Vengeance and retribution belong to me.[a]
In time their foot will slip,
for their day of disaster is near,
and their doom is coming quickly.”Deuteronomy 32:35 (CSB)
Read it here —I’m the Queen In This Life
Warning – Potential spoilers ahead!
What I loved about this manhwa is the treatment of the concept of second chances, revenge, self-reflection, and consequences of changing the original timeline of the story. Upon the first chapter, I thought it would a typical isekai style story where we meet the main character in the first chapter in a crisis situation that will lead to the character dying by or before the end of the first chapter. Though, that did happen (chapter 2 this time!), the unique twist was that the main character, Ariadne, reaped both positive and negative consequences of changing the timeline of the original story as time went on.
For instance, Ariadne meeting the male lead-Alfonso prior to her coming of age party set off a chain of events that lead to their initial friendship (before blossoming into love). While in the original timeline, they were sworn enemies (one-sided on Ariadne’s part which she was not aware until later in the story).
However, while Ariadne turns Alfonso into an ally in the new timeline, her involvement with him leads Alfonso to experience the lost of his mother sooner in the second timeline and places him in a precarious position with his father.
So, what does this have to do with revenge?
Ariadne’s modus operandi is to get revenge on her half-sister, stepmother, father, Cesare(her ex-fiance in the first timeline). Why? She was betrayed by those she loved and wanted to receive love from by Cesare who took credit for her accomplishments ,but never wanted her to truly be his wife. Instead, he decides to marry her half-sister-Isabella. To add further insult, injury, and death, Isabella conspires with Cesare to have Ariadne killed in the first timeline.
This fuels Ariadne’s need for revenge on those who cut her life short ultimately; though, the list of those to get revenge on grows as the story progresses. This also presents an opportunity for Ariadne to identify and secure allies to further protect herself from death and get revenge on her enemies.
Unfortunately, this need for revenge becomes (in my opinion) all consuming for Ariadne. Moments of fun and comic relief do come, she is hyper-focused on whom she can use to further her goals. So much so, that when she confronts herself about her feelings for Alfonso, she decides that she must bury it initially in order to focus on her goal.
However, her revenge takes a turn when she becomes aware of the ‘golden rule’. In the Christian faith, this rule is from the verse Matthew 7:12 (ESV)
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
As Ariadne continues her revenge after learning about the golden rule condition for her returning for a second time; she begins to experience physical manifestations of her revenge.
In order to spread a plague to an opposing army attacking the Etruscan Kingdom (Ariadne’s home kingdom and residence), she must unwillingly send one of her beloved and trusted ally to meet the army to infect them. Even though she tried to talk her ally out of the plan, the ally proceeds in order to show not only their loyalty to Ariadne but to fulfill their personal dream/desire. How be ever, upon the success of the plan, Ariadne begins to see spots on her hand for every person that was killed/died for her action.
Now her revenge has consequences and she must evaluate whether getting the revenge she planned will be worth it when she will have to see her consequences daily.
It had me wonder, is this why God warned people about not getting revenge on their own power?
In order words, if we saw that our revenge impacted more than those who hurt us, would we still do it?
So dear reader, what do you think?