It Was Just a Contractual Marriage Review: I Knew the Ending and Still Got My Heart Broken

Spoiler Warning: This review contains major spoilers, including the ending, pregnancy, Loana, Cemesita and Gallian, Genovia, Andrei, and the final battle.

I Accidentally Knew the Ending Before I Even Started

There is something funny about how I started It Was Just a Contractual Marriage. Before I even properly read the story, I already had an image saved in my gallery showing a white-haired woman, a dark-haired man, and their baby.

Then I opened the manhwa, met Elise and Lesset, read the prologue, and immediately started playing Sherlock Holmes.

“Wait a minute. That man looks suspiciously like Lesset. That woman is obviously Elise. And there is a child between them. So these two probably end up together and become a family.”

Wonderful. I had apparently spoiled myself before Chapter 1.

At first I thought this might make the story boring. If I already knew they probably ended up together with a child, what was left to discover?

Apparently, everything.

That image told me the destination, but it told me absolutely nothing about how painful, messy, obsessive, ridiculous and beautiful the road toward that family would be.

By the time I reached the ending and looked at that same image again, it didn't feel like a spoiler anymore.

It felt like a reward.

A Contract That Started With One Simple Desire: Elise Wanted to Live

What immediately made me interested in Elise was how desperately she wanted to live.

Argan had fallen. She was a princess of the defeated empire, captured by the enemy and facing execution. She had spent much of her life sick and physically weak, and yet when death was finally standing directly in front of her, she refused to simply accept it.

Her solution was completely insane.

Lesset Kirstan, the terrifying Dragonborn archduke on the enemy side, needed an heir.

Elise needed to stay alive.

So she offered him exactly what he needed: she would bear his child if he protected her life.

And that was our “contractual marriage.”

There are plenty of romance stories where the female lead is rescued because the male lead chooses to save her. Elise was different. Lesset had the power, but Elise created the opportunity herself. She lied, negotiated, calculated and kept looking for another escape route whenever the world tried to kill her.

She was physically fragile, but she was never mentally helpless.

Even some of the earliest scenes were hilarious because Elise treated the heir problem almost like mathematics. She was calculating how many times they would need to sleep together within the contract period, looking at Lesset, reconsidering the number, and practically increasing the workload.

Lesset looked like he was reconsidering his life choices.

Of course, we eventually learned something Elise didn't understand at the beginning.

Lesset had already wanted her.

That is one thing I really liked about this romance. Elise believes she is cleverly using the Dragonborn to survive, while Lesset is standing there with his usual emotionless face hiding the fact that he has secretly craved this woman since they met years earlier.

Sometimes two idiots really are destined to find each other.

Lesset Is an Obsessive Idiot, and That Is Exactly Why I Loved Him

I have learned something about myself from reading manhwa.

Apparently, I really like crazy obsessive love stories.

Lesset fits that taste almost perfectly.

The funny thing is that he doesn't initially look like the typical openly insane romantic male lead. He is quiet, powerful and controlled. His face is constantly giving the same emotion:

🗿

Underneath that face, however, is an absolute disaster.

Lesset loves Elise intensely, but for a huge part of the story he has no idea how to express that love in a healthy way.

He understands possession.

He understands protection.

He understands “mine.”

He understands finding the person who hurt Elise and removing them from existence.

What he does not understand is how to sit in front of his wife and simply explain that he loves her.

That becomes painfully obvious when Elise begins wanting something more than their contract. She wants emotional reassurance from him.

Instead, Lesset essentially tells her that she is the most precious possession he has, while refusing to give her his heart because he is afraid that she could use that love to manipulate him.

Lesset.

My brother.

You absolute 🍩 idiot.

Elise doesn't hear, “I'm terrified because I love you too much.”

She hears, “You are valuable to me, but you are still something I own.”

And that difference nearly destroys them.

This is what eventually made Lesset much more interesting than simply being another possessive fantasy male lead. His character arc isn't about learning how to fall in love.

He already loves Elise.

His character arc is about learning that loving someone and possessing someone are not the same thing.

The Middle of This Story Actually Hurt Me

This was the section where I stopped simply enjoying the romance and started feeling genuinely sad.

