K-Novel | The Tyrant’s Etiquette Tutor — It’s a cute, sweet, funny, and enjoyable read~

Hihi BAYOG Fam~ It’s been a while haha~ I hope you all have been doing well~ Today, I wanted to share a long-awaited K-novel post!~ It’s on 폭군에게 예의를 가르칩니다, which had been unofficially well-known as “Teaching the Tyrant Manners”. However, I wanted to share that it’s now officially available for you to purchase and legally read in English~ It’s been officially translated and published into English as The Tyrant’s Etiquette Tutor by Editio Publishing! WOOHOO~

The Tyrant’s Etiquette Tutor
폭군에게 예의를 가르칩니다

[Content/Trigger Warnings: No major warnings? — I can’t really think of any at the moment ]
Genre/Theme: Romance, Fantasy, Comedy, Drama, Josei, Historical, Isekai/Isegye, Misunderstanding-Trope, Gentle lady VS a seemingly barbaric Male Lead trope (IDK WTF to call this)
Spicy Level: ? — I see nothing spicy at the moment
Rage/Frustration Level: Meh? — Eh, actually wasn’t really anything to make me feel any major rage/frustration.
Webtoon Status: [One-shot prologue promo]; No serialization yet
Official English Version (Ebook): [Amazon Kindle] [Apple iBook] [Kobo] [Barnes & Noble]
Official English Version (Print): Coming Soon…?
Official English Version (Webnovel): [Editio Publishing’s Store & Reader Platform]

Synopsis:
It’s a tale as old as time: Livia is known as an elegant, cold daughter of Duke Blanche who upholds the etiquette of the noblesse above all else. Croft is a lonely Emperor shrouded in dark rumors in dire need of a proper court education. It seems the perfect match—except Livia, possessed by the spirit of a fiery reader who dropped the novel before reaching the end, is determined to change her fate as an Empress destined to die a violent death.
Royal intrigue, assassination plots and political turmoil are the least of Livia’s worries, of course. When she enters a magical marriage contract with Croft to rehabilitate his image, each swearing to divorce when they fall in love with someone else, forces beyond their control pull Livia and Croft toward a conspiracy that could upend their lives forever.

[Editio Publishing]

Am I the only one who didn't know that the 폭군에게 예의를 가르칩니다 novel was officially released in English already as [The Tyrant's Etiquette Tutor]?!
Imma have to check out what else @editiopublish has~ 👀 pic.twitter.com/0sIR73EhjG

— มิ้นท์ 🧋 Minty⁷ | BAYOG (Semi-Hiatus) (@piecesofminty) October 3, 2022

I think this is a series that alot of K-novel fans are familiar with or have at least heard the name of. It dropped in like 2021 if I remember correctly. Anyway, I remember during that first year of the pandemic, I did come across the one-shot promo. I thought it was super interesting, and yeah….I put it on my To-Read List. Never got around to it. Fast-forward to now. Back in the beginning of October, I was scrolling down Twitter and I saw the novel cover. But I stopped immediately because I noticed that it had English text on it and the title said The Tyrant’s Etiquette Tutor. I was like, “Wait…Wuht…???” Thus I went into a rabbit hole to find out that it had officially been licensed, translated, and published into English. This is also literally how I found out about [Editio Publishing]. So of course, I immediately bought volume 1 of the ebook on Amazon Kindle. I absolutely loved it and finished it within 2-2 1/2 weeks. I probably could’ve finished it in just a few days as it’s a pretty easy and chill read. However, I got busy in October cuz of my online classes, traveling, and honestly…I was not totally doing okay… Anyway, I had originally planned to do this post sooner as well (like immediately when I finished it). However, again…I was really struggling. Also, I got slammed with focusing on my group project for the past 2-2 1/2 weeks. Anyway, I’m here now~ Although I will admit, some details may be kind of fuzzy to me right now… Cuz again, I finished it a month ago. Also, I was just hella focused on coding for the past 2-2 1/2 weeks. Still, I’m going to do my best to recap what I do remember! (･ω<)☆

