The Real Daughter is Back - By Rina (8/10)
Twenty chapters of this have been translated so far, and the yandere is about to bloom...er...maybe explode is a better word. This revenge fantasy subverts some very tired and boring tropes. I'm not going to claim that it's incredibly unique, but it's fun. For now the yandere moments are dialogue/internal thoughts only.
Helga Yttri is a child prodigy. Her useless father and her mother both hate her. Her father is always absent and her mother's hatred is irrational. She's the daughter of a ducal house, but her biological mother is a maid. That's why both of her parents treat her like an object. The Duke and Duchess of Yttri are abusive, but they have high expectations for their fake daughter.
She's a tool for them to use.
She would be in the streets without them, so she has to work hard.
Helga is a pretty darn good main character. She's not saint but she's never cruel for no reason. Her genius is the glue that is holding the Yttri family together. Also, she has magic but she doesn't use it. Her mother believes that her only biological child is still alive. The Duchess will never accept Helga, because she truly believes that the real thing will return someday.
Why can't the Duchess just sleep with the Duke and have another child?
Well...the Duchess hates him too much to let him touch her.
Duke Yttri ruined his wife. She was a powerful lady Knight before she met him. Now she's an unloved, overworked housewife who can't keep up anymore. She's a bitter, mean, middle aged woman. She pushes work onto her underage daughter, because she no longer cares about anything but her reputation. She goes to parties. She kisses ass. She pretends to be the perfect mom who taught her daughter to be just as perfect as her.
She's a hollow shell of her former self.
The Duchess is a great villain because Helga loves her. I know it's fucked up but children do love their abusers sometimes. The Duchess did mold her into the perfect young lady. Helga is hailed as a genius and a beauty. She would not have become so perfect of she didn't work herself half to death for her mother's love.
So, this is the situation.
Helga has two deadbeat parents.
Her brain power is the only thing keeping the duchy from falling.
Technically, she has all the power and she can leave.
She doesn't because she hopes Mother will acknowledge her one day.
It will happen, after mother finally accepts the fact that her real daughter died.
Right?
Wrong.
Hyillan returns. The Duchess is overjoyed...and she tries to give EVERYTHING to Hyillan. The Duchess says the two girls are going to switch names. What?? This gets weird, and it really makes the Duchess look unstable. Hyillan looks exactly like Helga, but she was raised by a maid. She knows NOTHING about court life or finance. Literally all she has is her pure noble blood.
Also.
You're not gonna believe this.
Hyillan is a very nice girl.
She is not suited for politics, finance or even public speaking. She likes gardening and horseback riding.
Hyillan is the worst possible candidate for a Duchess position. The current Duchess tries to dump everything on her anyway.
It's a complete disaster.
Hyillan doesn't even know how to walk in high heels. Compared to Helga, who worked day and night, she's inferior. So inferior that it's embarrassing.
Even the Duchess knows her daughter isn't capable deep, deep down.
Helga is pissed. Hyillan didn't intend to steal all of her accomplishments, but it's happening. The Duchess simply doesn't give a shit about all the work Helga did. The Duchess intends to even strip her first name away. Helga plans her revenge. It will be brutal. The Duchess is in denial. When Helga leaves their treasury will dry up, because Helga literally does all of the business in the house.
Her plan is actually quite simple.
Helga has a fiance named Rohan. He's a prince who spent four years on the battlefield. He's known for his viciousness with a blade. He really loves Helga, even though they haven't seen each other for four years. He is a member of the Imperial family, and they want a Yttri bride. They want a well bred crown princess for their warrior prince. The Duchess was more than happy to sell Helga to the violent man, but now Hyillan is back. The Duchess tells her two daughters to lie. Helga will take the name Hyillan, and marry the evil prince. Hyillan will take the name Helga, and run the Duchy. The two daughters look like twins, so the Duchess thinks the plan will go well.
She's an absolute fool.
Rohan knows pretty much everything about Helga. Her nervous habits, her favorite color, her eating habits, her sleeping habits, the abuse she experienced, the emotions she tried to hide...the list is fucking endless. Rohan is practically a mind reader when it comes to Helga.
He figures out what the Duchess is doing, and he doesn't care.
As long as he gets to have Helga it doesn't matter. If he has to call her Hyillan so be it. If he has to act cordial with the stupid Yttri family so be it. He'll do whatever Helga says. He tells her to use him. He gifts her a lovely wedding gown and gifts perfectly tailored for her. He'll tolerate the abusive assholes if she tells him too....but...
