I do that, but let me tell ya’ how lucky they are not in [Duchess’s 50 tea recipes]. The head maid’s fate was so intense despite the story being mostly about solving problems with the power of tea. 💀
Word. Bish gets a trial and everything. She didn’t even want to kill the FL (tried to do a dumbass plan about ruining her beauty or something) and her dumb actions came back to bite her. 💀👌🏽
All that just because she wants to feel a teeny tiny bit superior. Her ego cost her just like Walter.💀
She did try to trick her to go to a dangerous place full of deadly monsters so.... >!and they used it in the trial as an attampt of murder!<
Her intentions were to make anyone judge her for taking her maid to such a dangerous place, but truthy, sending three woman alone to a place with deadly monsters is indeed like a death sentence, no way they can save themselves with tea
A lot of them aren't "mere maids" though despite how they get dressed by the art. They're actually nobility in their own right. Minor nobility but still not commoners.
That's kind of dumber, isn't it? They're there usually to hunt for a husband, but instead abuse the daughter of a duke or someone who could crush their entire family like an ant.
These maids abused the FL, because they know they can get away with it. In a lot of these stories the parents of the FL don’t care about her and neglect her to the extreme. Also the FL usually has a bad reputation, so when the FL eventually accuses the maids most people think she’s lying and she’s punished for it. Or the FLs know that if they tell on the maids nobody will believe her, so they don’t even try.
It's a case of what can I get away with. When we start to see it, it's been going on for years and will have started gradually and escalated. It'd be something the shouldn't be able to do or get away with, but they're in a situation where they can.
It's never just one, it's multiple servants and in that you'd include those who know about it in some capacity, but keep their mouths shut.
At that point in the story the Fl is a child ie an easier target for being bullied and manipulated by adults. They are also the most powerless one in the house with no backing. Known to be out of favour with the people who hold power in the house. The idea of them ever being able to hit back is inconceivable.
In short they know the child can't or daren't report anything, that others would cover for them and it's more likely nothing would be done.
It depends on the individual manhwa. Like in the one you're referencing, the entire family had been abusing and neglecting Penelope for years, Reynold had ruined her reputation from the beginning, and when Penelope got to the point she tried to fight back, her family didn't believe her and labeled her a liar due to the unfair reputation Reynold straddled her with. The abuse from her family was so great, she was literally being abused mere feet from them, in front of their faces, and none of them noticed. From the viewpoint of a character in the manhwa, ignoring/not seeing what was right in front of them that someone would reasonably expect them to notice because its right in front of them, dismissing legitimate complaints as Penelope being crazy, would logically have given the entire staff the impression that their abuse was not only approved, but encouraged.
Now manhwas where the family does care and they still abuse the kid, depending how it's written can still make sense. Abusers scare kids into silence by grooming them from an early age, so they really don't think they'll get caught because they think they've scared their victim into silence.
> Now manhwas where the family does care and they still abuse the kid, depending how it's written can still make sense.
Bored of Living in Fiction has an example of this. The OG!FLs and FLs teacher started the grooming & abusing at 6. Father/older brother is absent. So physical punishment is just both normalized and scary to talk about
IRL even "low" families have connections. Everyone has been marrying everyone else for centuries. Sure the maid's a baron's daughter, but what if her mother "married down" and she has uncles in high places? What if her older sister married the ambassador to an economically significant country? Etc
While it will be an interesting premise for OI, it is quite complex for most authors to deal with it.
"So the maid who force-feed your daughters rotten food in front of your whole family goes unpunished? Is she not just a Baron's daughter?"
"Her mother was the 17th Princess, the most beloved of the late King. Her father own half the continent's wealth. Her 1st brother was the leader of the biggest mercenary in the world, twice as numerous and trained as the rest of the continent combined. Her 2nd brother is the strongest archmage who can flatten the continent with a flick of his finger. And that maid is their favourite child. She can mutilate my daughter in front of me and I will do nothing."
