A young stepmother and her journey for her "Happily Ever After" Note
In honor of her deceased husband Johanes, Shuli Von Neuschwanstein took it to herself to raise the "children" he had left behind. It doesn't matter if she is seen as a scheming Gold Digger or cheater, as long as she can ensure that her stepchildren are well protected, she doesn't mind. On the day of her eldest son's wedding, signaling his possession of the family's seat as Marquess, she felt that she had finally tied up all loose ends and could live the rest of her life out peacefully. However, she had been terribly mistaken as she finds herself caught in an accident and died on the way to see her son's wedding. Upon opening her eyes, she finds herself waking up to the day of her husband's funeral, seven years ago.
"I refuse to suffer any more. I won’t live as I did in the past a second time!"
A fairy tale featuring a Stepmother, with a twist.
A Stepmother's Marchen is a korean Webtoon adapted from the webnovel written by Nyangiwa Hyangshinlo (Kitty and Spices), famed as being the author for the webnovel, A Fairytale For Villains, and illustrated by ORKA.
The Webnovel is completed. The Webtoon can be read here
in Korean. The comic was licensed in English by Tapas Media under the name The Fantasie of a Stepmother.
Warning: A good portion of the Tropes elaborated here contains spoilers from the completed Webnovel. You have been warned.
Tropes in A Stepmother's Marchen:
- Abusive Parents: Shuli did not have a very happy family life before Johanes Von Neuschwanstein brought her in. Her father is a drunkard who wasted his family's riches on alchohol and her mother was verbally abusive. Her brother is not even any better and generally a huge Jerkass. Despite the initial strain with her stepchildren, her life in the Neuschwanstein household seems more bearable in comparison (And it gets better for Shuli after Time Travel).
- Adaptational Heroism: The Webtoon does a few of this in regards to the original timeline counterparts of some characters.
- Ohara gets this in the Webtoon, as her Webnovel counterpart is far more rude to Shuli even at a young age after Shuli time travelled, in contrast, the webtoon's Ohara was far more decent and polite to her. She also gets an Adaptation Expansion in regards to why she told the lie of Jeremy not wanting to see her in the day of his wedding in the original timeline. She saw the fallout of her father's adulterous affair affecting her mother and fear that she too will experience what her mother faced. The webtoon also left out Ohara trying to seduce Elias and put him in a baby trap to emphasize this.
- Abbington, the Head Knight guard of the Neuschwanstein family was involved in Shuli's death and unrepentant of his involvement of her death in the Webnovel version, believing her to be a disgrace who sullied the first Marchioness. In the webtoon, however, instead of being involved, Abbington told the wrong person about where Shuli would be going during the day of Jeremy's wedding, even trying to list reasons for Shuli to still go to the wedding and avoid the ambush that was set up to kill her.
- Adapted Out: The scene in the novel where Ohara seduced Elias to a baby trap and strain the relationship of the Neuschwanstein children was not included in the webcomic's adaptation of the original timeline.
- Adoptive Peer Parent: Shuli is a deconstructed version. Shuli is overwhelmed and out of her depth when it comes to raising her children and managing the Neuschwanstein estate which causes her to make critical mistakes and notably makes it hard for her children to respect her.
- A Tragedy of Impulsiveness:
- A sidestory reveals that the events that led to Shuli's death in the first timeline can be traced back to Shuli's inexperience, which led to Shuli herself taking desperate and impulsive measures, which are then misunderstood by everyone else in society. Her reputation makes her a perfect scapegoat for the Corrupt Church and others planning to steal the Neuschwanstein family inheritance. They go so far as to tell Shuli that she only has her own self to blame.
