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catesartworks · 23 days

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What is Joshua didn’t drown that day? Would he still grow up as a close friend of Clara’s?

Or would he grow up into a “nice” person who’d say they’re not racist because they have a poc friend.

What kind of background did fawn have that prompted her to be an ass kisser to julieta?

Are there other countries or continents teffrah has yet to find and eventually colonize?

What would George, lady demeter’s miscarried son, be like had he survived? Would he look like marinus, minus the intense green eyes?

Does the book flowers bloom in autumn hopefully get a renaissance period where readers realize they’re unfairly mean to the book and the author?

Or does the book go through a Brittany spears phase where fans praise the book to the heavens, pretending they weren’t earlier jeering at the book and author for the contents they now talk highly of?

1) "What is Joshua didn’t drown that day? Would he still grow up as a close friend of Clara’s? Or would he grow up into a “nice” person who’d say they’re not racist because they have a poc friend."

If Joshua didn't drown, he'd be a genuinely nice person. He'd also stand up to his mother and prevent her from bullying Phoebe. Also, looks wise, he'd probably look identical to his paternal cousin, Alexander, so like this:

Fun fact, I actually had planned at some point to make Alexander a memory erased demonically possessed Joshua who survived the drowning. But then I picked that idea apart and thought, no that makes no sense. It would let this guy off too easy and I already have enough demons in the cast. ( T - T )

2)" What kind of background did fawn have that prompted her to be an ass kisser to julieta?"

Fawn was heavily abused as a child and was treated very poorly by her parents. She longed for affection and validation, so anyone who was even remotely nice to her, she would cling to in order to avoid being excluded.

3) "Are there other countries or continents teffrah has yet to find and eventually colonize?"

Yes, there are other countries that Teffrah has yet to find and colonize, due to them being too far to reach.

They colonized based on proximity in the past. They were at one point an empire (called the Bracktonne Empire) that took over a lot of territories, and they colonized Tholossa, Limpette, and attempted to take over Qamara. But they were brought down by revolts, a plague, and growing too large to control all these territories. So they had to retreat to their original country, Teffrah.

4) "What would George, lady demeter’s miscarried son, be like had he survived? Would he look like marinus, minus the intense green eyes?"

George would look more like his mother than his father. He'd have sandy blonde hair and brown eyes. George would be spoiled rotten, but also quite smart. But he often plays dumb in order to get out trouble and wants to be an actor (though he vastly overestimates his acting and singing ability) so he pays a lot of money to be the star in roles.

5) "Does the book flowers bloom in autumn hopefully get a renaissance period where readers realize they’re unfairly mean to the book and the author?

Flowers Thrive in Autumn will slowly but surely gain more attention after the Isekai craze has gone down. I think most of the readers who trashed the original book moved onto other books, leaving an audience without the same expectations to find Flowers Thrive in Autumn.

But ironically, the existence of "The Wicked Woman Delivers" would most likely bring better appreciation to the themes of the original since it was butchered to serve the isekai market. People would revisit the "Wicked Woman Delivers" and think "wow, at first I liked it better than the original, but now re-reading it, it's kinda bad. The original was better."

#this isekai maid #this isekai maid is forming a union #webtoon canvas

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catesartworks · 1 month

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Love the Isekai Maid series so much! Are there any characters that are asexual but are not aromantic? Sorry, as an ace, it just really rubs me the wrong way when authors just automatically group Aro & Ace identities without considering that they are two distinct identities. (Obviously, not saying that there isn't any overlap, there certainly is) But I dislike when authors assume that all asexual people are also aromantic and vice versa

Hello! Thanks for reading Isekai Maid. :D

It's true that there are a lot of different facets to asexuality and aromantic people, and not every asexual person is sex or romance repulsed and not every aromantic is asexual. While I currently don't have an explicit asexual-romantic character, I do have Marina, who is bisexual and aromantic.

I put her in the bisexual and aromantic catagory in a special episode. ( ^ w ^ ) Simon is Asexual and Aromantic, so I made a distinction to include Marina specifically as aromantic.

But in the future, I will definitely keep this in mind when I make or expand on characters!

Personally, I think this identity (specifically Asexual/Panromantic) would be great for Amrita Chandra, Marina's mage union friend who works in the capital. :D

#this isekai maid #this isekai maid is forming a union #webtoon canvas

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catesartworks · 1 month

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Here are Isekai Maid Asks #5! There's more below the cut!

CW: Discussions of sexual assault and abuse

In the alternate world where Seasalt (Marinus's AU counterpart) and Marina grew up together, he would get very angry about her being bullied.

After she left due to being bullied, Seasalt snuck into the school, posed as a student and dumped a bucket of sewer water on Nightwolffe and the prince while they were walking to class. He wasn't able to get to the third boy who bullied Marina. He spent a few days in jail for that.

Fawn was killed due to the reincarnator, Julietta, her lady, misjudging how succession worked in this new world she came to.

Fawn, Julietta's maid, was taken advantage of by the lady's brother, Rafael, and he was convinced she was pregnant with his child. Fawn was horrified by the prospect of becoming pregnant, as it would result in her being expelled from the household and losing her job. He was also obsessed with her, but Julietta played his behavior off for laughs.

As revenge for what he did to her and in hopes she could stop him from further taking advantage of her, Fawn allowed an assassin to make an attempt on his life. It didn't succeed, and Julietta found out about this.

Because Julietta often read stories where illegitimate children would be able to inherit or be acknowledged as long as the child was male or favored, she allowed Fawn to consume poison for her, but it killed Fawn.

The reincarnator only later realized that illegitimate children were prohibited in Teffrah from being acknowledged, and were granted no rights of inheritance regardless if they were male. Making Fawn's death pointless in terms of succession.