Elise discovers that Andrei, her brother, is still alive. Argan isn't completely gone. Her people are still out there, and suddenly the life she thought she had lost forever becomes possible again.

At the same time, she is falling in love with Lesset.

That creates a conflict I really liked because I couldn't completely blame either side.

Elise originally didn't choose Rotier because she loved it. She arrived there because marrying Lesset was the alternative to dying.

Argan was her homeland.

Andrei was her brother.

Her identity existed before Lesset.

So when the opportunity to leave appears, I understand why she takes it.

But I also understand why it absolutely destroys Lesset.

This man spent years refusing to trust anyone with his heart. He finally begins lowering his guard around Elise. He starts sleeping beside her. He realizes that his feelings aren't simply desire or possession.

He loves her.

And at almost exactly that moment, Elise is preparing to leave.

Chapter 58 was one of the biggest turning points for me. Lesset finally begins understanding his own heart while Elise writes a farewell letter and calls him her first love.

That hurt.

Then she leaves while carrying his child.

Lesset follows her.

Elise uses magic to escape him.

Eventually she is brought back to Rotier, but this time she isn't the Elise we knew at the beginning. She barely speaks to Lesset. She looks emotionally exhausted and almost dead inside.

That was probably the point where the story hurt me the most.

Lesset had succeeded in physically bringing Elise home, but he hadn't actually gotten Elise back.

That distinction matters.

You can force someone to remain beside you.

You cannot force them to emotionally return to you.

Even worse, Elise begins fearing for their unborn child and asks Lesset whether he intends to sell the baby.

My heart was finished.

The relationship had reached a point where love clearly existed on both sides, yet neither person felt safe inside that love.

Cemesita and Gallian Were the Dark Mirror I Didn't Expect

One of my favorite parts of the story ended up being the ancient relationship between Cemesita and Gallian.

And I am going to brag for a moment.

I predicted this 🍩.

Long before the full reveal, the story started talking about the Great Dragon, his disciple and the vow between them. My brain immediately went:

“What if the dragon and the disciple were actually lovers? What if something happened between them and that's why the dragon went insane?”

Then Elise herself began wondering whether their vow could have been something shared between lovers.

Sherlock mode activated.

Eventually we learn just how deeply Cemesita loved Gallian and how badly that love collapsed into grief, obsession and rage.

Gallian left. She lived among humans, had descendants and eventually died.

Cemesita never truly recovered.

Centuries later, when Cemesita finally reaches Gallian's tomb and learns more about what she actually felt, the tragedy becomes even worse. He had carried this wound for an unimaginable amount of time while never fully understanding the person he loved.

That is why I think Cemesita and Gallian are so important.

They are basically a warning for Lesset and Elise.

Both relationships contain overwhelming love, fear of abandonment, misunderstanding and possessiveness.

Cemesita lost Gallian and allowed that grief to consume him.

Lesset almost walks toward the same path after Elise leaves him.

The difference is that Lesset and Elise eventually get another chance.

They finally begin communicating.

Lesset finally tells her he loves her.

Elise slowly begins trusting him again.

They break the cycle before it becomes another centuries-long tragedy.

That made the romance much more meaningful to me.

Andrei: I May Owe This Man an Apology

I spent a ridiculous amount of time being suspicious of Andrei.

Every time the story revealed another mystery surrounding Elise's body, magic circles or enormous mana pool, I was standing there like:

“What the 🍩 did this brother do to her?”

At one point I genuinely thought he was basically using Elise as a magical battery.

Then we learned that the relationship between their magic was much more complicated and, more importantly, Andrei genuinely loved his sister.

Then he started doing suspicious political things again.

Then he made a shady deal with Cemesita.

And I immediately went back to:

“THIS 🍩 IS GOING TO DO SOMETHING TO ELISE OR THE BABY.”

But as the truth unfolded, Andrei became much more tragic and sympathetic than I expected.

His deal and the Undying Flame eventually connect to Elise gaining Dragon Fire and becoming far more powerful than the fragile princess we met at the beginning.

The important thing for me is that Andrei wasn't secretly some cartoon villain who never cared about his sister.

He loved Elise.

He simply carried his own responsibilities, plans and terrible decisions.