- In the original timeline, Ohaera was taken by surprise when Jeremy informed her immediately before their wedding that he wished for Shuri to stay at their estate for a while longer. Fearful that the former marchioness would attempt to wrest power from her, Lady Ohara told Shuri several extremely hurtful lies to ensure she would leave before the wedding. Ohara acknowledged by ‘’the next day’’ that this was a foolish plan fueled by her emotions; In the short term, it only led to her humiliation when an infuriated Jeremy put the wedding on hold until Shuri could be brought back. But things took a far more tragic turn when Shuri was murdered before that could happen; Ohara’s relationship with Jeremy was irreparably ruined, and (at least in the webcomic,) she ended up sent to live out her life in anonymity due to the fallout.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Shuli gives one of these to Lady Reicher when she comes for help concerning Jeremy's trial. The Reicher matriarch slanders Shuli, saying that she took her daughter's place as the Lady of Neuschwanstein, is trying to seduce her son, and since she can't play tricks or harass Shuli without some form of backlash she would rather Jeremy lose an arm to teach Shuli a lesson. Before she leaves, Shuli asks what the honor House Reicher means to Lady Reicher if she would sacrifice their own grandchild (and thus risk cutting all contact with the rest of the grandchildren, who at this point are the only grandchildren that Lady Reicher has as well as her last connection to her late daughter) to protect it and teach someone a lesson in humility.
- Baby Of The Bunch: Shuli becomes this in gatherings of parents - since due to being a stepmother she can't really hang out with people her own age. Lampshaded when she is part of social gatherings with Empress Elizabeth and Duchess Heidi and she is unsure if they consider her to be a friend or a surrogate daughter.
- Becoming the Mask: Shuli initially tried to be a good mother for the Neuschwanstein children out of obligation, but over time, she started to see the Neuschwanstein children as her kids.
- Belated Love Epiphany: Played with in the original timeline. It wasn't until after her death did Shuli's stepchildren truly realize that they loved her, having planned to surprise her with flowers at Jeremy's wedding. Played straight with Jeremy in the original timeline, who was said to have gone mad after Shuli's death, and even referred to Shuli as his late lover.
- Big Bad: The Vatican, though more specifically, Cardinal Richlieu, as he's the one behind the schemes in order to discredit Shuli and the Neuschwanstein household in an attempt to steal the inheritance of the house and out of an obsessive, creepy Villainous Crush on Shuli.
- Chastity Couple: It's revealed in Jeremy's trial that Johanes and Shuli never consummated their marriage when the question as to why Shuli never had children with her husband is brought up. She explains that her marriage was more of a contract where Johanes was more of a benefactor for her education and introduction into society than one of a husband and wife. The church officials at the hearing then try to use this as a basis for Shuli to be divorced from the Neuschwanstein family and lose custody of her stepchildren.
- Corrupt Church: The Vatican has designs to take full control of the empire and are the major antagonizing forces that the royal family and nobles have to worry of. They are adamant to take control of the Neuschwanstein fortune by any means necessary to fund their own army of holy knights.
- Declaration of Protection: Jeremy gives one of these to Shuli after his trial. In the original timeline, Nora gives a posthumous version to Shuli, swearing to find those responsible for her death and avenge her.
- Downer Ending: The Webnovel and the finale of the first season contains the events detailing to how Shuli died and what happens after Shuli died in the original timeline. And things don't look too good in several aspects.
- Shuli's death caused a heavy strain going on with the Neuschwanstein children. First, they never get to properly apologize to Shuli and make peace with her, and to make things worse, Ohara, who was partially responsible for leading Shuli to her death in the first timeline, seduced and pulled the baby trap to marry Elias in a last ditch effort to save her family's bloodline (In the novel's version of the events). Jeremy, Rachel and Leon were rightfully pissed at Elias for hitching up with the woman who was involved with the death of their stepmother and stretch the strained relationship further.
- Without Shuli involved, Nora's relationship with his parents remains strained in the first timeline and when the duke realized his mistake for never believing him, it's far too late and Nora refused to have anything to do with his parents anymore (his father, especially).
- The aftermath following Shuli's death cause the Neuschwanstein family name to be even more tarnished due to the scandals surrounding Shuli's impulsive and desperate attempts to protect the children and the events that followed after her death, at least in the webnovel.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Crown Prince Theobald does this after the incident at the gambling house results in the death of Shuli's brother, Lucas. He had been intending to make use of a priest named Messner, but hadn't expected said priest to ensure that he avoided getting in trouble by having Lucas killed. As he was Shuli's brother, he feels that he killed the brother of the woman he loved.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: It's a long, long process, but Shuli and the children ultimately gained it.
- Family of Choice: As Nora continues to interact with Shuli and the Neuschwanstein children, Nora continues to feel more at home with the Neuschwanstein family than he is at the Nuremberg mansion.