Rafael lost his mind as a result of Fawn's death. While he went quiet for a while, the reincarnator assumed he would get over Fawn's death since she was a traitor and find a proper noblewoman to marry. She went on to marry a rich duke, and was expecting a child by her "happy ending."

However, after the ending, Rafael began sending assassins after his in laws and and killed the Julietta's child. This began a bloody sequence of events that resulted in each side of the family sending people to kill each other as revenge. Julietta went to the crown for assistance, because her husband was related to the king.

But because of her unsettling knowledge of the royal family secrets (as a means of blackmailing them into helping her), she was accused of making a deal with a demon to usurp the crown and the entire household was stripped of their noble rank and hunted down. The reincarnator was killed along with Rafael.

Libraries for public access do exist, but they are scattered across the country and they aren't as accessible as they should be. Most are also privately funded, or funded by the mage's union.

Thank you so much! ( ^ w ^ )

You should go ahead with the your idea, we need more western Otome Isekai. Even if it's not "typical" in style, there are people who are waiting to read it and it might become someone's favorite thing!

The more I read "I am the Real One", the more Cosette's destroying the Empire felt like it had more grounding and was the logical conclusion to an outdated method of defense, given how deeply unfair the society is. It was a timebomb waiting to happen.

All the systems in place that kept Keira from getting a fair trial and expediting her execution ( and it wasn't because of brainwashing like the story wants us to think, the system was simply working the way it was meant to since Keira no longer had an absurd amount of money and status, kinda like...MINA, who she had whipped nearly to death in both lifetimes).

I have to agree that the story really didn't need romance, and I think the love triangle really bogs it down. It was so vague to the point that I just couldn't keep reading.

Not a dumb question at all! Limpette technically does have a military, but they are mostly protected by the kingdom of Kolt for military aid, since they are sister countries.

But because Kolt is going through a revolution and in the past few decades has been in disarray due to power grabs, they can't provide resources or aid to Limpette and are vulnerable to invasion from Teffrah.

Thank you so much for reading!

I think when it comes to VADD/DITOEFTV, there is so much that can be re-contextualized with Penelope after she decides she deserves to enslave someone for her own benefit. She turned from a character who was aware of her own abuse and commented on it, to a hypocrite who is fully willing to abuse others. And the story goes out of it's way to justify her actions by handing her a happy ending.

I personally think that authors' should give characters the endings they deserve. What does it say when a slave owner who took someone's life away gets away and has a happy ending where they become the richest person in the land, surrounded by jewels and riches for the rest of their days? It tells the reader that they deserve this ending.

I'm really happy that Iseul was relatable. When I was first writing Iseul, I wanted to be sure I was breaking the cycle of just having a person to "just be an evil OG!Female Lead to our new female lead" in a sense where the villainess genre was going. I wanted to show someone who was just a person. We all have the capacity to be our worst selves, and we can get out of that mindset too if we look inward.

I'm happy to say that Nataliah and Oliver were able to escape and live happily, and I will be showing more of them in the story later. ^ _ ^

We will be seeing some of her diary entries later in the series.

Noah was devestated by her loss, but he was able to help keep her memory alive with their children by teaching them about her. He also later in life changed his surname to "Soole."

He was able to live under the radar with their children, who couldn't pass as Teffrah and took after their Haena more than him. By her request, he had her name removed from their family tree to protect his kids privacy, but their children named their female descendants variations of "Haena" by using the name "Hannah" and adopting the surname "Soole".

Thank you so much for reading! ( ; w ; )

And when it comes to Cordelia, she has a few versions where she is born from male!Nahla and had a stepfather. The other versions have Claudia as her stepmother and Montgomary Demeter as her father, with Nahla as her birth mother.

Male!Nahla as her father: Cordelia would be raised by her stepfather, Claudius, who is too embarrassed because he was cheated on by Cordelia's mother to kick Cordelia out. In this version, Cordelia's mother, Lady Samantha Demeter, took advantage of Nahla's male counterpart similar to how Eriadne, Nora's mother, took advantage of Geralt. Samantha would die from poisoning, and Claudius would frame Nahla's male counterpart and have him executed.

Nahla as her mother: Same backstory as Lord Demeter, up until she is born. Cordelia would be much more favored by her father, Montgomery Demeter. Nahla wouldn't have even been able to hold Cordelia, because Montgomery took her as soon as he found out the baby was a girl.

She would given the latest toys, the best dresses, and would be a symbol of his "superior" genetics because she came out passing as Teffrah. However, he'd also have a violent temper with her, so Cordelia would shut down. By the time she was ten, she would grow tired of her father and poison him to death when he started becoming creepy. Her stepmother is aware and lives on eggshells around Cordelia, but oddly enough Cordelia doesn't hate her stepmother. She just thinks she's a snitch. Not disliking her doesn't stop her from killing her before Stone!Demeter arrives though.

#this isekai maid #this isekai maid is forming a union #webtoon #webtoon canvas

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catesartworks · 2 months

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Hello! I love your stories so much! Is it ok for people to draw fanart of your characters? (with credit, of course)

Yes, of course! I love seeing fanart of my stuff! ;w;

Thank you so much, please send me a link when you're done! :DD

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catesartworks · 4 months

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"This Isekai Maid is Forming a Union!" Season 3 Premiere is coming January 12th, 2024!

Read on WEBTOON or Tapas!

#this isekai maid #this isekai maid is forming a union #tapas #webtoon canvas #webtoon

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catesartworks · 6 months

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Drew a quick sketch of Bridgette, my main character from This Isekai Maid is Forming a Union!

#this isekai maid #this isekai maid is forming a union!

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catesartworks · 6 months

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Isekai Maid Asks Pt. 4

Hello!

I have some asks below the cut that I got in my inbox I've gotten over the following months. Sorry it took so long!

