#rupelali

Lari is one of my favorite FL in any media. She's just so well characterized, where her character development occurs so organically and reasonably. Overall, through the story and Rupert's POV, we have a good idea of Lari's strengths that is briefly mentioned, but accumulate over time:

works hard, is diligent

tries her best

is a nice and warm, overall a good person

studious and able to problem solve

mastered etiquette (the only skill she had from TL1)

able to learn politics overtime, and has a good idea of leadership

knows how to influence high/society with nobles (in combination with Rupert's authority and support) Lari is one of those characters who is NOT a badass OP FL lead. What has instead, is a quiet type of feminine strength. She doesn't have to be the smartest, or strongest, but she can still be a gentle person to acheive her goals. She may not be physically strong or intimidating, but she does have the support of Rupert; and he is more than happy to help support her in whatever she needs/wants. That's his role: to support her so she can be comfy and relax. Isn't that a nice idea on it's own? :) On the other hand, Lari IS a flawed character, with her own weaknesses:

extremely reckless

distrustful

due to being betrayed and gaslighted in TL1 and the first part of the story, she becomes hypervigilant to the point where she stops relying on ANYONE for help, becomes hyperindependent to the point of self-sabotage.

As Rupert says a few times throughout the series, Lari makes A LOT of stupid mistakes and bad decisions throughout the series, decisions any normal, rational person wouldn't do. That's the point. Unlike Rupert, who has Tori and Louis to discuss things with, Lari has no one. She's utterly alone. So if she DID have someone to rely on, that someone would tell her how stupid she was being, and she wouldn't have done the stupid thing. Her poor decisions is the result of being utterly alone, with no one to turn to.

Lari knows how bad her decisions were and agonizes over it afterwards, but Louis is the one who reassures her that in her situation, even if it wasn't the right call, to her, at that moment, it was the correct choice.

Rupert is the one who eventually realizes despite how she appeared, Lari is actually more lonely than anyone else. She had all these secrets about TL1 hidden inside, he was unable to ever fully earn her trust, and even if he wanted her to rely on him, the current [him] failed to do that. Before the separation, he was wishy washy - did he want to get closer to her? did he want to keep his distance? Eventually he realized that HE needed to change the way he treated her to earn her trust

It was nice that Lari already cared deeply for him; he didn't have to work TOO hard to earn her trust and have her rely on him when they reunited, but true to his word, he will always be there to support her, and if she allows it, he will be the one to protect and she can always rely on him. :)

After becoming a couple, RupeLali are hanging out often anyways, and they always have open communication. No judgement, and Rupert encourages Lari to speak her mind and any worries, and that is a tremendous relief for her, and their bond gets stronger from that :D

While re-reading the Tapas version, I'm reminded of all the small mentions of Lari regarding marriage.

Even with the topic of "marriage", Lari's views go a drastic change throughout the series.

In the YM world, it's a very traditional, patriarchal, misogynist world. Women have no rights and are treated as property of either the father, brother (if she is unmarried) or the husband. They are not allowed higher education, and their only use is to look pretty as the lady of the home. All the decision making goes to the men. ALL the women in the series suffer some sort of sexist discrimination.

Amanda Belois - Has no say in House Belois decisions (eventually leaves the Count) Riche/Tris Gorten - married off to unhappy marriage Amelia Belois - tried to marry into power, died for her ambitions Eva - became a slave to the Emperor In TL1, Lari was any normal noble girl. She loved reading poetry and romantic stories, and dreamed of a marriage of happiness and love. However, she knew that such stories were unrealistic; as a noble she would have to marry for the prestige and prosperity of the House. However, even that bare minimum wasn't fulfilled: unbeknownst to her, she was the hidden Princess of the former Emperor, and was intentionally hidden away in the Southern Territory of the Belois manor. Count Belois intentionally blocked ANY suitors from approaching her. After she turned 15, she awaited letters from suitors but they never came. She was upset that Lehan was getting PLENTY of letters when he turned 15, and at age 18, she all had lost hope. At age 16/17, House Belois intentionally sabotaged her with a pathetic debutante to ensure no one would be interested in her. no one in the Belois manor wanted to help her with it, so she sought the help of Amelia Belois who also gave the bare minimum - as a result, Lari was shunned, mocked, ridiculed for being so plain at the most important event of her life thus far. Recall, the debunte ball is the event to introduce a young lady into society as a new young adult - but she received no attention at all. She only got the courtesy greeting from Rupert, who only cared about her as a "Belois" and not as "Lari". By the time she was 18, she lost all hope of ANY romance. After YEARS of mulling it over, she concluded she had a terrible personality, she was plain and unremarkable, and no one would ever want her. She had held hoped at age 16 that even if she was deficient, then some other noble would want her - but guess not.

Lari NEVER imagined that her own family was sabotaging her self esteem, because they had planned for her to marry her own BROTHER of all people. They never considered her their own daughter, just "someone who would become their daughter in law in the future." She may have learned perfect etiquette and all the skills required for a noble lady, but what was the point if she never married?

