Caught up to Chapter 31. Manhua gets a bad rep, but this one should not. It has really good art, from the people all the way to the backdrop designs — lots of eye candy here. It’s kinda similar to the better korean isekai manhwas, without the isekai. And the fact that it’s placed in a Ancient Grecian-Roman/ Persian inspired setting makes it interesting and fresh from the period dramas manhwas/manhuas that tend to be set in victorian-georgian era type style. World-building thus far is relatively easy to follow, since there are only 3 main nations.
It’s mainly a star-crossed romance, with not much love triangle. ML is quite likable from the start, and your heart strings really feel for him. FL is okay. Some people find her annoying, but I think she’s alright given the type of society that’s brought up in, where she has very little opportunities or power despite being princess. Over the chapters, you see how she matures and I think she’ll get increasingly more brave and interesting. They are quite cute together, and you can of see why they relate to one another since both of them are not technically prisoners, but feel like prisoners.
Other side characters thus far are generally likeable, or intriguing, at least nice to look at. No annoying comic reliefs here, but I guess the villains can be annoying coz you hate them.
Politics here makes sense, without being too heavy or difficult to understand. THere is a lot, a lot of drama, but it doesn’t feel like over the top. There’s some aspects where racism is explored, as well as the whole ‘Us-vs-Them’ mentality, which is better handled than I expected without being too much.
Pacing here is a bit on the fast side, with quite a lot of events happening by Chapter 30, but I’m fine with that. Honestly, these things don’t need to be dragged.
So overall, I’d give the art 9/10, the plot 8/10, and characters 7.5/10. Worth the read and will look forward to seeing more.