Thank you so much for reading! Glad you like it :DD

Emilie most likely sees Claire as her own person, rather than an extension of Phoebe or King Dimitri (Claire's parents). Claire was born as a replacement for her elder brother, who was assassinated, and wasn't very close to her siblings or parents.

I think Emilie just saw a lonely child who needed someone.

Deliliah and Saoirse were lovers, definitely. Way before Saoirse became Caravaggio's mistress, Saoirse was dedicated to Delilah. Their relationship will be explored in season 3.

King Dimitri abolished the monarchy by purges. The aristocracy had tried to assassinate him because of his volatile personality and short temper. They wanted to replace him with a distant cousin. So he found a select, small group of nobles who would do his bidding, and started with killing any relatives that could pose a succession risk to him. Then, he killed all nobles (plus their families) who participated, or he thought participated in planning his assassination. He confiscated their properties and wealth afterwards.

In a way, yes. It was about Phoebe and Clara working through their own grief. Phoebe and Clara were co-protagonists.

If Clara survived and lived into older age, I think that Bridgette would still exist, but she wouldn't be "aware" like Clara is. She also would probably have a different name and life events that aren't influenced by it. Thing is, Bridgette is a bit of a glitch, and can theoretically have a second body on "standby." If Clara somehow was alive when she shouldn't be, she could even pass "herself" on the street! But most of the time, Bridgette's just born again and birthed normally. So she gets a hard reset and has to experience life all over again.

Pepper's daughter, Lily married into the Limpette aristocracy to get revenge for her mother. She had loads of blackmail material by the time she was older, and she was able to get compensation for her mother's wrongful death. Currently, Lily's descendants are quite rich, but fragmented due to some being loyal to Teffrah, and the others, the Kolt/Limpette aristocracy.

There are a bunch of other countries surrounding the three main ones. There's multiple continents as well. But I don't want the scale to get too big, so if I introduce new countries they probably won't have the same attention as Limpette and Teffrah. But I will have them mentioned in season 3.

Thank you so much! Yeah, I wish I had some of those stones too, hearing sensitivity can huuurt. ( T 0 T )

Thank you!

As for the "you were the whole character all along" trope I don't think I will use it since my story is really complicated/confusing sometimes, and I'm not entirely sure I could pull it off! ( T w T )

I tend to drop the really bad ones, but Iris: Lady and Her Smartphone was one of the first Otome Isekai I read, and while I still have a ton of love for it because of nostalgia, I also know that it uses some pretty terrible tropes that have come to haunt the genre.

The whole fossil fuels thing was just ughhhhh! They had a renewable resource, the magic stones and they just...pollute their world like we do because of Iris.

I finished it until the end, though....so...haha

It depends on the genre, or the setting. I think the main characters (Bridgette, Marina, and Shellie) would really thrive in a futuristic setting.

And I did make a jokey image "what if the maids were in a horror action survival webtoon?" where Lord Anders exploded because of a demon apocalypse, and the only people who could survive were maids.

I didn't finish it, tho

Thank you!

Yeah, I noticed that. I think as long as the maid is being compensated, it's fine but so much of the time I'm just thinking "you guys need to hire more people." Especially in "Divorcee's Dessert Cafe".

Neither would have any time on their hands for the level of product their making, not to mention the main character is always running off with the princes so many times I'm just wondering how she even manages a store.

But it's a fantasy a lot of stories have, not just in manhwa so it's nothing new. People fantasize a lot about opening bakeries, even though the reality is waking up at four every day and dealing with terrible customers.

Thanks for reading Isekai Maid! I really appreciate it. ( ^ w ^ )

#this isekai maid is forming a union #this isekai maid #webtoon #webtoon canvas #tapas comic

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catesartworks · 7 months

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This Isekai Maid is Forming a Union! webtoon covers of the in universe novels, "Betrothed to the Grave" and "Momentary Duchess"

You can Read Isekai Maid on WEBTOON, or TAPAS

Betrothed to the Grave Cover inspired by James Tissot's "Too Early," while Momentary Duchess was inspired by Soulless's manga adaptation by Rem/Tsulala, particularly the second volume's cover.

#webtoon #webtoon canvas #tapas #my webtoon #this isekai maid is forming a union #this isekai maid

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catesartworks · 10 months

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Isekai Maid Asks Pt.3

More asks under the read more! Very long, I go into depth about some of the titles from the maid slapping masterlist

Content Warning, I talk about slavery, human trafficking, stalking and physical abuse within the context of the story

Made some edits on 7/5/2023! :D

Thank you so much! :D

I did like “No More Turning a Blind Eye” at first until the gentrification storyline where the main couple decide to kick out all the people living in poverty so they could build an art center and destroy their homes. Apparently I was supposed to root for them? It was so disturbing I had to stop reading it and I couldn’t enjoy it anymore. Now it serves as a reminder of just how low nobility can sink to get what they want.

For the next one, I wouldn’t say I hate “I am the Real One,” I still love a lot of things about it but after a certain point it kind of became slow so I had to take a break from it. I also wasn’t a fan of how they handled Cosette’s maid. She’s basically Kira without the money, and I think she would’ve been a good character if they gave her a chance. She did it all for her younger brother, who was ill, and was going to risk hell and high water to make sure he was provided for.

Thank you so much! I have a few:

Beware the Villainess (Great to start after watching Bakarina)

The Monstrous Duke’s Adopted Daughter

The Villainess’ Stationary Shop (So fun!)

Not Sew Wicked Stepmom (So Cute)

Master Villainess the Invincible (Martial Arts Villainess, we need more of this!)

Thank you!

As for Erica, she lived in a part of Limpette was being colonized by the invading nation of Teffrah. They set up segregated neighborhoods with only Teffrah nobles, which is where she grew up. The nobles in Teffrah like to come to Limpette for it’s environmental beauty, but discriminate against the population that lives there.

Erica was set up with Mr. Katopodis because his family had a summer home there and they wanted him to get remarried so he could have a male heir.

