Lots of Korean web comics and web fiction are successfully making the jump from the Internet to traditional media nowadays. One of these is The Remarried Empress. Read on for the review of Volume 6 of the manhwa. (For other reviews of this series, click here.)
Back Cover Blurb
Navier and Heinrey have agreed to marry! Heinrey is over the moon, despite the political nature of their initial arrangement, but Navier is still reeling from Sovieshu’s decision to separate. She must scramble to recover, though, knowing full well that the emperor will do everything in his power to prevent their union. And so, when the day of the formal trial arrives, Navier brandishes her and Heinrey’s trump card―“I accept this divorce… and request an approval for my remarriage!”
The Review
The Emperor plows ahead with his scheme to replace Navier with Rashta as a legitimate empress. Unbeknownst to him, Heinrey forges ahead with his own plans to secure the safety of Navier’s brother (and put himself into her family’s good graces). Thus, the narrative hurtles toward the divorce proceedings we glimpsed in Volume 1.
However, before that extremely public trial, the High Priest responsible for the proceedings speaks privately to the Emperor. Like most observers, the priest is baffled by the Emperor’s determination to cast his wife aside and tries to talk him out of it. That’s when we finally learn Sovieshu’s motivation for cooking up such a convoluted plan to divorce and reinstate Navier.
Previously, the Emperor seemed an incredibly selfish and controlling person. Once he reveals what happened to him and Navier as children, he seems like an incredible idiot, and a deceitful one at that. He tells his secret in a bid for sympathy, but he didn’t get mine. After all, he could have handled the situation so many other ways (like telling Navier the truth so she could actually cooperate with a solution). The fact that he is hiding the truth and securing an heir with someone who’s so unqualified and disrespectful toward his wife paints him as both unwise and despicable.
At any rate, by the time the divorce proceedings begin, you’ll be thoroughly fed up with the Emperor. Heinrey’s surprise appearance at the trial is a much bigger deal than one might realize in Volume 1, and it is extremely satisfying when the High Priest sides with Navier and marries her to Heinrey.
Sovieshu has mostly treated Navier in public with cold indifference, so it’s out of character when he gets wildly emotional in the courtroom, spouting outbursts of how Navier is his wife and he won’t let another man take her. His behavior is more fitting for a thoughtless child than the head of an empire, and the fact that he can’t control himself diminishes him further as a ruler in my eyes. Unfortunately, because he is the highest ranked person in the country, he can and does continue to interfere with Navier and Heinrey’s union, although even he has to recognize his actions put him on dicey political grounds.
In contrast to Sovieshu is Heinrey, who’s going above and beyond to make Navier feel loved and put her worries at ease. And then there are Navier’s allies, who rally to help and celebrate with her as she leaves her marriage on her terms. Volume 6 does not mark the end of the series, but the former empress has certainly triumphed over her now ex-husband as she gets a new partner and lease on life.
In Summary
Prior to the divorce proceedings, the Emperor confides to the High Priest his true reason for divorcing Navier. But instead of earning sympathy, he comes off looking like a fool. He looks an even bigger fool, though, when Heinrey and Navier foil his plans to control Navier after their marriage is dissolved. The obstacles and troubles Navier’s faced have been numerous, so when she and Heinrey come out on top, you can’t help but wish them well.
First published at the Fandom Post.