Helga plans to flee after the wedding.
Her revenge is pretty fucked up actually. She knows Hyillan is not smart enough to hold a high title. Crown princess is a pretty fucking high title. The imperial family wants a Yttri. They'll get one. After Helga flees Hyillan will have to marry Rohan. That will cause an earthquake of disasters for the Duchy. Helga intends to ruin her abusive mother completely. She is going to take her beloved daughter away from her, and disappear.
Leaving the Duchess with nothing.
Put simply:
Helga will be gone, so no one will be making money for the Duchy.
Hyillan will have to live in the Imperial palace, far away from the Duchy.
Far away from the mother that obsessively longed for her for decades.
Wow.
That's a pretty villainous revenge, but it's not going to work.
Or...will it???
The prince is crazy for her. The Duchy does need her back, but she has magic. Magic is incredibly rare in this setting. It's her trump card. She uses it to teleport away from her wedding. I'm absolutely certain that she's serious about never helping the Yttri family ever again. Hyillan will probably have to live as a maid (or maybe a very minor noble)
Helga's parents are definitely doomed.
Rohan is enraged, because he wanted to save her. He wanted to whisk Helga away from her awful family and spoil her. This isn't that kind of story though. That kind of sweet revenge isn't enough.
Helga will not be satisfied until the mother that refused to love her back is crushed.
She's a genuine villain. She's knows Rohan loves her. She knows Hyillan is sweet and innocent. She knows her country needs her, but she leaves anyway.
It's kind of great.
I hope Rohan snaps and finds her with his army. His unhinged ranting is very promising.
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[Theory & Concept Analysis] Revenge on the Real One: The Heir and The Spare
Source: https://tapas.io/series/revenge-on-the-real-one/info
By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting
The concept of the “heir and the spare” traditionally refers to the practice of having two potential successors in a royal or aristocratic family, usually brothers. The “heir” is the eldest and the one who is expected to inherit the title, lands, and other assets of the family. The “spare” is the second born and is seen as a “backup child” in case something happens to the heir, such as their death or inability to fulfill their duties due to injury or illness.
This did not mean that the spare was meant to be a literal replacement, although I have seen some literary depictions that perpetuate that idea. Rather, the “spare” was more like a secondary heir who received similar education and training, often expected to be an aid to their older sibling and take on various tasks should the official heir inherit the position as planned. Of course, as time went on, the meaning of these roles changed, and the higher up the nobility or royal rank, the more likely the secondary heir was to become a rival instead of an aid–sometimes leading to callous deaths at the hands of one’s own family.
The tradition of having an heir and a spare dates back to medieval times when the risks of childbirth and early death were much higher. It was believed that having two potential heirs would ensure the continuity of the family’s lineage and wealth. The concept was particularly important for royal families who were expected to produce a male heir to ensure the stability of the monarchy. Today, the concept of the heir and the spare is still used in some royal families, such as the British monarchy. However, the practice has become less common in modern times as the risks associated with childbirth have decreased, and families no longer need to rely on multiple heirs to secure their lineage and wealth. I have seen this concept played out in a number of different anime, manga, and various other forms of the sequential art media, but one example that I’d like to point today is the series Revenge on The Real One, which currently available on Tapas.
Source: Revenge on The Real One, Chapter 2
Now, it’s not very clear whether Helga and Hillianne are twins or actually switched at birth. The “they are twins” trope is a more common approach when siblings look as alike as these two daughters do, but given that both mothers claim to have had a single child, I’m going to guess that the two daughters are not twins despite looking extremely alike.
In appearance, Helga and Hillianne are practically identical, with a few minor differences in appearance. Helga has sharper eyes, and Hillianne has slightly straighter hair. They have the same blonde hair and red eyes as their father, with similar heights and builds. Personality-wise, though, the two could not be more different, with Hillianne being open and bright while Helga comes off as cold and standoffish.
Hillianne, raised as a commoner, is not as adept at the high-society social skills that Helga has gained over the years. Hillianne is also not nearly as innately talented in education-related areas, unlike Helga, who has a firm grasp on politics, business, and the arts with her superior intellectual prowess for such materials. To put it bluntly, Hillianne is more bronze than brains, while Helga is more brains than bronze.