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Before we really get into it, let me remind you that the official English title is The Tyrant’s Etiquette Tutor. However, I also know that alot of people are more familiar with the unofficial/fan-translation/literal title “Teaching the Tyrant Manners”. I’m not gonna have the whole judge, preach, and debate thing on fan translations and whatnot. I too have read fan translations before. It was a way for me to find out about different series and things, and I honestly was ignorant to the whole debate and whatnot. I will just say that I’m more aware and try to do better now. Again, I’m not gonna berate and judge people. I just want to throw a gentle reminder to help show love and support by purchasing the legal versions when you can. Hence my own shift in trying to support and promote the legal versions when I can and when they’re available. That’s why I’m also listing the unofficial title, just in case it helps people stumble onto the official/legal version. Just wanted to throw this out before people yell at me for including the unofficial title… Anyway, let’s get into the novel for real now~

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So my thoughts on this series… I absolutely LOVED it. It’s legit one of my favorite current reads on my novel list~ For me, it just perfectly fit what I want and like in a romance-fantasy series. I say this all the time, but I can’t with head-empty type of female leads. I’m not a big fan of incredibly dense, helpless, head-empty damsels in distress who lack common sense and have to constantly rely on others. Often times they only put in minimal or no effort, while always relying on the male leads. It’s not that I want an OP female lead who is perfect. No character should be perfect as I want to see their growth and development. However, I do want a female lead who can actually think for herself, takes action, isn’t a pushover, and isn’t constantly relying on others. She might not be perfect, but she puts in the effort and truly does her best. I love that the female lead here is actually pretty rational and realistic. She doesn’t insist on everyone and everything just being fictional. She realizes the male lead is a real person who bleeds and feels, and he’s not just some fictional character. I love that she quickly sees that he’s not like how he was portrayed in the novel, and she accepts what’s in front of her as the actual reality. She’s not like an OP genius, but I find her to be smart and clever enough.

As for male leads, y’all know I absolutely hate toxic red-flag male leads. Again, I’m not expecting a perfect male lead. I understand there’s drama, flaws, and all that jazz. But I want a male lead who can actually recognize their wrongs and put in the effort to improve. I can’t stand male leads who continue questionable and highly toxic behaviors til nearly the end of the series (or just not change at all). Those a big no-nos for me. I love the male lead here. He’s not perfect. He’s brusque and can be rude at times, but he’s not a total douchebag. He’s a bit of a tsundere at first. However, he does admit when he’s wrong and tries. You can also tell he’s not a bad guy, he just needs some guidance to understand things. You can also tell he really cares for the female. That’s always a must. And that’s our favorite part of a tsundere. It’s how, despite his rough image, he does end up truly cherishing her and is very gentle with her (compared to how he treats others). We love a seemingly rough and brusque male lead that shows that he’s actually pretty squishy hehe~ Their bantering and chemistry is also super funny and cute. There are also some politics in play, but it’s not deep or super heavy into it. It’s just simple and basic enough for a grasp of the situation and world-building. So it might not be it for those who are looking for politically heavy and complex-centered plots. But it is perfect for me cuz I just want enough for drama! Complex politics gives me headaches and confuses me…

This series also heavily relies on the misunderstanding tropes. I’m usually not a big fan of those since the misunderstandings often seem incredibly stupid and frustrating. However, I do like it in this case. Like the female lead is seen as this gentle, frail, and elegant lady who invokes people’s protective instincts. Meanwhile, you have the male lead who is seen is rough, brusque, and called a crazy, scary, and murderous barbarian. People keep thinking that he’s picking on her or causing her to have injuries. When in truth, she’s constantly trying to pull his hair or even punch, kick, or slap him. She does, but cuz she’s frail, she barely deals any damage. Rather, she ends up getting injured because he’s basically made of steel compared to her frail body. Overall though, I just loved that it was a light-hearted read full of comedy and sweet moments. Like with everything, the male lead finds the female lead really cute, constantly teases her, and of course, ends up liking her. So it’s sweet enough without feeling overly childish and saccharine for me. I like series that aren’t overly dark. When I read romance-fantasy, I love funny, sweet, and fluffy content. And that’s what I got~ It perfectly fit the kind of levels I liked for everything, and I didn’t find anything overly frustrating or annoying.