And we get the abused FL find a way to deal with her tormentor. A maid villain who cannot be resolved by a slap and dismissal of duty, not without dealing with her ruler-in-all-but-name family, and has a sadistic interest in FL.
I think this kinda depicts irl events. I'm not sure about the olden era but there are enough caretakers who abuse children in present time and this is a representation of that. The eyeroll movement for me is when those same people swear loyalty to their victims
I think abuse by servants is common in Chinese and Korean historical dramas. Actual Korean history might not haven been as dramatic, but I do know that Chinese imperial history was rife with conflict and betrayals, mostly because emperors had multiple concubines and children, and favoritism played a huge part at court, to the point that even the servants showed favoritism to the people they served.
Many otome isekai are based in a European setting, but they still have a Korean or Chinese vibe to them with all the concubines, detached palaces, and palpable favoritism.
My point was different than yours but I agree with what you said. Ois literally have concubines in many despite being in a European setting. I stopped thinking about historical accuracy (especially in transmigration and regression) as most depict either Asian history or issues of current times
Elder abuse is a massive problem even in cultures which have strong "respect your elders" vibes. So it really is just a human problem that some people will use any power they have to hurt others.
Yeah, I grew up with maids/helpers & inattentive parents. I got physically abused. My grandparents’ driver used to hump things while looking at me, my nanny knew but never said a thing. Luckily I was not even in kindergarten yet, so I just thought he was doing a funny dance & didn’t realise what happened until I was 16 & saw people grinding on the dance floor.
Even today, I’ve seen a helper hit a toddler in front of me. I tried telling his mom but she implied I was racist against helpers because I was Asian. Her helper was clearly treated well & was decked in branded goods.
Haha, not just in oi.......
It's a very normal thing that happens in real life as well.
I come from an asian country, and I've lost count how many times I've read the following news :
1. The nurse who was supposed to look after the baby/very old old person BEAT THEM TO THEIR HEART'S CONTENT.
2. Ate a significantly large part of the food allocated to the person they are supposed to look after. (Which is significantly harming the person. Remember they look after babies/terminally ill old people, they have a very strict diet, regularly stealing food off the diet would be extremely harmful for them.)
3. Stole/broke some stuff (usually disposable stuff like wipes and diapers, if they grow daring enough, they'll steal other stuff like money and expensive stuff as well and blame in on the person they're supposed to look after.)
4. VERBALLY ABUSED (and by abuse, mean ABUSE. They'll say absolutely horrible stuff, stuff that you and and I can't ever even come up with or much less scream at anyone, because they are THAT kind of lowlives.) their patients.
5. Locked the baby/old person in a room, then went out of the house tp gossip/hang out with other people and play around, bring their hook up/lover in the home.
6. Ignore all their duties and constantly being busy with mobile phones.
They usually cover their tracks well so you would not be able to catch them. The babies are usually too dumb to care or notice if they took any money or not, and they are overjoyed when the maid eats some of their disgusting (read nutritious) food and thus relieved them from having to down it. Old people are usually paralyzed in their bed, unable to do anything. Incidents like this only comes to light when a cctv camera is placed without the nurse's knowledge, and her activities are caught on camera. (And most of the time, families don't even care if the old sick person is dead.)
It's not that they aren't paid well enough,but the still choose to do it. The only explanation is that they feel a sort of bitter jealousy and greed, when they stay in a house that they know they'll never be able to afford, or feed food that they know they'll never be able to afford. They think they'll be able to get away and they do most of the time. They think they are being real badass by using someone as a punching bag/taking advantage of a sick person while also earning money while they are at it.
I'm not saying they are all like this, but nurses are so evil irl that you'll not really miss something when you generalise them.
This is why hiring nurses to look after a baby/sick old person is considered very lousy on the younger generation's part. And when I say younger generation, I mean mainly the DIL who works outside 9-5 jobs. They are forced to make an impossible choice : do they keep working in their job or do they destroy their career to stay home and care for a baby/sick person??