- Forgotten First Meeting: A look in the original timeline regarding Nora's whereabouts reveals that he actually met Shuli once. While Nora remembers her fondly, and was able to see her for who she really was underneath the unpleasant rumors about her, Shuli doesn't remember the meeting due to a combination of stress and worry for her stepchildren's future and well-being.
- Gambit Pileup: The Neuschwansteins, being the richest family in the empire, is the center of multiple plots almost all around people trying to seize and control the estate. Johanes was aware of this, which is why he married and trained Shuli to protect his children after his death. One of Shuli's biggest challenges in both timelines is her struggle to keep the Neuschwanstein family and fortune out of those plots. Her death in the original timeline leaves the Neuschwanstein family vulnerable to those plots
- The Ghost: The former Empress, Ludovica. She was the mother of the Crown Prince, but for some undisclosed reason, all mentions of her being anything but a few lines about her in history books about her being a beautiful and kind ruler is missing. Any trace of her is erased, such as the roses that were bred in her honor by Count Reicher, Johanes' brother-in-law from his first marriage. Anytime Theobald tries to ask questions about her, people change the subject and all personnel in the palace who knew Ludovica, including his nanny, are sent away or are relocated to other parts of the empire. During Jeremy's trial when the reason for why Johannes chose Shuli to marry is brought up, Count Reicher is immediately silenced by the current Empress when he tries to bring up the fact that Shuli bares a resemblance to the late Empress Ludovica and the trial is immediately withdrawn.
- Gory Discretion Shot: In the webcomic, this is how Shuli's death in the original timeline is portrayed as.
- Good All Along: In the webcomic, after Shuli's deeds to protect her stepchildren are made known to the public from the original timeline, many people stop vilifying her and instead admire her, going as far as to call her a saint. Her reputation of being a scheming widow is cleared and her stepchildren become more grateful for having her as their stepmother, but it's too late.
- Good Parents: There are not too many of them in this webtoon but there are shining examples:
- After traveling back in time, Shuli truly gets to be the Good Stepmother to the Neuschwanstein children.
- It took a good while but Heidi Von Nuremberg, Nora's mother, slowly is on her way to becoming a better mother for Nora with some encouragement from Shuli.
- Before their deaths, Johanes and his first wife, Alicia, were truly good parents who adored their children. His actions for taking in a young Shuli to be his children's guardians may be up to debate, but he prioritized his children's wellbeing first and foremost.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Shuli has some scars on the back of her neck from one of Elias' pranks gone wrong. The Cardinal has scars on his back from lashings, which appear to be self inflicted.
- Good Stepmother
- Shuli tries to be this to the Neuschwanstein children out of obligation to Johanes, who took her in. She failed in the first timeline, but otherwise succeeded in the present.
- Empress Elizabeth tries to be a good stepmother to Theobald (despite her feelings about Ludovica) and it's mentioned that she actually dotes on him more than her own son. But she can't undo the mixed parenting of her husband and the Nurenbergs.
- Greater-Scope Villain: In the original timeline, the Vatican church initially schemed in the background to plan the downfall of the Neuschwanstein so the house would be ripe to be taken and influenced so as to take over the empire and they still are in the current timeline.
- Her Heart Will Go On: Gender-inverted with Jeremy and Shuli in the webcomic and original timeline. After Shuli's death, Jeremy breaks his engagement with Ohara and is rumored to have declared Shuli the only woman he had ever loved, even going as far as to call her his lover.
- History Repeats: In the past, the Emperor, Albrecht Von Nurenberg, and Johanes were close friends who romantically vied for a Spirited Young Lady with long lilac hair. Shuli, said lady's Identical Stranger, is romantically vied by their respective sons in the present. Only, unlike their fathers, the two of them are unable to pursue Shuli due to complications on their part Explanation
- Identical Stranger: Shuli is physically similar to the former Empress Ludovica. Shuli's marriage to Johannes caused many who knew of Ludovica being his First Love, to believe that he was fooled and seduced by Shuli due to how physically similar she was to the former empress.
- Iron Lady: Empress Elizabeth, a tough, stern, blunt no-nonsense woman, contrasting what is known about Empress Ludovica.
- Inconsistent Spelling: Shuli or Shuri? Nora or Norra? Ohara or Ohera? It differs between fan translations and the official translation.
