Title: From A Knight To A Lady

Author/Story: Sung Hyerim

Artist: Coyo

Rating: Teen (for violence)

Genre: Romance, Reincarnation, Fantasy, Drama, Time Travel

Hosted On: Webtoon

Official Link(s): English, Korean

Official Summary:

Estelle meets her untimely death as a valiant knight of the Kingdom of Ersha. But death is not the end for Estelle — three years after her demise, she finds herself reincarnated in the body of Lucifela Aydin, the spoiled and cold-hearted daughter of a count in the Empire of Jansgar. To her dismay, she finds that her country fell to Jansgar years ago, and that she is now betrothed to Zedekiah Heint, the son of a duke and her adversary in her previous life. Can Estelle discover the truth behind her death while attempting to navigate her new life as Lucifela?

My Thoughts:

I love a good reincarnation romance, and “From A Knight To A Lady” absolutely delivers. After Estelle is betrayed and murdered by her second in command, Khalid, she’s expecting a miserable afterlife. Instead of eternal metaphysical torments, she awakens in the body of Lady Lucifela Aydin, a young woman who happens to be a noble of the country that Estelle, in her original body, had been at war with for years. Lady Aydin is nothing like Estelle on the surface— where Estelle was a renowned warrior that decimated her opponents, Lady Aydin is a flower so fragile that she attempts to kill herself apparently on order from the country’s crown prince.

When I started reading this series, I wasn’t actually sure what to expect? The art was so airy and light that I really did judge the webtoon by its cover and art style. However, I absolutely was left blown away by the depth of this series. Lucifela is struggling on multiple fronts. The world she remembers is no longer around. Her country is subjugated to an imposing empire. Her loved ones – the knights that fought alongside her, barring Khalid – are all on the run. She’s forced to behave “like a lady” in a body so weak that initially, she cannot even hold a sword or exert herself without ending up extremely sick.

”From A Knight To A Lady” is honestly kind of… commentary on systemic misogyny on a scale similar to what’s present in Lady Evony? It’s all about what women have to do in order to survive. Across the series, Estelle-Lucifela has to realign her understanding of womanhood and arm herself with new weapons and allies in order to succeed at her biggest goal thus far: revenge on the one that killed her.

I really love this series. I marathoned it yesterday after I was done with my Day Job – which yes, means that I didn’t do any other work yesterday – and that’s because it was such a captivating story that showed new ways to survive. I enjoy watching Estelle-Luficela rethink what it means to be a strong woman. Like she actively tries to unlearn her own internalized misogyny and empathize with women she would’ve loathed in her past life.

The romance in this series also develops very well. Estelle-Lucifela is engaged to Zedekiah Heint, who Estelle once saw as a worthy opponent in her past life. While she hates him and what he represents as a Jansgar noble and part of the army, she comes to need him in her life and in her side. But she isn’t a damsel in distress. She’s just a damsel… that happens to be in the occasional bout of distress. She saves herself just as often as he saves her. Their relationship is absolutely lovely and he falls for her first, a thing that I always love in these stories.

The biggest problem with their relationship?

Khalid, Estelle’s killer and the current crown prince’s right hand man. That man just won’t go away and it is infuriating. Every single scene he’s in sets me off. I hate him. He is a misogynistic incel who got mad that he couldn’t have Estelle and killed her as a result and has now turned his interest to Lucifela because she (obviously) reminds him of her. I want to transmigrate into this series and [REDACTED] his neck. I’m so mad.

I just hope Lucifela or Zed kill his ass because I am so tired of that terrible ass man getting in the way of a good ship. Gosh darn it!

Anyway, the first season is available in full at Webtoon and Tappytoon so if you want to spend several hours Going Through It ™ the way I did… get on top of that, bestie!