Warning: this review assumes that you read the manhwa and know the characters names Consistency Foreword First of all and before talking about all the great things I have to say about The Lady and the Beast I cannot empathize how unequal the quality and pacing of this story is. While the beginning introduces the universe beautifully not much happens until the capital is reached. Then chapters 90 to 140 the core of the manhwa are magnificently written. After 20 to 30 more chapters that are pretty much a nothing burger of recycled angst you finally get to the conclusion of the story that is alright: I didnt get neither all the answers that I wished for nor all the scenes that I would have enjoyed a wedding or Arthurs confession to Jessie for example but the bare minimum is done and its done well. Note that I have been complaining about the writing and you might be concerned about the art. I am not an expert but I feel like it is really good overall. Extra care is taken for the most important moments and in no frame are characters ever completely massacred. While mess is still bearable now that its completed this must have been terrible to endure when the manhwa was still releasing. Now that thats said lets get to the good stuff. Characters I really really like The Lady and the Beast. The characters are so beautifully written: from Terriods obession with Astina to the armor around Astinas heart slowly and painfully tearing apart to even the surprising complexity of some secondary characters like Isis the author really likes and understands every character. Lets take Astina for example. She is smart always a step ahead and its supposed to be like that: she has already lived an entire life as an empress she experienced anger lust and treason too. Astina is not a 19years old girl from the lownobility. Shes a conqueror shes strong shes killed thousands of people and acts like it. More often than not authors fail to encapsulate the complexity cleverness and experience of such characters. Additionally to the two main characters Id like to highlight how well Isis is written and how well her internal conflict is depicted. But really more generally all characters have some depth and it is easy to begin caring about what happens to them and thus caring about the story. Even more stereotypical characters like Primo or Arthur stay understandable but hard to predict throughout this tale. Unlike the pace the characters stay consistent and smart. They are not here just to occasionally make the story progress: they have emotions anger they make mistakes they get angry jealous and they sometimes come to their senses too. Romance More than anything The Lady and the Beast story gave me what I deeply crave for in any romance: a hurtful angstinducing melancholic story. Tina Teo is the 4person script of two souls who are at the exact same time dying to love each other and . Imagine a single lance piercing the hearts of two beasts or two humans for that matter. Anything moving or staying still means suffering. Moving away from each other would irremediably kill one of the beasts and getting closer would pain both horrendously. If its painful for us to be together and also painful for us to be apart we might as well carry this burden together. Then it wont feel as painful or lonely.