- Last Request: Deconstructed. Ludovica asked the Nuremburgs to love and care for Theobald in her place. Their feelings for and memories of Ludovica caused them to overcompensate, they end up spoiling and favoring Theobald and neglecting their son. Their actions harmed both children, Nora resents them for their Parental Favoritism and Theobald learned all the wrong lessons from them.
- Like Parent, Like Spouse: Crown Prince Theobald is romantically drawn to Shuli because she resembles his deceased mother. Given that everyone in the palace is forbidden from speaking about the late empress, even in books, it is safe to say that Theobald is projecting his ideals of his mother onto Shuli. See Loving a Shadow below.
- The Lost Lenore: Ludovica to her friends. It causes a huge amount of problems due to the older generation's inability to move on from her death. They end up projecting their feelings for Ludovica into the younger generation, in particular Shuli and Theobold.
- Loving a Shadow: Shuli treats Theobold's "feelings" towards her as not real romantic attraction but an affection born from his longing for his deceased biological mother.
- Mama Bear: Shuli will do anything for her stepchildren. She's even willing to see her marriage annulled and get kicked out of the Neuschwanstein family if that can save her eldest son.
- Middle Child Syndrome: Elias deeply fears he's suffering this throughout the series, first fueled by his guilt from believing he had a part in his mother's health failing and permanently scarring Shuli's neck during a prank gone wrong. After Jeremy's trial he begins fearing that Shuli loves Jeremy more than him and deals with an inferiority complex towards his siblings' ability to achieve notable skills. Jeremy revealing the full extent to which Shuli's entire life has been ripped from her as a sacrifice for all their sake's equally, as well as Shuli listing everything she admires about his strengths help him realize he has never actually faced this .
- Momma's Boy: Elias is hinted to have been particularly close to his mother and it's implied that's why out of all the children he acts out the most - he took his parents' deaths the hardest.
- Must Make Amends: Upon realizing the full extent to which his own failures as an heir have stolen Shuli's life from her, on top of his cruelty towards her in the past, Jeremy resolves to support her completely and make up for his mistakes however he can.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Happens a few times over the course of the series, mostly told in flashbacks.
- Elias has one when he realizes that his actions caused Jeremy to get measles. Since the story is set in a time period where modern medicine does not exist, Elias fears that his brother will die of illness just like his mother and father, the latter of whom was buried a short time ago.
- Elias has another one when recalling the first time he met Shuli. He threw a rock at her face in an attempt to scare her while she was climbing up the steps to the front of the mansion, but the hit stunned her and caused her to fall down the steps, resulting in scars on the back of her neck.
- Jeremy in the original timeline has one of these moments when he learns of everything that Shuli put herself through to protect him and his siblings, despite their treatment of her.
- Nora's parents, mostly his father, have this in the original timeline as well. Nora's mother was nothing more than a conversation partner to the Empress, her sister-in-law, and Nora's father pushed him to be close with his cousin Crown Prince Theobald. Nora's parents continually coddled his cousin the Crown Prince and would reprimand Nora for the slightest of reasons, allowing their son to be used as the Crown Prince's whipping boy and putting the blame of any incident where the two acted together solely on their son. When Nora grows older, it is clear that he has completely cut them out of his life.
- Ohara has this on her wedding day in the original timeline. Jeremy orders the ceremony to be put on hold until Shuli is found and can attend, having found out that his wife-to-be ordered her not to come and lied about it being his wish. Once the news is out about Shuli's death, Ohara is horrified and guilt ridden that her word caused Shuli to get into the situation that led to her murder.
- Jeremy has this during his trial when he realizes his father's actual reason for marrying Shuli was to make sure that he and his siblings had a guardian that would not take advantage of him after his death.
- Elias and the twins have this when they find out that Shuli left before Jeremy's wedding in the old timeline. The day before, after Ohara left, Shuli asked them about if it would be better if she skipped the wedding, with the children acting like they usually do around her and goad her into not going, thinking that she would be staying at home. They are shocked to hear that Shuli had left at sunrise on the day of the wedding, and then it takes a tragic turn when the news about her murder reaches them. They are left sobbing in grief at the revelation not only of her horrific death, but the fact they have now lost their chance to reconcile with her, as that was the plan they had for when she attended. For all they knew, she died believing that they truly despised her.
