I Thought This Would Be Another Villainess Story

When I started It Was All a Mistake, I expected something fairly familiar. Durua believes she has entered the world of a novel and that Nocturne Edgar is a dangerous man who could eventually kill her, so she tries to change her fate.

That sounds like a pretty normal villainess setup. What I didn't expect was for the entire story to slowly make me question almost everything Durua believed.

Is Nocturne actually the villain? Are Alice's dreams reliable? Can Durua trust her own memories? What exactly happened between Durua and Nocturne when they were children?

Those questions were what made the beginning so addictive for me.

It wasn't really the usual story about a heroine knowing the future and cleverly changing everything. Durua herself barely understood what was happening, and because we were following her perspective, neither did I.

That uncertainty was easily one of the best parts of the manhwa.

The First Part of the Story Was Amazing

The first season especially was probably my favorite part of the entire story.

Nocturne was introduced as this terrifying black mage who could influence people's minds and emotions, yet Durua was strangely resistant to his powers. That alone created so many questions about why she was different and what Nocturne actually wanted from her.

Then we had Patcia working in the background, Alice's prophetic dreams, Durua's strange memories, the potion, Nocturne's horrible childhood, and the constant possibility that someone was manipulating everything.

Patcia and her black mage were also built up as genuinely dangerous villains.

The more we learned about the Imperfectio potion and how Durua's memories had been manipulated repeatedly, the more interesting the mystery became. Suddenly, things Durua had believed for years couldn't automatically be trusted anymore.

That was such a cool idea.

Even the whole "I reincarnated into a novel" premise eventually became something we had to question. Finding out that He and Alice actually existed inside Durua's own world made the mystery even crazier.

At that point, I genuinely wanted answers.

Watching Durua Push Nocturne Away Actually Hurt Me

This was probably the most painful part of the story for me.

Nocturne isn't exactly good at explaining himself. Actually, saying that is being generous. This man desperately needed someone to teach him how normal human communication works.

He would treat Durua badly, hide things from her, restrict her, or make decisions without explaining anything because in his mind he was protecting her.

From Durua's perspective, however, it looked completely different.

She already believed Nocturne was a dangerous villain. Then Alice kept having terrible visions about him, and Durua's manipulated memories made everything look even worse.

So Durua started trying to create a boundary between herself and Nocturne.

And damn, that genuinely hurt to read.

We slowly learn that Nocturne has cared about Durua since they were children. She was one of the only people who repeatedly came back to him even when everyone else treated him like something evil.

Then he grows up and watches that same person become frightened of him.

I understood why Durua acted that way. She wasn't being cruel for no reason. From the information she had, being afraid of Nocturne made sense.

But understanding it didn't make it hurt any less.

Alice Made Me Want to Scream in the Beginning

I genuinely hated Alice for a good part of this story. 😭

Every time Durua started getting slightly closer to Nocturne, Alice seemed to arrive with another horrible future dream telling her why Nocturne was dangerous.

I know Alice believed she was protecting Durua. Her dreams were real, and from her perspective she had every reason to take them seriously.

But those visions were incomplete.

That was the problem.

Alice would see one horrible piece of a possible future and immediately believe she understood the entire situation. Then she would tell Durua, who was already terrified and confused.

It felt like she was constantly pouring more poison into Durua's mind, even if she didn't intend to.

There were times when I genuinely wanted to tell Alice, "Please stop helping. You're making everything worse." 😭

The side stories improved my opinion of her a lot, though.

Seeing Durua and Alice together as children made their friendship feel much more natural. Alice stopped feeling like someone who only existed to interfere with Durua and Nocturne and started feeling more like an actual childhood friend who was also trapped by misunderstandings.

I still wanted to scream at her during the main story, though.

Nocturne's Family Is Completely Insane

The deeper we went into Nocturne's family, the more I understood why this man was completely incapable of having a normal relationship.

His mother and father are both crazy in completely different ways.

Nocturne's childhood was filled with hatred, manipulation, assassination attempts, holy water, black magic, and adults treating his existence like some kind of punishment or tool.

