This manhwa easily slid itself to my favorite reads ever. I just finished reading this in a day, and am still in my feels, so here are the reasons you should read it too:

1. The most amazing writing. This manhwa has the perfect mix of romance, mystery, and fantasy ~~and angst~~. The way it jumps from an emotional scene to a light scene, with excellent humor, makes the storytelling even better.

Despite the entire story taking place only on a ship, it never got boring. Flashbacks were inserted within emotional conversations, and the slow revelation of the backstories behind the characters were perfectly inserted. I personally am not a big fan of a story with many flashbacks (because it tends to get confusing), but this manhwa did a clean job of jumping timelines and point of views.
An even more interesting aspect of the writing is how you won’t exactly know if the characters are telling the truth. This is a key theme of the story, as evident with the title. It is up to you to figure out which parts of the narratives are true, and which are not.
In this way, the manhwa managed to never have a dull moment AT ALL. I am not even exaggerating. Even I found dry moments in my other favorite manhwas, but this one really, already hooked me from episode 1.

1. The fleshed-out characters. If you’re the type who doesn’t like it when a character is solely for decoration, this is definitely a read for you. All the characters have personalities that are not just for show—their actions are reasonable within their own experiences. The male lead does not exist solely to fawn over the female lead, or vice versa. No one is overly strong and invincible. Trauma scenes were portrayed well. Even important side characters who are close with the leads have consistent and interesting personalities, all of them diverse and so, very human.

1. The interesting ‘forbidden love’ dynamic. While this is certainly not the only hero x prisoner story out there, I believe the backgrounds of our main characters breathed life to this trope. If you’re looking for romance that hits right in the feels, that will make you feel like your gut was punched, make your heart throb in all the right ways, I 100% recommend this to you.

1. The perfect ending. I can truly, truly say that the ending was not done simply for fanservice, unlike other stories I have read. Every action made perfect sense and the build up for these events to take place was wonderfully done.

[Click here to reveal if it’s a happy ending or not!]

Spoiler, click to view

It’s a happy ending!

[Click here to read more about what I absolutely loved about the ending, which includes spoilers!]

Spoiler, click to view

The fact that Rosen never gave up her escape despite her heart screaming for a life with Ian. The fact that Ian helped her escape. And the fact that Ian, a war hero, laid down his life of glory in exchange for a content life in a faraway island with Rosen. All these actions seriously make so much sense given their situations and personalities. I absolutely adore that the author did not make it simply that Rosen gives up on escaping in exchange for love, because that would have rendered her entire backstory crap. And Ian. He never wanted to be a war hero in the first place, so it made sense for him to give it all up in exchange for the someone that he actually wanted.

I hope these points managed to convince you to give that a read. Like, right now. Enough with the kind tone. I am actually forcing you to read. Go. Now.
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