In the beginning, Lari pretends to not be bothered by the prospects of marriage - as she gave up already a long time ago - but she is still very much bothered by the concept. She often reminds herself she doesn't want it, doesn't need it, and unfortunately for Rupert, Lari is coping HARD regarding marriage.

At the end of the Belois vacation arc, she mentions again that she hopes for a marriage of love; but he reminds her how unrealistic it is, and she agrees. It's a nice thought, but utterly unrealistic and she knows that very well.

Years later, Lari's view on love literally breaks her: the 17yo Lari of TL2 is utterly uncapable of accepting Rupert's feelings. She spent almost 8 total years convincing herself no one will ever love her, no one wants her, no one wants her in their future, Rupert, the cold-hearted murderer would NEVER consider her a partner... yet here he is telling her point blank he loves her.

Throughout the series, Lari isn't an idiot, she notices his feelings, but she is in HARDCORE DENIAL about it. She makes every excuse under the sun to convince herself he doesn't like her in that way, that it's just because he's a nice, considerate guy.

Some readers may say it's because Lari's a cruel person, but I see it differently: Lari is so utterly broken and traumatized from the past, to her, the idea that "no one will love her" is her [truth].

As someone who translated/edited the YM novel and S3 of the manhwa with native KR translators and had a team to discuss things with, I felt it would be fun to offer some "behind the scenes" details of why there are certain translation liberties between the tappy/tapas/and fan versions. I do take pride in my work, but obviously I can't compare to the official versions (as much as I complain about the tappy version) In general, it is impossible for ANY translation to be more than 90% the same. A translation depends heavily on the translator's skill, the editor's vocabulary/knowledge of both language, the extent of localization and how much of the original script is maintained. I'm flexible, so as long as the translation is reasonable and gets the original intent across, I'm happy. So the point of these "Translation Details" post is more informational and not any criticism. With that said:

Around Ch 24ish of the manhwa, we get the philosophical conversation between Lari and Rupert - on how much he treasures/likes and cares for / considers Tori precious.

Tapas Ver:

Fan version:

Tappy: "treasures" Tapas: "likes" and "cares" Fan: "treasures" and "cherishes" Ultimately, all are pretty similar choices.

Includes spoilers from future events

In combination of all the pieces given through out the entire series, the true backstory of Lari's 12th birthday party:

Rupert was always aware of the conflict between House Belois and the Imperial Family, including how Eva's one chance of freedom was thwarted by the Count. Because of the Count's betrayal - by using Eva's knowledge of the Crazy Emperor being infertile as his own bargaining chip - he secured the benefits of 1) to be part of the Imperialist Faction and support the Crazy Emperor, despite being a close advisor to the previous Emperor who was overthrown 2) Steal Lari away, under the guise she had died during the rebellion; to where the Crazy Emperor would turn a blind eye to her existance. All this was deemed a fair trade in order for the Crazy Emperor to keep control of Eva.

As such, Rupert learned very early on of Lari's hidden existence as well as how the Count had sold Eva - and him - to this wretched fate that was worse than slavery. Ever since Eva's death when he was around 10 years old, he worked hard to lay the groundwork for his own rise in power to become Emperor. That included compiling a list of those who were a thorn in his side that he needed to get rid of - including Lari, Lehan, House Belois, House Gorten, Riche etc.

Through his information network, he knew Lari's 12th birthday was coming up. He had Tori steal Nigelle's invitaiton (the Queen Consort and Nigelle were close to House Belois, and would have received one). He also sent Louis there as one of the Imperial Knights to celebrate her birthday.

In Ch 18 (Tapas), Tori let it slip that Rupert actually sent her there as "he wanted to know what a particular someone looked like." Based on the context, Rupert had already seen the Count from afar several times during Noble meetings… so he wouldn't need to see /him/. However, it's about time that he investigate /Lari/, the hidden Princess of Akan I. The Count did a good job of hiding her away from society and the Capitol, and what better way to infiltrate House Belois than with a two pronged attack - Tori will hide amongst the little girls and have a higher chance of meeting Lari, while Louis would mingle among the adults to find more information about the birthday girl - and make direct contact with the Count in the meantime.

From Louis' first encounter with Lari, he already suspected something was off. They never met, but she knew he was a knight. Did the Count train her to recognize him? how much does the Count know about Rupert?

As shown in the series, Tori and Louis are Rupert's closet retainers. They do not act unless he orders them to.If Rupert didn't order them to go to the party, they wouldn't. So he was there to find information on /lari/. What kind of noble was she? what did she look like? Also, she acted oddly - she was surprisingly wary and didn't let the Count talk to him anymore - as if trying to distance them. When he went back to Rupert, of course he reported that she was strangely on guard against him.