1) Yes, Nasir regretted killing Zoe. He was definitely gro//omed by the female lead, Belliana and was taught that she “saved him” by buying him and turning him into a slave. He thought that because she did favors for him and allowed him some level of freedom that he was better than other slaves and that Zoe didn’t appreciate the female lead’s supposed generosity. He ends up killing Zoe by accident, but he convinces himself that it was for the best.

It wasn’t until he wanted to get married to a woman he met that the Belliana showed her true colors and forbid him. She was one of those people who thought, “if I went back time and there was slavery, I would buy them and treat them nice!” But at the end of the day she was just another slave owner.

Belliana refused to let him get married because she wanted to avoid her own death flag, and she even had the woman he wanted to marry sent away to die. In a rage, he kills Belliana.

2) Bridgette tends to internalize the justifications that the stories make for female leads to abuse their workers. It’s true that stealing is wrong in general, but she was basically a slave to the female lead and was never compensated. Belliana stole the fruits of her labor from her.

Bridgette has done wrong in the past, but cannot always remember. Her memory isn’t perfect, but she has done things like murdering a noblewoman, delivering poison, hitting other maids.

3) Clara’s ending had her being given a sum of money by Phoebe after Phoebe dies. She leaves the manor and lives happily.

Clara as a character wasn’t liked from the beginning due to audiences being distrustful of any female character other than the protagonist. Comment sections were waiting for Phoebe to stand up to Clara, who they thought was too greedy for a maid because she was beloved by people in the story.

Audiences hated it so much that they harassed the author into making a new version of the story to cash in on the isekai craze. The author noticed that a crack ship formed between Prince Dimitri and Phoebe, it shot up in popularity and audiences wanted them to be together.

That is how “Flowers Thrive in Autumn” became a new novel starring the reincarnator Phoebe called “The Wicked Woman Delivers”. In this version of the story, Clara is secretly revealed to be a “white lotus” character who frames the newly reincarnated Phoebe and must “be taught her place” as a maid. It sold very well, but the author hated it and she took a break from writing because of all the stress it caused her.

4) Reincarnators, when discovered are quietly approached by the military and asked if they have information on weapon development. The Teffrah military is especially interested in trying to build airplanes and colonizing surrounding countries.

Reincarnators, particularly ones in nobility are allowed to roam around as long as they contribute to society and bolster Teffrah’s “superior” image.

The abundance of reincarnators also play a huge role in the general support the nobility has for eugenics and maintaining the class system, because they want the general population to believe that only nobles can create generation defining art, music, and technological advancements. It also fuels anti immigrant sentiment.

A lot of reincarnators are from the commoner class in the future, but many usually get caught up in the glamor of being a noble and allow inequality to continue because the class system personally benefits them, or they’re overwhelmed and prefer not to get involved in trying to tackle societies problems.

The type of reincarnators that come into the world are extremely specific, and not to get into spoiler territory, but there is a reason why so many office workers get isekai’d into Teffrah.

5) I’m not sure I would want to do that trope. It’s been used a lot and I don’t think I can do anything new with it that hasn’t already been done.

Thank you! As a fellow autistic person, I’m happy you identify with Marina! 😊

Thank you very much for reading Isekai Maid! I really appreciate it. ^ ___ ^

1) I’m not entirely sure I can add more to the list, but I’ll try and update it. I know there’s more to the list than what I’ve listed, but the maid slapping trope isn’t a pleasant one for me to look at so it might take me a while.

Reading those kinds of scenes gives me flashbacks to when I worked in fast food service, and seeing the comment sections basically cheer for the kinds of people who made my coworker’s lives miserable,or made them cry and over the pettiest things like food not being hot enough is kind of exhausting.

As for Villainess Reverses the Hourglass, I have to say I do enjoy the manwha a lot since it’s my gateway to Otome Isekkai, but it has some ISSUES, especially with it’s discussion of politics. Some of my issues goes into spoiler territory, and I feel like some twists end up undermining the themes of the overall story. I love a good revenge story, though, and it was one of the earlier stories I read in Otome Isekai. So yeah, not everyone’s cup of tea and I get that.

2) For “Author of My Own Destiny”, yes, it’s pretty gross to give her dirty mop water. Yuck! But this maid character doesn’t act like a person, she is an obstacle to be hit and smacked by the noble MC Fiona as a cheap power move with little to no true consequences.

Hitting maids (even terrible ones) as a trope has never been about justice. It’s always been about reinforcing class dynamics and suppression of the lower classes by portraying commoners as greedy and abusive to prop up noble protagonists. It implies that if nobles don’t “correct” commoners, they will get “out of control.”

Protagonists, who when confronted with nobles who do identical things, let them off the hook/delay accountability or attempt to be cordial with them (such as in the case of Fiona).

Let’s not even get started on male leads in romance fantasy/Otome Isekai, who do all sorts of crimes like stalking, harassment and other forms of abuse and are romanticized for it because they are nobles.

These stories are power fantasies, ones where readers who might have been abused by people in power themselves and want justice vicariously through fiction. But between a noble and a commoner, there are no stakes if the MC is a noble. The noble has everything at their fingertips to win.

And what is odd about the whole sequence in “Author of My Own Destiny” is that Fiona (the MC) does the following:

She slaps the maid twice

Splashes her with the mop water

Calls her lowly due to her class, mocking her for being a commoner

Threatens to cut out her tongue

Threatens her with magic

Internally is disgusted that a commoner/maid would look a noble in the eyes.

In the next chapter, Fiona directly passes by the stepmother, Countess Green, the cause of all of this. Her stepmother who verbally abuses her, makes her life miserable and has most likely been encouraging the evil maid’s behavior. The ultimate showdown, right?

Since what happened to Fiona was such a horrible experience, you’d expect her to unfold the same amount of abuse tenfold on the stepmother. Right?