- Noodle Incident: For an undisclosed reason, any and all mentions concerning the late Empress Ludovica outside her being a beautiful and kind ruler have been erased, such as the roses bred in her honor. It's to the point anyone that talks anything more about her are reassigned or dismissed.
- Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Another factor to the tragedy for Shuli. Her actions in the first timeline was heavily misunderstood due to how misguided they were despite the well-intentions and caused her to be painted as a Gold Digger, adulterer, and many other malicious names despite how most of her actions are done to protect the children of the house. Not helping is that the sudden marriage and the fact that she was initially from a very poor Viscount family, added onto it, only made her reputation worse. This also led to the strain in her relationship with her stepchildren at first. This results in a My God, What Have I Done? moment when they realize that all of Shuli's actions were to protect her stepchildren as per Johanes' orders to her.
- Pair the Spares: The novel's sidestories reveal that Jeremy is eventually engaged to one of Nora's cousins, Diana, sometime after Shuli and Nora got married.
- Parental Incest: An issue that crops up in the second season after the timeskip, where rumors (stemming from a play) have begun spreading about Jeremy and Shuri having this sort of relationship due to how close in age they are and how protective he is towards her. Even Elias considered it plausible until Jeremy clarified that he feels she lost everything to see them protected on behalf of their father, having lost her youth to care for them, and he should repay that with devotion.
- Parents as People: If your parent in this webcomic is not an Abusive Parent, then there's a good chance that they are this. A theme going on with the younger generation is that the parents' own personal hang-ups will affect how they raised their children and how the children grew up in life.
- In the first timeline, as much as Shuli tried to be the Good Stepmother to the Neuschwanstein kids, her inexperience and young age cause her to take far drastic measures that alienated the children from her for a good while.
- The Emperor had a hands-off approach with his son, the prince, out of grief and due to the fact that his wife, Ludovica died from childbirth. The Empress also ignores her own sickly son to focus on her stepson, although Heidi indicates it's more because of trying to be a perfect empress rather than not caring for her son at all.
- While a decent person in general, Duke Albrecht Von Nuremberg's own personal feelings regarding Ludovica, his first love, and her last wish of asking him to take care of her son after her passing, clouded his judgement and cause him to favor Theobald more than his own son. Nora understandably grew up resenting his parent for choosing another person's child over his own and feels that his father will never see him as anything but a trouble-making child. In the original timeline without Shuli's influence, he regrets his treatment of Nora too late to salvage the relationship.
- Heidi Von Nuremburg admits to Shuli how the stress and verbal abuse from her in-laws over her inability to conceive a second child on top of the above circumstances concerning Nora lead to her not being the parent she should have been to her only son, something she regrets knowing how much she ended up hurting him.
- The Penance: Cardinal Richlieu engages in whipping himself as penance for the future sins he intends to commit while cleaning up the Corrupt Church.
- Point of Divergence: Time Travel cause Shuli to take different steps that changed quite a lot of things:
- Shuli opted out from kicking the Neuschwanstein relatives out of the household and instead, brought Lucretia and Valentino to stay in the mansion to help the children. Lucretia and Valentino scheming to discredit Shuli led to the Neuschwanstein children finally seeing Shuli for who she is, and realize that their relatives have plans to take control of their father's inheritance. After Lucretia and Valentino were dealt with, Shuli's relationship with her stepchildren steadily improved.
- Deciding to go shopping in town for clothing and other needs leads to a chance encounter with her brother and Shuli and the children becoming acquainted with Nora Von Nuremberg far earlier where in the original timeline Shuli only met Nora once.
- Seeing Shuli defend Jeremy over an accusation from a noble family who insulted the late Johanes and Shuli, Heidi Von Nuremberg made a request for Shuli to talk to her son, Nora, the subsequent meetings bore fruit and with Shuli's encouragements, Heidi took steps to become a good mother for her son. This prevents her (and her husband's) relationship with Nora from falling apart as it did in the original timeline.
- Shuli gained the favor and respect of Empress Elizabeth during the trial where Shuli reveals that she never had intercourse with Johanes and how she was only brought into the household to safeguard the children, mostly Jeremy, until he is old enough to take over the house. The lengths Shuli had gone to save her stepson cause Elizabeth to change her initial perception of her and led to her ending the trial before it could devolve and ruin Shuli's reputation even further.