And considering how many times I called him a 🍩 while reading...

Brother, I apologize.

Mostly.

Genovia: The Golden 🍩 Redemption Arc Is Approved

Then we have Genovia Irien.

Oh, Genovia.

I hated this woman.

When she first arrived with her golden hair and started creating tension around Elise, I was already suspicious. Then she discovered Elise's pregnancy secret, manipulated her fears, talked about the child and repeatedly made the relationship between Elise and Lesset even more complicated.

For a significant amount of this story, I simply called her:

the golden 🍩.

And I stand by that historical nickname.

But as the story continued, Genovia became more complicated.

She wasn't simply some generic female rival whose only personality trait was wanting the male lead. There was emotional damage underneath her behavior, and eventually I stopped seeing her as a simple love-triangle character.

Then she sacrificed herself to save Elise.

That one hurt.

I had spent so long getting angry whenever Genovia appeared that I wasn't expecting her death to actually make me sad.

It doesn't erase every 🍩 thing she did. Redemption shouldn't mean pretending someone's previous behavior never happened.

But when the moment truly mattered, Genovia chose to protect Elise.

So Fables Court has reached its final verdict:

Golden 🍩 charges acknowledged.

Redemption arc approved.

Death genuinely made me sad.

Rest in peace, Genovia.

You were a pain in my ass for a long time, but you earned my respect before leaving.

Elise's Growth Might Be My Favorite Part of the Story

It is easy to focus on Lesset because the man is an entertaining collection of red flags wrapped in Dragonborn muscles, but Elise's development is just as important.

She begins as someone who has been physically weak for most of her life.

Her hair gradually changed from gold to white.

She struggled with illness.

She had moments in her past where continuing to live felt almost impossible.

And yet when the main story begins, she desperately chooses life.

By the final arcs, this woman is no longer simply trying to survive someone else's war.

She is using Dragon Fire.

She is burning enemy strongholds.

She is involved directly in protecting the future of Argan.

At one point Lesset wants to remain beside her because she is preparing to give birth, and Elise basically sends this terrifying Dragonborn back onto the battlefield because she wants the Ugel King's head.

Early Elise:

“Please let me live.”

Late Elise:

“Go get me that king's 🍩 head.”

Beautiful character development.

Her strength doesn't come from suddenly becoming emotionally invulnerable either. Elise is still hurt, scared, stubborn and complicated.

She just stops allowing those things to define what she is capable of doing.

Rotier Becoming Elise's Home Was Quietly Beautiful

One of my favorite wholesome moments wasn't a giant romantic confession or battle.

It was the people of Rotier worrying about Elise when she was preparing to give birth.

The maids cared.

The household staff cared.

Even the chefs were worried about her.

That meant a lot because of how Elise originally entered Rotier.

She was an enemy princess.

People didn't know whether they could trust her.

The household watched her carefully and tried to understand what kind of woman Lesset had suddenly brought into their home.

Much earlier while reading, I joked that eventually they would investigate this suspicious Argan princess and discover that she was basically just a baby who needed taking care of.

Apparently, that was exactly what happened.

By the end, these people weren't worried about the political value of Princess Elisabetta.

They were worried about Elise.

Rotier started as somewhere she was trapped.

Somewhere along the journey, it became her home.

Loana Turned the “Heir Contract” Into a Real Family

Then we finally reached the child this entire contractual marriage originally existed to create.

Loana.

Our temporary nickname for her was Cherry, and I am probably never completely letting that nickname go.

Her birth was terrifying because Elise appeared to die afterward.

Lesset had just returned in time after dealing with the Undying King, and suddenly the woman he had spent the entire story terrified of losing was lying there unresponsive.

But one of the sweetest scenes in the whole story happens with Lesset and his newborn daughter.

This terrifying Dragonborn commander looks at tiny Loana and starts doing peekaboo with her.

Then he praises her and basically tells her to ask her mother to wake up soon.

That destroyed me.

Earlier in the story, Elise had become frightened because Lesset spoke about their future child almost impersonally, like the baby was simply “the Dragonborn heir.” At one point she genuinely worried he could give the child away.

