#darisha

This webtoon takes place inside a novel called The Princess's Sweetheart. It's about a tragic evil wizard named Darius, who falls for a powerless princess named Asha. They are both trapped in different chains. Asha's mother died, and the current head of the harem hates her. She gets bullied as soon as she leaves her quarters. Her father, the King, can't and won't save her. Even he can't interfere with womanly harem politics. The Queen has all the power there. Asha wants to escape, because she knows she will never be accepted in the palace.

She has a dream. She wants to run away and marry a normal man. The Queen intends to marry her off for political power. Women in the harem don't have much freedom at all, so the idea of becoming a peasant is exciting for Asha. She likes to bake, so her fantasy is owning a bakery and raising a small family. Asha is "quirky". When I say that I mean she's boring but the author does try to spice her up. Asha is capable of anger, resentment, and crude jokes. She would love to kill the Queen, but she knows she would get caught.

So, Asha pursues romance. She has a secret lover named Darius. They exchange letters often, and she loves....his face. His incredible looks haunt her dreams and she drools when she sees him. She calls him a tasty chocolate bar more than once. She's weak to handsome men, and she doesn't want to accept a miserable political marriage. She plans to run away with Darius before her father starts approving fiance candidates.

Then we see the truth. Darius isn't a cute village boy. He isn't even in love with Asha in the beginning. He used her to get inside the palace. He poses as her servant, and he tortures harem guards at night to get information out of them. Darius wants revenge. He latched onto the lonely princess so he could get an alibi and a convenient room in the palace. He's also an extremely powerful evil magician, so as soon as he gets inside the castle walls the guards are doomed. Ghosts start haunting the halls and the maids can't sleep at night. He unleashes hell upon them all slowly, and soon the entire castle is gripped by paranoia.

Darius has an insanely long, complicated backstory. Magic is rare, so he was imprisoned as a child. Then he voluntarily imprisoned himself because he didn't want to accidentally hurt anyone. He feels like a monster and he lost everyone close to him, so he keeps his magic a secret. He never actually tells Asha he has magic. She catches him. He's a really secretive guy and he lies alot. Also he daydreams about killing his enemies all day.

Why?

The royal family killed his mother. An unknown assailant sexually assaulted her before she died too. He couldn't get back to his village in time, because he was in his solitary castle practicing magic. By the way he's super overpowered. He can make teleportation doors and other ridiculous things, but he is not a god. He knows that greedy people can capture and imprison him. Plenty of nobles would love to use him as a tool. That's why his powers are a secret. Even if you're overpowered you have to sleep and eat. His mother wanted him to be safe, so they lived apart, and then she died in the worst possible way. He blames himself, because his mother's death is connected to the royal palace. The same royal palace that really hates people with magic. His mother was a maid in the palace. He assumes that her assassination was actually torture. The soldiers that violated her were trying to find him. That's what he thinks, but he's wrong. The truth is even more complicated.

The worst thing about Darisha is the pacing (and the random reincarnated character). Darius falls for Asha way too fast. He offers to kill the Queen and all of her snobby sisters by like chapter three??? Huh??? Like I get it. Asha is super nice. She's not loyal to the King or the Queen. She is Not Like the Other Girls. Her mom was killed by the Queen because harems are ruthless like that. Asha spent years of her childhood depressed and alone, but the author maybe should have made this particular development slower. In chapter one Darius is ruthless and his feelings for princess Asha are a lie. He used her naive dream of freedom and love to get past security. Then by chapter four he's willing to massacre her enemies. Um. Did I miss something?

Then it gets a little more cringe. Asha rejected a fiance candidate named Kurush, because he was ugly. He worked hard to lose weight and then he came back handsome. He proposes again, and Darius breaks a shit ton of rules. Remember, he's Asha's servant right now. The prince could behead him anytime, but Darius sasses him. Darius gets in the way. Darius insults Kurush for like three straight pages. Kurush is also obsessed with Asha. She is his ideal bride, because she said one nice thing to him years ago. Ugh. I hate that trope. Anyway, Kurush is dead set on marrying Asha. He wants her even though she has no political power, and he's the first prince of his country. Asha doesn't even want to be a princess, so being Queen would be hell for her. Kurush doesn't feel necessary. So, the author makes him a narcissistic joke character. I guess his scenes are kind of funny, but he feels like a waste of time.

*cracks knuckles*

I hate this. Read my lips, fantasy comic book authors. I do not want to read about reincarnated isekai women. Period. Full stop. Stop. I especially don't want to see obvious self insert characters ten chapters in, after the main plot has already been established. I really, really don't want to see a side character that is randomly from another world. I super don't want to watch that character flirt with Darius. Trust me. My anger is justified. This plot point is so pointless. So boring. So worthless. So unrepentantly bad that it kind ruins the whole atmosphere. Sigh. Her name is Sholeh. Sholeh is a harem maid who reincarnated into the world of this novel. She can't go back to her world until she...ugh....ow...the cringe...makes her OTP canon. I wish I was making this up. Sholeh accidentally flirts with Darius and causes annoying misunderstandings. She doesn't need to exist. She shouldn't exist and thank goodness the author kind of phases her out of the story later on. Burn Sholeh author. I'll pretend she didn't happen and your fans will respectfully do the same. Everybody makes mistakes. I forgive you.

Then the plot gets good and weird. Darius thought his mother was a maid, but she was actually more important. The King was obsessed with her. An abandoned palace near the castle is dedicated to her. The King will never let anyone else move in as long as he lives. Does this mean Asha and Darius are siblings?? Probably not, but it means they are entwined in a messy way. It looks like the King tried to force her to love him, but then she got pregnant and ran off. This explains why she was killed. She had the King's love, and she was a mere maid. The Queen was part of her gruesome death, so that makes sense. Neat.

Focus on this author.

Not Sholeh.

Forget Sholeh.