He barely had a chance to become emotionally normal.

That doesn't excuse every bad thing Nocturne does. There are definitely moments where he treats Durua badly or makes terrible decisions.

But the story did a very good job of making me understand where that behavior came from.

One of the saddest things about Nocturne is that he genuinely seems to believe Durua would eventually be happier without him.

That becomes especially painful when he reaches the point where he almost gives up on his own life.

Durua arriving and basically screaming at him for trying to die was one of my favorite emotional moments in the later story.

She spent so long believing that Nocturne would eventually kill her.

Then everything reverses.

Now Durua is the one terrified that Nocturne might die and leave her behind.

That hurt in the best way. 😭

Patcia Was Built Like a Final Boss and Defeated Like Cake

This is where my biggest problem with It Was All a Mistake begins.

Patcia was built up for so long as one of the true monsters behind everything.

She destroyed Nocturne's childhood. She manipulated Durua's memories multiple times. She had a powerful black mage working with her. She kept surviving, manipulating people, and causing problems behind the scenes.

So when Patcia kidnapped Durua and tried to use Imperfectio on her again, I thought we were finally reaching the huge confrontation the story had been preparing for.

I expected chaos.

I expected Nocturne, Durua, Gerbella, Alice, Aaron and everyone else to be pushed to their limits. I expected Patcia's black mage to actually show us why this villain faction had been presented as so dangerous.

Instead, they were defeated like cake. 🎂😭

Come on.

The villains didn't need to win, obviously. Patcia absolutely deserved to lose.

My problem was how easy everything felt.

The story spent so much time telling us that these people were extremely dangerous, but when the actual confrontation arrived, I never felt like our characters were truly facing an overwhelming enemy.

The buildup deserved a much stronger payoff.

Give me several chapters of Durua desperately resisting another memory manipulation. Let Nocturne struggle because protecting Durua is more important to him than simply winning. Give Gerbella an important role with his holy powers. Let Patcia and her mage actually feel like the terrifying villains we were promised.

Then defeat them.

That would have been so much more satisfying.

After Patcia Was Caught, the Story Lost Its Tension

Up until Patcia kidnapped Durua, I was genuinely invested in the main plot.

After Patcia and her black mage were defeated so easily, things became much more dull for me.

The biggest mystery had mostly been solved. The strongest villain was gone. The threat that had been hanging over Durua and Nocturne for most of the story disappeared.

And nothing really replaced it.

There were still good moments afterward. Nocturne's family drama was interesting, his emotional breakdown was painful, and Durua finally understanding her feelings was satisfying.

But I stopped reading because I desperately needed to know what happened next.

I started reading because of the mystery.

I finished reading because I wanted to see Durua and Nocturne be happy.

That is probably the simplest way I can describe my experience with this manhwa.

Durua and Nocturne Carried the Final Part for Me

Thankfully, I really loved Durua and Nocturne together.

Their romance was frustrating as hell, but that frustration also made the payoff feel much better.

The side stories especially make it obvious that Durua's feelings probably started much earlier than even she understood.

She originally became close to Nocturne because she felt sorry for him. She saw how terribly everyone around him treated him and continued visiting the lonely child everyone else avoided.

Then there is that adorable childhood jealousy.

Sheryl kisses Nocturne on the cheek, Durua sees it, and suddenly she runs away upset.

Little Durua probably didn't even understand why she was angry. 🤭

By the time Durua finally understands that her feelings for Nocturne were never simply friendship, it feels less like she suddenly fell in love with him and more like she finally recognized something that had been there for years.

Their relationship also has a beautiful reversal.

At first, Durua believes Nocturne is the man destined to kill her.

By the end, she wants to spend her life with him.

After all the memory manipulation, fear, terrible communication, emotional damage and approximately one million misunderstandings, these two finally managed to become an actual couple.

We paid for those cute romance scenes with psychological damage. 😭

But I still wanted every one of them.

The Side Stories Were Actually One of My Favorite Parts

The side stories were much more enjoyable than I expected.