- After the trial caused by Cardinal Richlieu, who told Jeremy that Theobald is making unwanted advances to Shuli in a scheme to discredit the Neuschwanstein Marquiss family, the Neuschwanstein children become suspicious regarding Theobald's intentions for Shuli and instead grew a close rapport with Nora to where he often visits the Neuschwanstein manor in comparison to the original timeline where the stepchildren are implied to still be in good terms with the first prince and didn't interact with Nora at all.
- Poor Communication Kills: A factor to the tragedy that led to Shuli and the Neuschwanstein children's relationship being heavily strained. Shuli's tendency to do things alone and being distrustful to others, and refusing to explain most of her reasons for what she did ended up giving others a very horrible impression of her. This also applies to the Neuschwanstein children as even as they grew up and outgrew their childish dislike of Shuli, they were unable to articulate their feelings which only lead to Shuli continuing to think they hated her. This poor communication ended up having horrific consequences later on when Shuli decides to take Ohara for her word that her stepchildren do not want her to stay in the house any longer and leaves without even asking if this was the case and before anyone can stop her, which leads to her murder and the beginning of the end for the Neuschwanstein's family legacy in the original timeline.
- Rage Breaking Point: Jeremy in the original timeline hits this on his wedding day. He was already angry with Ohara lying to his stepmother about how she should not come to the wedding because that was his wish, but he all hell breaks loose when he hears about Shuli's death and is given the only piece of evidence they found of her, a piece of a necklace he gave Shuli for her birthday. He snaps and attempts to kill the self-professed killer on the steps of the church. Later on, rumors start to pop up that Shuli's death and discovering the actions she took to keep him and his family safe drove him mad with grief and fueled is need to fight on the front lines of a holy war orchestrated by the church.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Empress Elizabeth is revealed to be this. At first, she is an antagonist trying to arrange for a trial to take the Neuschwanstein estate away from Shuli. However, she does it to protect the Neuschwanstein children and estate (by putting it under the care of the imperial family) and she stops once Shuli shows she can take care of the family and earns her respect.
- Replacement Goldfish: Shuli is this for Empress Ludovica for multiple people - Johannes, Theobald and the Nurembergs. It's shown that it affects the way they treat her and it's not the healthiest relationship as they don't view her as herself but as a shadow of the former Empress. The fact that she resembles the late Empress does not help her case.
- In the webcomic, Shuli's flashback to the night Johannes died shows that during a confrontation about some jewelry that was gifted to Shuli by an anonymous sender. As Shuli tries to explain she doesn't even know who the sender is and that she was trying to find out who the sender was so she could return it. Before she can finish her sentence Johannes flies into a rage making comments that Shuli would not be taken from him again all while a brief but distorted image of his first love and childhood friend, Ludovica is shown. When Shuli starts crying, Johannes says that she is not allowed to be weak and locks Shuli in a dark room and refuses to let her out even when she begs him, all while he continuously commenting that she will not be taken from him again.
- Rich Sibling, Poor Sibling: Shuli and her older brother serve as the rich and poor sibling respectively, as Shuli being sold to Johannes effectively made her far richer than him. Trying to bridge this gap is part of the reason he became so bitter towards her.
- Ship Tease:
- Shuli has quite a lot of this with Nora Von Nuremberg with Nora. At the end of the Webnovel, they get together..
- In the new timeline, Elias and Ohara had a few moments where they bond and get to know each other. Ohara's new and differently formed relationship with Elias is what caused Ohara to finally go against her father's orders in order and warn Elias about Cardinal Richlieu to save Shuli near the finale.
- In the timeskip, Rachel meets Prince Ali Pasha from the Savavid kingdom when brought to the Imperial palace and has a Meet Cute with him. At the end of the novel, Rachel becomes the Crown princess of Savavid and is engaged to him.
- Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: The cause of Cardinal Richlieu's animosity towards Shuli. He has a Villianous Crush on her and blames her for distracting him away from his sacred calling of serving God.
- Sleepwalking: Shuli suffers from a chronic case of this in the 2nd Season, though she's unaware of it. Jeremy and the others keep it a secret.
- Spotting the Thread: Elias and the twins in the old timeline. When they ask a maid about where Shuli was because they wanted to surprise her, they get told that she had already left for the villa and would not be attending the wedding since it was Jeremy's wish. They immediately know that something is off because it is not Jeremy's personality to have someone deliver messages for him, so they conclude that Ohara was lying to Shuli. This is confirmed by Jeremy when he goes to see Ohara before the wedding, where she all but insults Shuli to Jeremy and says that she would not have her wedding spoiled by someone with such as tarnished reputation.
