That’s Just How First Love Is, Your Highness

4 Comments

1. Eveaustria

   Well I for my part like this story!
   Sure, it has a lot of flaws, but I mainly love that it’s really different from most fantasy manhwas (no isekai, no regression etc.), that cats are playing significant roles ♥ and that the female lead is a witch; like in “The Tyrant’s Tranquilizer”.
   Well, the art is not THAT bad; of course the cover art is all extra shiny and stuff, but it’s not even totally different from the actual artwork, like several other manhwas or promos.
   I especially sympathize with the male lead, even though his first appearance resembles that of a tyrant – but he actually does well considering the curse he has to struggle with, and soon he also protects the female lead (which is why she isn’t openly bullied, threatened or punished so far).
   The story starts with the weird premise that a fat cat – the familar of the female lead witch – has fed a love potion to the young emperor in an attempt to elicit snacks from him, because the female lead has put the cat on a diet for health reasons.
   It’s beyond me though how this obese cat could have managed to carry a love potion into a heavily guarded palace and put something into the meal or drink of a ruler who is always accompanied by bodyguards; I really wished the author had come up with a better alternative for this…
   I would appreciate if the cat (Clovel/Clobellina etc.) would have magical powers herself, aside from being able to talk (but only be heard by the female lead)… It would make sense to me that a witch cat could turn herself invisible and likes to play jokes on people? She could have maybe carried a powder in her fur after knocking over a jar, and then shook herself like a wet dog near the emperor?
   The female lead is actually stupid. She’s a witch in a world where witches are viewed as evil – for a reason; since we do get to know a really evil witch after a while, who is either the cause for the emperor’s curse or at least strives to keep it in place.
   Still, the female lead has an apothecary directly in the capital, which is awfully risky for a witch. Plus: she has been warned by her mentor witch “grandma” to stay away from the royals, but her apothecary is not far from the castle?!
   Now the royals in the form of the emperor come to her, demanding the cat from her.
   From then on the story centers around something quite unique and actually cute: the emperor is cursed to see every person and creature as a horrifying nightmarish monster, but for the first time he now sees this fat cat as something “beautiful”, and such wants to keep her.
   The female lead could be taken with her cat as the cat’s owner or because the emperor loves her voice (which he DOES, but only says so a bit later on), instead the female lead insists of tagging along just because she now wants to “cure” the emperor from the effects of the love potion, since this potion tends to have dangerous side effects.
   This sure is e a good reason and all, but the female lead’s fear of being found out and pursued as a witch causes her to keep an inner distance from the emperor and to only focus on creating an antidote for the love potion. This just drags out the love story, and I really dislike that sword of Damocles hanging over the female lead during her otherwise somehow sweet love story.
   The female lead is taken in as a “cat maid”, but the emperor makes her stay in the queen/royal consort’s room from the very beginning. Now there’s some scheming of the palace staff who suspect that the female lead has bewitched the emperor (and seemingly nobody knows about the curse?), but their strategies are unfortunately not very elaborate.
   I do like it though that the evil witch manipulates the staff to bring her own spying cat into the castle – it’s a really beautiful white cat; although she doesn’t talk like the female lead’s fat familiar does.
   Tension builds up as the female lead manages to complete her antidote, and of course this potion doesn’t work the way she had expected.
   From then on the real story starts – with the female lead admitting that she fell in love with the emperor and now finally wanting to free him from the curse; which in return forces the evil witch to become more active in order to protect the curse and get rid of the female lead.

   August 3, 2025 at 3:17 pm

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2. vvee_03

   23

   May 18, 2025 at 5:37 am

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3. The_LovelyReader

   Haven’t read it yet but the cover page dosen’t ithe art or rather the ml and fl look like just – why do you love your fake wife ” and specially the fl she completely looks like nadia just change in those facial features or rathers eyes and expression

   April 23, 2025 at 1:06 am

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4. xnaysilvousplait

   This is a difficult one to categorize if I like it or not, it’s not unique elements but also some cliches and things I dislike strongly about it. There are a lot of tropes that mix and don’t match. I like the art and the initial plot but not the character of the cat and a lot of the actions of FL seem like she should have been punished for them massively. But the plot says no, so that she and ML can build rapport and develop chemistry, but idk. Some feel forced, others feel bland and like there’s no chemistry at all.

   April 13, 2025 at 1:17 am

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