Because the main conflict was already finished, they didn't need to pretend another giant villain was coming. They could simply show us the characters living their lives.

We got more childhood Durua and Nocturne, which helped explain why their connection was so important.

We got Alloy finally finding her own romance with Gerbella, the silly priest. 🤭

I had been smelling that romance from the moment we discovered that Alloy was actually the red-haired girl Gerbella remembered from his childhood, so seeing them become a couple was incredibly satisfying.

Then Durua becomes pregnant.

And Nocturne, naturally, discovers that childbirth hurts Durua and immediately starts trying to create magic that can numb the pain.

Of course he does. 😭

Everyone else can accept that childbirth is painful.

Nocturne basically says, "My wife is in pain. Therefore, the laws of magic are currently incorrect."

That might be one of the most Nocturne things imaginable.

Anyas Is Absolutely Adorable

Then we meet their daughter, Anyas. ❤️

She is ridiculously cute, ridiculously intelligent, and apparently born completely overpowered with divine abilities.

The funniest part is how quickly she starts speaking.

This tiny baby looks at Nocturne and calls him "Papa" only days after being born.

Imagine what that does to Nocturne Edgar emotionally. 😭

This man spent his childhood surrounded by people who hated him, feared him or wanted to use him.

Now he has a daughter looking at him and simply calling him Papa.

That is such a beautiful ending for his character.

His father and mother turned family into something horrible.

Nocturne gets the chance to create a completely different family with Durua.

And I loved that.

JUST SHOW ME THE SECOND CHILD 😭

Then the story tells us Durua and Nocturne have another child.

Me: 🥰🥰🥰

The story ends without properly showing me the child.

Me: 🫠😭

COME ON.

I don't need another villain. I don't need another giant mystery. I don't even need ten more chapters.

Give me one final family scene.

Show me Anyas with her younger sibling. Let the second child look like Durua since Anyas already feels like a tiny Nocturne. Give me Durua smiling beside them and Nocturne standing there with his usual expression while secretly being the happiest man alive.

Put Alloy and Gerbella somewhere nearby too.

That's it.

One final family portrait would have made the ending feel so much more complete to me.

Instead, I finished the final chapter thinking, "Wait… that's all? Where is my second baby?" 😭

Final Thoughts — The Mystery Made Me Start, Durua and Nocturne Made Me Finish

It Was All a Mistake is a strange one for me because I genuinely loved a lot of it.

The first part was great. The mystery surrounding Durua's memories, Nocturne's magic, Alice's dreams, Patcia and the entire idea of whether Durua actually understood her own world kept me constantly questioning what was real.

Durua and Nocturne's relationship also genuinely hurt sometimes. Watching Durua become afraid of someone who had cared about her since childhood was painful, especially once we started understanding Nocturne's side of everything.

But Patcia's defeat was where the story lost momentum for me.

She and her black mage were built up as terrifying villains, yet their final confrontation felt far too easy. Once they were gone, the main story became noticeably duller because there wasn't another conflict strong enough to replace them.

Thankfully, Durua and Nocturne carried me through the rest.

Their reconciliation, Durua realizing how long she had loved him, Nocturne finally allowing himself to be loved, their marriage, their children and all those stupidly cute moments gave me enough reason to keep reading.

The side stories helped a lot too. Alloy and Gerbella becoming a couple was adorable, Anyas was absolutely precious, and seeing Nocturne become a loving father after everything his own parents did to him was probably one of the most satisfying parts of his ending.

I just wish the story had finished with a little more.

Give me that second child.

Give me Durua, Nocturne, Anyas and the baby together.

Give me Alloy and her silly priest standing beside them.

After everything these people went through, I wanted one final image that simply said:

They are okay now. They became a family.

Maybe that's why I feel both happy and slightly disappointed after finishing it.

It Was All a Mistake didn't completely stick the landing for me, but Durua and Nocturne made me care enough to stay until the very end.

And honestly, those two idiots finally being happy together was worth a lot of the frustration. ❤️