- Taught by Experience: Thanks to Time Travel and learning of the mistakes that costs her of the relationship with her stepchildren, Shuli wise up and took a different approach that would hopefully bring better results to her own reputation (And in extension, the Neuschwanstein family's reputation) and a better relationship with her stepchildren.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Shuli's death in the original timeline was bloody and brutal in the Webnovel. It took months to find her remains and the only thing left most in tact to identify her was her mostly severed head, but even that was caved in from blunt force.
- Time Skip: A 3 year time-skip occured after Jeremy's trial for attacking Prince Theodore. After that, a 4 year time-skip occurred after the civil war against the church.
- Time Travel: Shuli, the protagonist and titular stepmother, traveled back to 7 years. At the day of her Husband's funeral.
- Tragic Keepsake: In the webcomic version of the original timeline, Jeremy has this in the form of a pendant from a necklace he gave to Shuli, the only birthday gift he ever gave her. It was one of the few things found at the scene of her murder, cracked and covered in her blood.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Jeremy in the original timeline. It was his words to Ohara about allowing Shuli to stay part of the family even after he becomes the Neuschwanstein family's head causes Ohara to lie to Shuli about Jeremy not wanting her at the wedding. This leads to Shuli leaving for the villa earlier than planned and thus to her doom.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Lucas wasn't always the cunning bastard he was. In the past he was actually close to Shuli when they were both together, though he always had grand ambitions. Regardless of how he turned out, Shuli still remembers that. Hence why she makes sure to orchestrate the plan to have Messner arrested before the Church can cover it up, even if she knew it would put Richlieu in a higher position to harass them later.
- Values Dissonance: In-Universe example and discussed at some points. Most nobles don't see anything wrong with Johannes marrying a much younger Shuli as it's common practice for nobles to remarry to secure a new heir at the medieval era, her age is also not commented upon as being anything scandalous, as sometimes in those times women got married or engaged not too long after they started menstruating. The most complaints that the nobles have is that Shuli is too young and inexperienced, and some are quite suspicious of her status as an Identical Stranger to the former empress, and come to the conclusion that she seduced Johanes with her appearance. To the children, such as Jeremy and Nora, who grew up believing chivalrous ideals, once they learn how much she went hell and back for the kids, were upset and horrified at how much Shuli sacrificed and wasted away her youth to be the head of the family after Johanes's passing, duty-bound to his last wish to safeguard the children.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: In the Webtoon, Cardinal Richlieu seeks to root out the corruption in the church but needs to gain the power and prestige to do so, thus leading to his scheming and his willingness to manipulate/kill others to accomplish it.
- Widow Mistreatment: Shuli suffered this in the original timeline before the time travel. Although she promised to take care of Johanes's children, her lack of experience forces her to take desperate and impulsive actions that leaves her seen as a Gold Digger and a Cheater that ultimately leads to her death. Thankfully, this gets averted in the new timeline via the time travel giving Shuli an advantage.
- Wife Husbandry: Played with concerning Johanes and Shuli. Johanes, expecting to die before his children come of age, takes in Shuli and instead grooms her essentially act as regent for Jeremy. He has her promise to look after his family until Jeremy comes of age and inherits. Whether he intended for Jeremy to fall in love with Shuli after his death or made Shuli promise to look after his family until Jeremy found a suitable partner is unknown. However, it is later revealed that Johanes does at least see Shuli as a Replacement Goldfish of Ludovica at a point due to her resemblance to the former First empress.
- Wrecked Weapon: The awaited duel between Jeremy and Nora ends with both of their swords breaking after a long and drawn out fight. Jeremy still won since he managed to hold onto his blade.
- Young and in Charge: To protect his children, Johanes brought Shuli into the family to be registered as his lawful wife and taught her everything in order to prepare her for taking charge and protect the children once he pass away from illness. Unfortunately, in the first timeline, this trope is heavily Deconstructed with a dose of realistic consequences as Shuli's young age and inexperience in general led to her taking actions that cost her reputation in the noble's society and indirectly affect the reputation of the Neuschwanstein family.