Of course, when Tori came back, she /gushed/ at how cute and friendly Lari was, and Rupert was incredulous. Of course he thought that there was no way, a pampered Noble girl like Lari, especially one who was raised under the strict gaze of one of the most traditional, xenophobic, racist families would ever be nice to commoners. He didn't imagine that just a few days later, he would meet a girl who matched Tori's description exactly at the 5th Ave marketplace, and they would be arguing over /dumplings/ of all things.

I strongly believe that Lari regressed to save Rupert's fate from becoming a tyrant. It was never stated explicitly in the novel, but there's quite a few hints to suggest it. For starters, the author, Eclair-nim posted in an afterward in Vol 6: "[...] Even if people put their minds to it, "change" is not something that is easily accomplished. So even if I could turn back time, it would be difficult for me to reverse a decision I've already made. Despite this, I hope that Lariette and Rupert, who have not given up on growing and moving towards the future with each other, will be happy for a long, long time."

Both Elclair-nim and Hayeon-nim, on social media say that they wish for Rupe/Lali to be happy (yes, most authors say that but I feel they wish happiness for these charas a bit more than usual). Throughout the story, one of the biggest themes is [change], and it's established that Lari wanted to change from her previous impassive, ignorant self to someone who can think for herself and choose how to live her own life... but she also suffers from a fear of change, which is why she continues to cling to House Belois despite knowing they lie to her and continue to keep secrets. As a person who is naturally trusting of others, it's hard for her to be wary of others unless they betray her first. TECHNICALLY, House Belois hasn't harmed her/betrayed her yet, so all seemed good... Lari knows that everyone has a secret or two they wish to hide, like her own secret of regression Another thing that gets a lot of focus, is that Lari's personal wish of "saving House Belois from death" is not her true wish; over time, it changes to "save Rupert becoming a tyrant/ensure Rupert is happy". Over and over, especially after non-productive conversations with Lehan/the Count, Lari wonders why the heck she regressed. No matter how much she tried to convince them, House Belois refused to change. But that's the point - the reason why she regressed, and the reason why she thought she regressed were different. She didn't regress to save House Belois. That's why they were an insurmountable obstacle, where she could never get to them. Because they were not the ones in need of help from her regression. It's been described over and over, from multiple characters, that House Belois is extremely old fashioned, and it's true of trash dad, and by extension, Lehan. They are unyielding to their core beliefs, and they will die for their beliefs. Of course, Lari knew this about her own family, but she felt that maybe, because it's her, she can change something ---- nope, not at all. She witnessed them dying because of that stubbornness in TL1, and at this rate, if she does nothing, they'll suffer the same fate in TL2.

So despite her telling them about her regression, and was very hurt when they didn't believe her and ignored her warnings, she gave up on trying to change them by chapter 68. She will do her own thing to save them, because that was her only wish when she regresed. It became a duty for her she had to fulfill. She remembered happy memories of TL1, and she wanted to repay it back to them, even if that's not the case in TL2. But as Elcair-nim says, change is hard. Even if a person wants to change a decision they've made, it's really really difficult. For Lari, who believed wholeheartedly that her regression was to save her family, it's a pathetic, cruel joke to realize when in fact, she made the wrong decision/wish. Because in the story, besides Lari, there's one other person who changed so much - Rupert. Lari didn't realize it, but her existence saved Rupert from the moment they met. Without her, he would have continued to be controlled by Eva/Tory, and was on the fast track to being a hated, lonely tyrant. But with Lari around being a positive influence, he remained a relatively nice, reasonable guy. Still cranky and hot-headed, but reasonable. The irony is that Lari didn't realize that Rupert had already changed, while she was off to the side worrying when he'll change and flip that switch. But he had already changed long ago.

Rupert is the one who needed Lari's existence the most in the series. It's very likely that in TL1 he lived his entire life lonely, hated, alone, murdering all his enemies but also earning the public's hatred. After his closest person, Tory died, he had literally no one else beside him. It was a very pathetic and lonely way to live, to not ever feel happiness or warmth. If anything, Rupert never tasted basic human warmth or happiness until chapter 59, when he was 15. He was already starting to find life a bit fun when she came to the palace, but his happiness really started after Lari proved to him she wanted to stay out of her own accord, wanted to be his ally, and wanted to stay beside him. When they separated, he realized how much he depended on her. His source of happiness was gone, and he had issues coping for a while without her. Because he cherished Lari so much, and wished for HER happiness, he offered everything he had: his rich/power, but the thing that Lari appreciated the most: was her freedom. As a lady in waiting, she was allowed to come and go whenever she pleased, and when they got along better, she was able to speak her mind and bicker with him more. The more comfortable they became with each other, the more she voiced her thoughts and opinions, and Rupert really valued her thoughts. He hated when others, including Trash dad looked down on her and didn't listen to her, so he made sure to let her voice be heard everytime.

So by regressing and ensuring Rupert's happiness, that in turn, is the ONLY way for Lari to achieve HER happiness as well.