But she doesn’t. Fiona, who the chapter before was slapping a maid and making threats to cut out the maid’s tongue, suddenly goes “I don’t want to cause any trouble.” 😔

She even says “I wish I could slap her (Countess Green)” UM what?? Fiona, girl you were slap happy last chapter, what’s stopping you? SLAP that noble!

Literally a chapter before she was hitting a maid for all of the abuse she suffered, but now when she has the ability to stand up to the person who made all of this happen in the first place, NOW she backs out?

From a meta point of view, Fiona lets the noble slide, but gets violent with the commoner. There is no true accountability if one party is condemned due to status, but the other gets away scot free because they’re a noble. Who’s power fantasy is this? Who does it serve?

The only reason is because she knows she would get struck back, and it would cause a problem she can’t prepare for. This isn’t the power fantasy I want. Accommodating to the nobles who do harm to you, but smacking any commoner who crosses you. That isn’t power, I don’t know what that is, but it’s not justice.

Edit (07/5/2023):

SPOILERS for chapter 24:

The stepmother only gets smacked once she loses her status. Not only does Fiona refuse to confront her stepmother on the abuse she instigated through he maid, but she is also allowed to get away for presumably weeks after in incident where Fiona slapped her maid around.

Another interesting note is that Fiona is much more violent with the commoner maid than her noble stepmother. Even when she does finally slap the stepmother, it’s only one and done. She doesn’t manhandle her like the maid.

And that was only when she was sure there would be no consequences for her actions and her stepmother lost her status. When it comes to nobility, only when she is sure their wealth would be stripped does she begin even thinking about striking them.

End edit

It’s interesting that the justifications of hitting maids is often brought up, because every comic I have on the list justifies the maid abuse by basically saying “those dumb lowly maids were being uppity to me, a noble! >:(”

I am the Real One: A maid badmouthed Keira’s lineage in “I am the Real One” SMACK!

The Lady Needs a Break: Rubia wanted breakfast and was given a lower quality than usual food - SMACK!

Duchess’ 50 Tea Recipes: The maids didn’t tidy up Chloe’s room and help her get dressed, they were also, like, totally mean girls to her even though she is the lady of the house and could easily fire them -- SMACK! Slap the head maid and threaten her coworkers!

Solitary Lady: The maid gives Hillis cold water, is slightly annoying? Hillis throw water on her and threatens to chop her hands off (this is actually what I based Lady Deliliah’s remarks on)

These stories all have the same excuses. All of their maid abuse was justified in some way by the story by making them all stereotypically evil. It’s easier to overlook the social implications of a noble hitting a maid if the maid totally deserves it because she secretly kicks puppies and steals food from orphans?

That’s why I tend to look at the meta implications of the trope more than the in- universe explanations because these maids dress like working class women, many come from lower status, so the logic would be that they would be trying to supporting their families and want to just do their jobs. But these evil maid characters don’t act like they have anyone who depends on them to keep their job.

The maids are essentially a stand in for what are essentially high school/office level “mean girls.” Why not fire them if they’re so bad at their jobs and harass people? You can’t fire “mean girls,” you work with you HAVE to interact with them at some point. You can, however, fire a maid because being a maid is a job and she works for you.

Even a noble household, no matter what they would think of the MC, would be in big trouble if they let commoners mistreat their family member and drag their name through the mud. It could easily be a gateway to disrespecting them and their own power/influence.These stories pretend that maids have so much power and the nobility who employ them have very little to stop them.

But at the same time, noble MC’s can hit, smack, and thrash their maids with no consequences whatsoever, but can’t fire them? The power dynamics are completely dishonest.

And what pains me is that people in service positions CAN be dicks, or abusive. But at the same time, many don’t last long and there is a reason. If someone is spreading rumors, talking shit about their employer’s kids, not doing work, etc then ideally they’re outta there because work needs to get done. But even so, toxic workplaces exist everywhere and people slip through. People who are horrible do end up with those who are vulnerable. And when this happens, accountability is essential and justice is needed.

If majority of these stories even touched on this subject knowing this, and how someone like these maid characters even made it in such a workplace while being uncooperative and unhelpful, then it would be really fascinating and open up questions on how to better improve workplaces. You could talk about how who gets promoted, favoritism, discrimination, etc.

But most on my maid slapping masterlist don’t. To these stories, a maid’s status is the worst thing about them if they aren’t submissive.

This evil maid trope also undermines the impact of abuse main characters have suffered too, because it makes a big point on how low the status of the maid is committing the abuse, instead of the abuse itself being detestable and worthy of accountability.

And that honestly really sucks. It’s not right, that isn’t the author’s intention, and I feel like that shouldn’t be what I take away from this story.

#this isekai maid #this isekai maid is forming a union

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catesartworks · 1 year

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Answering Asks about Isekai Maid! Pt.2

Asks are down below under the cut, and there are a bunch! Some of these are a bit old, sorry I couldn’t get to them in time. ( T w T )

Warning, I’m going to talk about topics like stalking, sui//cide, slavery, and domestic abuse. There’s also some swearing in the asks as well.

Someone else does it, I have no presence on TVtropes. :P

Thank you! Yes, I really enjoyed making Phantom in the Mirror, it actually helped me a lot and without it I wouldn’t have a lot of the building blocks to make Isekai Maid.

I liked Melissa a lot, Yona and Yuri. Wish Yuri/Melissa were endgame, honestly, but I do like Nine too!

As for dislikes, I feel like Nine’s brother was a bit underdeveloped and I wanted them to really dive deep into his character and why he is the way he is. We get some of it in the side stories, but I really feel like there is something missing about him to make him whole...!

I want an anime dang it!