Now Lesset is sitting beside their newborn daughter, talking to her gently while desperately waiting for Elise to return.

And Loana apparently decides immediately that she is a daddy's girl.

She cries with Elise.

Lesset picks her up with that usual slightly angry Dragonborn face.

Loana:

🙂

Of course.

The feared Dragonborn has been defeated by a tiny daughter.

The Ending Perfectly Reversed the Beginning

One of my favorite final details happens when Elise later suggests having another child.

Remember why this marriage started?

Lesset needed an heir.

Elise needed protection.

Pregnancy was literally part of their contractual arrangement.

Now Elise is basically ready to make another baby...

and Lesset refuses.

Why?

Because Elise almost died giving birth to Loana.

The man who originally needed a woman capable of producing his heir reaches the end of the story saying that he would rather never have another child than risk losing Elise again.

That might be the simplest way to explain Lesset's entire character arc.

At the beginning:

The heir mattered enough that he needed a wife.

At the end:

His wife mattered more than ever having another heir.

That is beautiful.

And Elise changes too.

Earlier, she was terrified of people from Argan discovering her relationship with Lesset. Lesset represented the enemy, the Dragonborn commander who had fought against her homeland.

At the end, when they return to Argan and Lesset tries to remain hidden because of who he is, Elise basically drags her husband out with her.

She isn't choosing between Argan and Lesset anymore.

Both belong to her life.

She finally gets to keep her homeland, her husband, her daughter and herself.

Knowing the Ending Didn't Spoil This Story

When I started reading, I was genuinely annoyed that I had already seen that family image.

Elise.

Lesset.

Their child.

I thought I already knew too much.

Now I think that accidental spoiler actually taught me something.

Knowing that three people eventually stand together smiling doesn't tell you what they had to survive before taking that picture.

I didn't know Elise would run away from Lesset.

I didn't know watching her emotionally shut down after returning to Rotier would genuinely hurt me.

I didn't know Lesset would spend half the story loving her while being completely incapable of expressing that love properly.

I didn't know about Cemesita and Gallian.

I didn't know I would hate Genovia and eventually approve her redemption.

I didn't know I would accuse Andrei of basically every crime imaginable before eventually understanding him.

I didn't know Lesset would become a traitor for Elise, fight kings, tear a resurrection stone out of the Undying King and still rush home because his wife was giving birth.

And I definitely didn't know the terrifying Dragonborn would end up doing peekaboo with his baby daughter.

The image showed me the ending.

The story made me understand why they deserved it.

Final Thoughts – Apparently Obsessive Romance Is My Weakness

It Was Just a Contractual Marriage helped me understand my own taste a little better.

I really like obsessive romance.

Not simply “the male lead is jealous sometimes.”

Give me the powerful, emotionally damaged idiot who loves one woman so intensely that losing her completely destroys his ability to think normally.

Give me the female lead who loves him but refuses to disappear inside that love.

Give me betrayal, separation, terrible communication, possessiveness, emotional wounds and two people slowly figuring out how to love each other without destroying each other.

And then, after making me suffer...

give them the 🍩 happy ending.

That is my poison.

Lesset and Elise worked for me because their story wasn't simply about falling in love.

They fell in love surprisingly early.

The real story was about two people discovering that loving someone and knowing how to love them are completely different things.

Lesset had to learn that Elise wasn't something he could own.

Elise had to learn that Lesset's terrible way of expressing himself didn't mean his feelings weren't real.

Both of them had to learn to trust again after hurting each other badly.

And somehow, after wars, dragons, betrayals, runaway pregnancies, magical conspiracies, an Undying King and more emotional damage than any contractual marriage should legally contain...

we reached Elise, Lesset and Loana together.

That family image I accidentally saw before starting?

Now I love it.

Because now I know their story.

If you enjoy fantasy romance with an obsessive male lead, a strong but emotionally vulnerable female lead, enemies-to-lovers energy, political conflict, possessiveness, magic, dragons, painful separation and an earned happy family ending, I absolutely think It Was Just a Contractual Marriage is worth reading.

Just be prepared.

The “contractual” part becomes very real very quickly.

And these two are apparently allergic to solving emotional problems without first making everything ten times worse.

❤️🐉🍒