under the bus....)

I think my biggest gripe with this series (having read the novel too) is that they didnt really develop Sovieshu and Navier's relationship well enough to see why/when Sovieshu had intimacy issues with her when they both know they were raised to be "perfect" rulers.

Spoiler

And also never actually talking to Navier about her infertility like SOOO many bullets coulda been dodged if he just fucking talked to Navier AGGGH.

The issues with Rashta andher feelings for her babies and Navier's whole identity are interesting, but I can never find it in me to feel an ounce of empathy for Sovieshithead bc he's his own undoing every step of the way lmfao