I think it’s a matter of framing. So much of Otome Isekai in general is about reframing certain scenarios and looking at other character’s points of view. I’m sure that if we were following these characters in a comic/novel, we would be conditioned to accept whatever they do, even if it seems cruel because in this genre many protagonists believe that the ends justify the means as long as they have the excuse of “I need to survive at any cost.”

So Otome Isekai protagonists can justify having servants/commoners dragged away and executed/punished because they “didn’t know their place.” They can excuse things like slavery because “oh well, it’s the world I live in can’t stop it!,” and freely indulge in buying people. And there will be readers who don’t look past the in universe justifications and accept it at face value.

Yes, Phoebe wanted to make sure that Clara didn’t have any allies. Interestingly enough, the original book that Phoebe and Clara were isekai’d into, “Flowers Thrive in Autumn,” was poorly received by audiences because of the tragedy elements and the ultimate fate of the original Phoebe (dying from domestic abuse) and Clara was one of the most hated characters in the book.

Helen, the reincarnator, was one of the readers who couldn’t stand her and thought that Clara didn’t deserve to have a happy ending because she felt it was at the expense of Phoebe. She was also a fan of the prince character, who was a minor character and she wanted to use him for protection. Phoebe reasoned that if Clara had any help or allies whatsoever that it would cause a butterfly effect and the story would make Phoebe die once again.

One week. I work a lot of hours, it’s difficult to keep track because it can vary a lot.

I do 15 hours to do sketching, resketching based on the 3D model where I draw over the rendered image and lineart/flats.

6 hours to render the backgrounds in Blender (I have a specific process where I keep the model and size reference and lineart separated and have to save 3 files at a time).

Roughly it takes about 9 hours to add shadows, textures, and effects (5 hours if I book it!).

2-3 hours for writing dialogue, and about an hour and a half before launching the comic online to check for spelling errors. And that doesn’t count when I have to reupload chapters after the fact when I notice errors, which can extend my schedule by one day or so.

Sometimes it’s more, since my schedule slips up and I don’t pull all nighters anymore (too tiring!).

Yes, Phoebe is aware that Joshua’s death is an accident. But she felt that Phoebe took most of the brunt of the blame and thinks that Clara should take most of it.

I think that there are so many things in the world that are normal, like demons being such a real threat where they have to alter funeral practices to keep them from spreading, to magic schools and teleportation, that the idea of reincarnation isn’t too far fetched.

Thanks! Unfortunately, I have had the displeasure of watching that film for a film class. It wouldn’t surprise me if readers who justify slavery in stories like Death is the Only Ending for the Villainess, would look at Scarlett O’Hara and think of her as an inspiration.

We already have a lot of slavery isekai (which, honestly...why.), and while it breaks my heart that people justify and gush over slaveowners like Penelope and Scarlett O’Hara, it’s nothing new and is a sign that these kinds of stories are doing harm in how we depict human suffering in slavery.

Even back when the movie was released, people thought of Scarlett as a role model, even when she was the face of the exploitation and gleefully participated in the cruelest forms of human trafficking and suffering. As long as it convenient for the protagonist to do so, people will just about justify anything they do.

Thank you! I find most of my designs from Dover Books, such as “Victorian Fashions: A Pictorial Archive, 965 Illustrations (Dover Pictorial Archive)“ and “Victorian and Edwardian Fashions from "La Mode Illustrée" (Dover Fashion and Costumes)“ You can find them on Amazon or online

Erica did regret it, and she did try to call it off, but it was too late. Erica at one point, truly did love Clara and thought of her as the daughter she never had, but she was also very subconsciously jealous of her older half sister, Misty (Clara’s mom) and took it out on Clara.

Erica and Misty were half sisters on their mother’s side. Their mother had slept with one of her Limpetta butlers, a man named Calvin, when she was an unmarried woman, and gave birth to Misty, who she adored. But her father forced her to give up Misty to Calvin and had them hidden away.

Her mother was then made to marry a much older man who was very wealthy. She gave birth to Erica, and while she showed her love but it was always underwhelming. When her husband died from old age, her mother wasted no time in finding Clavin again and marrying him, forgoing any inheritance she may have gotten as his wife and instead giving it to Erica.

Erica felt forgotten and familyless, but tried to maintain a relationship with Misty and be friendly with her. They were close, but there was always a lingering estrangement because Erica could tell that her mother loved Misty more than her.

When Misty got married and had Clara, Erica was given the chance to name her. Erica was touched and remained close to Clara. But the resentment still remained, and came again to the surface after she lost her son. She felt that Clara belonged to her more than Misty, and was the last remnant of her son but hated that she was alive while her son was dead.

I’ve watched both! ( T 7 T ) Sorry, but I always watch Otome Isekai when it gets an anime adaptation.

Callisto...🤢🤮 Can’t stand slaveowner characters....I’ll take your word for it, I didn’t like him honestly!

Yep! She survived the Three Week Riot, her name is Tabitha Nguyen.

Sorry this answer came so late, but as soon I saw this message (back when the episode was posted) I updated the content warning!

Pretty much. Clara said in passing to Phoebe that she had other lives, but never elaborated much. Phoebe kind of just assumed that she was also a reader who coincidentally read the same book.

Prince Dimitri’s reason (or justification by the original author) for acting the way he is is due to his mother’s death. As a child, he lived the first eight years of his life as a commoner with his mother, a noblewoman. He was the king of Kolt’s son, and his mother wanted to raise him away from the palace life.

He asked where is dad was, and why he wasn’t with them. While searching for his dad, he accidentally revealed to someone in his village information about his noble mother’s whereabouts and they told the king. This lead to the king tracking them down and forcibly making his mother come back to the palace with him.

In most scenarios like this is Otome Isekai stories, the mother is able to repair her relationship with the king as he will be a good father to his son and she doesn’t have a choice either way (so, yeah, kidnapping and gaslighting). But this story took a deadly turn, as the king threatened to execute her for hiding an heir from him (he thought he was infertile and never took a wife).