Their personalities are definitely a result of nurture (how they were raised), but their differing aptitudes seem to be more so related to their natures (who they come from)–at least, that is what the Duchess believes.
Helga has magical capabilities that Hillianne doesn’t seem to possess, while Hillianne seems to possess a better aptitude for swordplay. This supposedly ties into their lineage, with Duke Yutrit and his family being one of the few lines that still produce magical offspring, explaining Helga’s aptitude for magic. Meanwhile, Duchess Yutrit, the supposed stepmother of Helga, is revealed to have strong sword skills, which would explain Hillianne’s aptitude for swordplay. If the maid truly switched the two children, then their differences in appearance and aptitudes can be explained by their lineage. As daughters of the Duke, both Helga and Hillianne would have had a chance of inheriting magic. However, swordplay would have been a inherent skill unique to the daughter of the Duchess–or so the Duchess and Helga might believe.
In reality though, while physical traits and innate talent can give some individuals an advantage in activities like swordplay, it is still a skill that can be earned through practice and training. As such, who is to say that Helga would not be capable with a sword if given better circumstances wherein the Duchess was not abusing her or that Hillianne would not be capable of magic if taught how to use it?
Source: Revenge on The Real One, Chapter 2
Despite Helga’s personal accomplishments and progress, she has not been given the same opportunities or assurances as Hillianne upon her return to the Yugrit house. By this, I mean that Helga has been relegated to the role of a spare who is “acting heir” until the real heir is returned.
In this world, women can inherit their father’s title. So, as the “sole” daughter, Helga would have been an heir to the duchy had Hillianne not returned. As the heir apparent, why was Helga, therefore, engaged to a prince?
From this question stems my theory that the Duke faked the idea of the daughters being switched for his own benefit, at the cost of his wife’s sanity and his daughters’ wellbeing.
We know that the Duchess cannot have more children (if she could, she certainly would have done so already). With that said though, the Duke obviously can have more children and has a reason to do so. In addition to creating a spare heir, the Duke’s house–which is a magical household prioritized by other magic-focused families like that of the royal family–is in a prime position to have a child be chosen for the fiance role of the prince, legitimate or not. He cannot give up an heir if he plans to have the family line continue, but he could give up a spare and, as it so happens, the maid he has been sleeping around with gave birth to another daughter that looks just like the one he and his wife have.
It is possible that the Duke knew the Duchess would hate his illegitimate child and possibly even try to kill it to prevent any challenges to the first daughter’s claim to the Duchy. The Duchess could not care less about the agreement with the royal family beyond keeping the reputation of the house she’s married into, so it is a pretty good bet that had the Duke not promised a child to the royal family the maid’s daughter would have been eliminated or tossed out.
It is very likely that the Duke planned to have Hillianne return at some point to be either an heir or spare who would marry the prince. When the Duchess learned of the spare, the Duke may have told her of the switch to prevent the secondary child from being killed or targeted by the Duchess. This is just a theory, but it raises some interesting questions about the motives and actions of the Duke and the maid.
We know that the maid told Hillianne that she was the true daughter of the Duke, so it is possible that the two were really switched before the maid left. However, I think that rather than being switched, the Duke and maid probably agreed to tell Hillianne she was the true daughter to maintain the lie told to the Duchess. Maybe the Duke whispered words of love to the maid, or maybe it was promised that agreeing to the lie would serve Hillianne well in the future because she could someday enter the house as a “legitimate” child–regardless, I do not think that Helga and Hillianne were ever actually switched.
What makes me think this includes a few factors. The first is the suspicious carelessness and callous choices of the Duke, which show that he only cares about having his two daughters serving roles that support and benefit the house’s continued linages. However, the second relates to how Helga and Hillianne have developed physically.
Although Helga and Hillianne looked even more alike in their youth than they do now, as they’ve aged, they have developed different eye shapes. There may also be some other smaller physical qualities setting them apart as most people close to Helga can immediately tell the difference between her and her sister. Hillianne has a round eye shape similar to what little we have seen of the maid but which neither the Duke nor the Duchess have. Mean while Helga had round eyes in her youth, as many children in these types of stories do, but as she has aged, she has developed the same sharp eye shape as the Duke and Duchess.
I believe that the Duchess believes Helga is not really her daughter, but I think that this is misconception brought on by the Duke, the maid, and other Yutrit staff to protect the other daughter of Yutrit house. At least, that is my theory. What do you all think? Let me know!
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