Except it’s not.
A girl from the real world reincarnated into Princess Peony, from a neighboring kingdom of the main characters, shortly after the story reached it’s conclusion. In her previous life, Peony was a fan of the novel. But she was an even bigger fan of the story’s Anti-Villain, the male lead’s half-brother Richt De Fairsen. Despite trying to steal his brother’s love and his throne, Richt is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, one that Peony feels deserves his own happy ending, instead of the lonely existence he has now as an exile in a barren wasteland kingdom.
And who better to bring him happiness and love than a hopeless stan who knows him like a girl knows her favorite teen heartthrob?
Peony insists on an Arranged Marriage with Richt, despite the disapproval of her family and others around her, and the confusion of Richt himself, over why she would want to marry a disgraced, exile Duke. But Peony is determined to break down Richt’s walls and give him his own happily ever after.
Happily Ever Afterwards is a Korean romantic fantasy web novel written by Hwang DoTol and illustrated by Eile. It has a webcomic adaptation by Jeongseo. Can be read here
on Webtoon.
Involves examples of:
- Anti-Villain: Richt De Fairspren sought his brother’s wife and throne for himself. But this is later revealed to be because he came to believe Mikhail was too weak to protect Hestia, as he was always too late to save her from assassination attempts, let alone rule the empire.
- Gray And White Morality: Richt is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who suffers from unrequited love towards the novel’s heroine, Lady Hestia, who is instead in love with his brother. Richt tried to overthrow his brother and steal the crown and Hestia from him. However, this revealed to be not out of total selfish desire. At first, he refused to want for the throne. But after falling for Hestia, a series of attempts to assassinate her started. Richt noticed that while he was always able to save her in the nick of time, Mikhail always failed to get to her in time to save her, always showing up just after the attack. The final straw came when Richt returned home from leading a war to find Hestia ill and that Mikhail’s "supporters" had been traitors pledging false loyalty. This leads Richt to believe that Mikhail is unfit to rule, and unfit to protect Hestia, thinking that Richt himself could have prevented this if he were Hestia’s husband and Emperor instead of Mikhail.