He applied so much pressure on her that she broke psychologically. She took her own life. Dimitri felt immense guilt and felt that his want for a father lead to his mother’s death.

As a result of his own guilt, the king allowed him to get away with practically anything, even killing people. But Dimitri later kills his father, and there is a coup within the aristocracy that tries to execute the prince, which is how he is almost killed by assassins and meets Clara, or Phoebe depending on the timeline.

The thing is, Phoebe did have feelings for Dimitri, but she wasn’t sure his feelings for her were real, or that he was even a real person. Even years into the marriage she felt like this. Phoebe doesn’t think that the people around her as as real as her, think as deeply as her, or have true autonomy. She thinks that she lives in a world fully of puppets.

To her, all she did was be in the same place as Clara and say the same things as her. On one hand, it could mean that Prince Dimitri is his own person who chooses to be with someone different this timeline. But on the other hand, because she did what Clara did, it also means that he could swayed not by the individual actions person who saves him, but falls in love due to someone fulfilling a role and might as well just be a piece of code going through the motions.

To Phoebe, Prince Dimtri, unlike her father, was faithful and that was good enough for her. She wanted an attack dog that could protect her from her bad ending.

Nope, she’s a different character.

#this isekai maid #this isekai maid is forming a union

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catesartworks · 1 year

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Happy April Fools Day!

What if “Momentary Duchess was a 1980s soap opera that ran for 15 seasons?”

#this isekai maid is forming a union #this isekai maid #my art

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catesartworks · 1 year

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Answering Asks about Isekai Maid

I received a lot of asks about Isekai Maid in my inbox, so I will post them here under the cut! They are from November to now, so check and see if yours is down there!

Cw: Discussions of abuse, xenophobia, and assault.

This is gonna be long, so buckle up!

I get what you’re saying, I don’t think that every webtoon author has these same opinions on classism and racism in these stories, certainly not. Everyone is different, not everyone is going to make the same story and their views are based on their personal ideals and upbringing.

I can’t comment knowledgeably on East Asian nobility politics in fiction, or their dynamics and the tropes used in that setting, though I can recognize the tropes being used. When a webtoon takes place in an East Asian court, it’s harder for me to get the greater scope and the cultural context because it is not the culture I was born in, so I have to do research and think about how those translate. It’s part of the fun! I get to learn something new.

But the implications come with the setting they choose. And many authors choose European/western settings and thus carry all of the issues that come with it regardless of intention.

In fact, when it comes to Otome Isekai webtoons and novels that I am criticizing, the majority I’ve read have the settings, character names, costumes, etc. are inspired by European aesthetics and nobility titles, western historical figures, artwork, etc. My “maid slapping” master post is pretty much exclusively western inspired settings.

I’ve read stories that I really love (Beware the Villainess) and ones I really dislike (Abandoned Empress), and they all to an extent use Western Aesthetic with some East Asian Nobility tropes that you mentioned at some points.

For example, the fact that Ian from Beware the Villainess and Ruve from Abandoned Empress become the Emperor when they’re illegitimate children and not born from the Empress wouldn’t happen in Europe, but I accept it nonetheless because it doesn’t really hinder the story and it’s interesting. It’s a different perspective.

I can make concessions on certain things, but not slapping maids, no matter how justified it is in the story. It just doesn’t work in European/western settings, and it makes me uncomfortable.

I think the idea of being ignorance does a disservice to those who DO take the time and effort to do their research. The internet is there, and so are books, reference material, websites that many artists and writers draw from. And there are authors who do amazing amounts of research, and care into the dynamics of the setting they’re in, even when taking liberties.

One such example is Monster Princess and Contract Duchess. It’s one of my favorite webtoons ever, I even own the physical edition. The author took great care in depicting black people and how they are drawn. The politics and power dynamics in that story are also very good and show how corrupt a system can be to children who need help the most. There is an acknowledgement of Leslie being sheltered, and going past her preconceived notions of others, being taken aback by people who do not look like her and embracing the diversity of the world around her.

Which is why is pains me when authors, no matter who, use the aesthetic of European nobility and insert dynamics that romanticize social ills (like classism) that Europe and western countries struggle with historically. If you can do extensive research on historical costume and art, then the cultural information surrounding it was always a click away.

Maids historically in the west have been people who are lower status socioeconomically, and at the mercy of their employers especially in a western setting where they are often immigrants. There are Romance Fantasy comics that acknowledge that the noble is of higher standing than a maid (who are commoners) and has more power than them, would be free to fire them and yet, still indulge in maid slapping (Duchess 50 Tea Recipes, The Lady Needs a Break, Just Leave Me Be).

And when a western inspired story is exported into a western market, it’s going to be looked at from a historical lens by people who grew up in that culture. I’m sorry, but it can’t be avoided. The author’s chose to do this and it is inevitable.

Saint Soo is a woman who was accidentally Isekai’d into Teffrah. She had healing powers and was at odds with the Empress, Christina. Empress Christina, who herself had gone back in time after being killed by the Emperor over his love for Lady Soo, already met Lady Soo and assumed that she would be just like her previous timeline self and try to win the Emperor’s affections.

But Lady Soo, in this timeline, had no memory of the previous timeline and acted differently. She became disillusioned with the emperor and the noble court after witnessing them beating a servant to death for a minor mistake. The Emperor, no longer interested in Lady Soo, went back to the Christina, who was certain that he was a different man in this timeline and deserves a second chance.

She didn’t afford this mindset to Lady Soo, who she saw as ignorant for supporting the abolishment of slavery and supporting the people of Teffrah’s constitution. Lady Soo didn’t do that in the previous timeline, so the Empress thought that she was only doing this to look good for commoners.