That’s the general gist of it. However, y’all know me. I like ranting into detail~ So I gotchu if you want some more details on my thoughts and opinions~

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Warning: Some spoilers ahead

Let’s first talk about Livia, the female lead. If I remember correctly, she’s more of a transmigrator/possessor than a reincarnator. Some of you might be like, “What’s the difference?” Have no fear, I gotchu! A transmigrator or possessor basically finds that they’ve taken over a body or life in a new world. Although a transmigrator can also refer to someone who has just been transported as is to another world too. Whereas a reincarnator was reborn in that world. It’s their own new life that they’ve been living, but they just happened to recover memories of their past life. That’s the general gist of these tropes. Anyway… she awoke and found herself possessing Livia, the daughter of Duke Blanche. Fortunately, though, it seems like she’s able to kind of assimilate due to the body’s muscle memory and habits. This includes the elegant etiquette that had been instilled in Livia’s body her whole life. Livia is basically an absolute beauty and is known for her perfect elegance and etiquette. Thus, she’s known as the empire’s perfect lady. But the funny thing is, she also remembers her boxing skills from her former life too. So although she’s seen as a dainty, frail, and elegant lady, she is kind of feisty and will basically kick and punch the male lead. Although Livia’s body is still actually weak and prone to injury. Thus, everyone misunderstands and thinks that Croft injured Livia… even though he’s actually the victim of her violence lol.

Anyway, her job is to be the tyrant’s etiquette tutor (Hello, title!). Because Croft is from the east and they’ve got this negative image of being barbaric. He basically needs to learn etiquette to show he’s a legit emperor and prove all these people they’re wrong. Also, he needs to learn etiquette for diplomacy and not give anyone a reason to criticize him. Thus, Livia’s dad basically offered her to be in charge of teaching Croft etiquette (also in part of his plan in making his daughter the empress). The thing is, Livia knows that her original fate is to basically die. So at first, she tries to annoy Croft so he’d get a new tutor instead. They don’t start off on the right foot at all. Especially cuz Croft comes off as very brusque and rude. Croft also just lacks etiquette and the sense of how to treat others, particularly ladies. He ends up kind of liking to tease and piss off Livia though. She finds her kind of funny and entertaining, and eventually grows fond of her (Yes, that trope). Meanwhile, Livia is starting to see that Croft isn’t that bad. And he does try to properly learn a bit. But only with her~ Livia realizes that Croft isn’t as terrible as how he was portrayed in the novel. So she ends up deciding to earnestly teach him and help him. Also, I just want to note that I love that she isn’t a complete pushover and she isn’t afraid to get feisty~

The thing I like about Livia is that she’s quick to admit that Croft isn’t like how he was portrayed in the novel. We’ve read alot of series where female leads keep denying the reality in front of them. They often think that a character MUST be exactly like the original novel, despite there being alot of changes from the original and that the character is nothing like the original. I also love how she quickly acknowledges that Croft is a person, “…a being of flesh and blood, who breathed and bled.” She sees that he’s not just some fictional character, but an actual person living with her. Thus, she immediately doesn’t like how he’s being treated. Again, I really like this simple difference compared to alot of other series. Oftentimes, we get series where the female leads just continue to see the other characters as fictional characters until like halfway into the series. It kind of frustrates me how they just keep denying that reality and even act like it’s okay for mistreatment or certain situations to happen just so that it “follows the original”. Even when it’s clearly way off from the original. So again, I love that Livia quickly sees the differences from what was in the novel and what’s in front of her. I just love that she accepts and knows what’s in front of her to be the reality. I just love how she isn’t a frustrating head-empty kind of female lead. She’s actually pretty rational and realistic in her thinking and behavior. For me, I find her to be so much more relatable and likable because of that.

As for Croft, he’s the typical seemingly brusque, rude, and handsome brute kind of male lead. Ya’know dude who was seen as a crazy maniac and bloody murderer. He’s honestly not as bad as how he was portrayed in the original novel. He just lacks…sense when it comes to etiquette. Can’t blame him. The dude grew up with a tough life trying to survive. I’m definitely a sucker for these kinds of rough and scary male leads who are just hella soft with the person that they love. Like even though he’s not as crazy as he was portrayed in the original novel, Croft is still a talented warrior who did in fact kill alot of people. Again, the dude didn’t hesitate to do what he had to in order to survive. Yet, he lets Livia kick, slap, and punch him. He even lets her pull his hair. He was kind of baffled at first, but just ended up finding it kind of adorable. Yes, he those be some of the first things about her that he found charming LMAO. And while he seems to be an “uncultured” person, he’s sweet and caring in his own way. There’s a part where Livia ends up spraining (breaking??) her foot after trying to kick him in the shin. Normally, it would take someone a few days or a week to heal. For Livia, it was basically like a month. So Croft decided he’d carry her everywhere haha. She was like, “WTF?? NUUUUU IT’S EMBARRASSING!” At first it was kind of out of a sense of responsibility, but the dude grew to enjoy holding her~ Meanwhile, he was amused, and it helped him grow fond of her~ He’s kinda squishy for her, and I love it. Like he basically allowed himself to get hurt, even though he could’ve easily dodged it. He likes to act weak in front of Livia, needing her touch and care, because he likes her giving him attention and being near him. Of course, we also got little fits of jealousy too. I get it, they’re typical male-lead stuff that we usually see. But I just still find it super cute. I also just like that he’s not like a psycho yandere that screams red flags like alot of other male leads. For me, Croft is a pretty green-flag kind of male lead. I don’t find him obnoxious or annoying either. So yeah, definitely like him so far.

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The actual story aside, I’m loving the amazingly professional quality that Editio has put out in this English publication of the series. My only thing though is that I believe there’s a typo with the wrong character name in the conversation on one of the last pages. It was the line, “I’ll keep quiet about today, but please don’t disappoint him, Lady Livia.” Even though it was a conversation between Miranda and Lilian, and I’m pretty sure Miranda meant “Lady Lilian”. Other than that, I think they did an amazing job. The translation, editing, and everything seemed perfect to me~ I also love how well they did the title on the cover! Like, I’m genuinely impressed! I don’t know if this will make sense, but I’ve noticed that there are some series from other publishers where the title looks really awkward on the cover. It could be the font, the style, or the color doesn’t really mesh with the image of the cover. So they end up looking kind of off to me. Sometimes they look so jarring that they kind of look like unofficial covers to me. I’ve noticed it with alot of the localized K-novels… But I think Editio did such a great job! I really do feel it blended really well with the cover, and is really similar to how it appears on the original Korean cover. Even with the different colors, it still has the same vibes and I love that.

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Anyway, to sum it up again, I absolutely loved this novel. It’s my one of my favorites on my reading-list right now. I’m super excited for volume 2 to be released, which I was told is in the works and coming soon!~ Be sure to follow [Editio on Twitter] or check out their [website] to stay updated on the release!~ It’s a fun and light read that I just found enjoyable. Sometimes I just want to cute and silly romance that isn’t too complicated or frustrating. This series was exactly that for me~ Yes, we have the typical romance-fantasy tropes and character types. Yet, at the same time, they still feel a bit different and are likable. Again, I also just love that we don’t have problematic and frustrating main characters. For me, an appeal was that the characters do feel a bit more “realistic” in the sense that they’re more a bit more rational and not too crazy. Although I can admit that the characters and story may feel a bit lacking or shallow for people who are looking for something more complex and drama filled. Still, I did really enjoy this series. It was a relaxing read that gave me alot of laughs and heart-fluttering moments~ You can bet that I’ll be one of the first people to pre-order volume 2 when it’s out~ Have you read The Tyrant’s Etiquette Tutor? What did you think? Let me know in the comments, Discord, or any of my socials!~ Until next time! Take care and stay safe friends!~

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