She had Lady Soo accused of trying to start a coup because of her involvement with supporting the constitution, and had her executed. This nearly caused a civil war and the emperor later went back to his old ways and began mistreating Christina. She was later imprisoned and executed. Lady Soo was then made a posthumous saint.

Nora Williams is transgender. She was assigned male at birth, so that is why she was wearing boy’s clothes as a child.

There are spells for transportation, time and space, sound, purification, temperature, and mind altering. Each spell has a time limit, but depending on your skill level, it can be extended from seconds, to minutes, to days to years.

The general populace tend to use things like stones and wands because they are most accessible, but with sufficient training one can use their hands to use magic. There are also laws strictly forbidding certain types of magic falling under the “time and space” and “mind altering” types of magic (though there are some grey areas because transportation magic also falls under it).

It’s a combination of a transportation spell and a sound spell. They look for key words like “reincarnator” and words relating to it, such as names of figures in history. What happens if it’s triggered is that Imperial Knights are sent an alert to arrest the person who set the spell off.

There is also a dust that covers the person in question so they are easily identified. It’s not a perfect spell though, it kind of relies on the only people who know about reincarnators being educated in that specific academy, so people who do know about reincarnators who don’t attend the academy won’t be prosecuted (like Linus)

Shellie was a bit of a troublemaker growing up, and hates the Imperial Knights with a passion. This is due to the fact that out of most of her family, she passes as a Teffrah citizen due to her light skin color. When she was a child, Imperial Knights arrested her and her mother and threw them both in prison overnight.

They didn’t believe that her mother, who was darker in skin tone than Shellie, was biologically related to Shellie and assumed she stole her. When it was confirmed that she was Shellie’s biological mother, they gave no apology whatsoever.

Shellie often got into trouble, and had a fiery personality until her parents got laid off from their work. For a long time, Shellie and her siblings had to be the breadwinners of her family, so she read hand me down books and as a result idealized the noble lifestyle to get away from the chaos.

In the original timeline, this resulted in Shellie being a people pleaser who isolated herself and had an unbalanced relationship with Anette. But in this timeline, Bridgette became someone Shellie could vent all her frustrations with, and developed a good relationship with her.

Marina has autism, she is sensitive to certain sounds and noises. Her knowing magic contributes to her using her hearing sensitivity to track when people are using spells, but it can also be painful for her.

Yep. What happened with Nahla (Lord Demeter’s birth mother) was very infamous throughout the Limpette community in Teffrah, and the nobility as well. The maids who were employed by the Demeter household were all let go, and forced to sign agreements not to talk about what happened in that household.

Servants from other households also warned young Limpette women not to accept jobs there, so there was a massive decrease in maid applications as well. While the Demeter household attempted to spin it into “Nahla fell in love with Lord Demeter and killed him” while omitting that she was assaulted and forced to have his child, they also imposed a ban on female servants before the fact that female servants were too afraid to work there came to light.

There are timelines where Marinus was rescued by his family, and Nahla survived, but they wouldn’t go to Limpette. Nahla’s family escaped Limpette because of Teffrah’s brutal occupation and military invasion. They couldn’t go back to Limpette because it’s not safe to live there.

The timeline where Marinus lives with his mother’s family would be because Lady Demeter successfully gave birth to a male heir around the same time that Marinus was born. Marinus couldn’t pass as a Teffrah child, so he and Nahla would be expelled from the household.

Nahla, no matter what timeline, wouldn’t be able to bring herself to raise him (now named Seasalt) because of the trauma surrounding how he was born. He would be raised by his aunt Talia (Marina’s mother), his grandparents, and with his cousins. his relationship with his mother is distant, but she cares about him.

Seasalt would grow up to be haughty, and very charismatic but selfish. Overall a decent person, if a bit overdramatic. He can’t handle money and always has to ask Marina for it since she handles the family's finances. He would also constantly threaten to run away and never return, but always comes back home after a few days because he blows through his savings.

Gregory’s family belongs to a fundamentalist sect of Teffrah nobility. They don’t believe in medical intervention, and are strongly opposed to things that they consider “outside of the laws of the divine will.”

To them, getting sick is just nature weeding out the weak, and if someone is weak enough to die, then they deserve to.

However, it should also be noted that this apparently doesn’t apply to the leader of their sect, or his inner circle and their families, who are allowed to have as much access to medicine as they want or need. They are deemed “socially superior” due to their wealth, and must stay alive to keep the population of Teffrah “pure” from “foreign blood.”

When Gregory fell into a coma from the poison, his parents did ask for permission to give him medical attention, but their request was denied and he died as a result.

She finds them on the ground, puts magic in them, and when they’re done they turn back into rocks.

Thank you for reading! I haven’t read Ascendance of a Bookworm yet, but I’ll check it out!

OG!Delilah would probably be very quiet but ashamed. She doesn’t like getting attention and her reincarnator is an extrovert.

OG!Anette would probably be over the moon at first that Marinus finally loves her, then get very shocked when finding out his true nature and try to run away. She would probably be at odds with her reincarnator, they are very different people and would probably argue a lot.

OG! Phoebe wanted to be more assertive, but she didn’t want what her reincarnator wanted. She is horrified by the way she treats people and can’t stand Dimitri (who she thinks is creepy).

Yes, Caravaggio’s mom is from the same town as Eriadne, though a little in the boonies.

Demons are manifestations of the magic within people that is not properly contained. Nobles who aren’t interested in magic and neglect understanding it, and commoners who lack access to education to harness it are the main victims. Magic can manifest through trauma, and if someone is too scared to die, they have a high chance of becoming a demon or spirit.

Spirits can latch onto demons and do their bidding in exchange for more power, which is what led to the problems at Eriadne’s manor. Her demon stepfather had a whole bunch of evil spirits that followed him around and resorted to eating people/possessing them in order to try and become human again.

#this isekai maid is forming a union

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