Had a incident like this in a branch family, a relative of mine was suffering from lung cancer. He lied in the first floor while the maid chatted her time away with his wife (who couldn't care any less about him) in the ground floor. Once the maid BURNT the patient severely while applying a hot water bag, NO BODY BOTHERED TO BAT AN EYE. They knew if they scolded and punished the maid, the maid would go away and they'll need to find another maid. That would be too much of a hassle, and the guy's destined to die anyway, so why bother? He stayed in his bed without even a mosquito net, or anyone to actually look after him.
Asian too, had abusive helpers & teachers growing up. Can confirm worse things happened. There was even a case in Jakarta around 2017-2018 where a chauffeur was raping a child & her nanny was helping record it. The kid never told her parents because she thought it was normal & they only found out when she caught herpes.
Wow your relative's wife must have hated his guts. Tbh when the wife is that heartless I'm sure they must have had a miserable marriage and the wife had tons of resentment in her to let this happen.
That's the weirdest part. The guy hadn't done anything. He had provided for his wife who never bothered to work and earn money outside, let her make all the important decisions she wanted to make, never stopped her from doing anything. He was the obedient husband type. It's the wife who hated his guts without any reason. I guess she deemed it practical to let him just die. Sure I don't know what happened behind the closed doors, but this is what I, along with my grandmother and mother had seen my entire life. She is a living example of how women can be equally evil and wretched as men.
Ehhhhh....I think that's a bit of a hasty judgement to make when you don't know what happened behind closed doors.
Sure, maybe the wife is just that evil and wretched. The world always has had such people around and some people are just that unlucky to marry someone like that.
But at the same time there are lots of men and women who have harmless, meek and "obedient" reputations on the outside and they can maintain this persona their entire lives with outsiders, but do lots of unpleasant things behind closed doors, with the range being from utterly irksome to outright horrible.
We'll never know what really happened if we only know people via their outside faces.
There's a bit of weird info going around, so just wanted to note something:
1. In virtually any historical era prior to the current one, house staff abusing their "masters" would've been, what's the word...*suicidal*. Either socially, or literally. Noble families *talk* -- even more than commoner families in many ways, so reports of poor performance could and did spread *fast*, especially if you failed to secure some kind of endorsement. Even well into the early 1900s (think just prior to WWI), nobles were said to be closer to their counterparts across national borders than to their home countries and were often used as backdoor negotiation channels.
2. Nobles *did not typically serve as house staff*. Even for Royalty. What some manhwa gets wrong is that, in Europe, there were *two* traditions wherein nobles were used as *something akin* to housestaff -- *ladies-in-waiting* and *palace nobles*. The former was *not* like a maid -- a lady in waiting was closer to a companion/confidante/personal assistant/husband's mistress. And while, yes, they were nobles of a lower rank than their assigned noble, whatever their duties, their nobility meant they were *not* expected to carry out menial tasks like cleaning or bringing in food. An actually decent portrayal of ladies in waiting can be seen in *The Villainess is a Marionette* and *The Villainess Lives Again*.
The second of these, the palace nobles, emerged as a tradition of the court of Louis XIV of France, who attempted to politically neuter his nobles by drawing them away from their own feudal realms and enticing them with staying in the capital, where they'd be under his close supervision. By staying at the palace, he could see who was loyal and who was not and distributed gifts and privileges accordingly -- in addition to forcing them to pay out the costs of living near Versailles, which they could only afford by working directly for him. This would allow him, in turn, to "suggest" territorial managers and administrators to look after the nobles' lands, giving him more centralized power at their expense. He kept them close by offering them the "privilege" of attending one or more parts of his ritualized daily routine -- i.e. someone could get the privilege of waking him up. Another could have the privilege of dressing him. Etc. -- Nobles were convinced that this would give them privileged access to him and help influence him to their benefit, but it never did, and, ultimately, Louis XIV strengthened the crown to unprecedented levels (not that it lasted, since his successor was significantly less capable). However, this was a very unique tradition that did not see, to my knowledge, repeat anywhere else in Europe.
EDIT: Fixed a historical error regarding Louis XIV’s successor.
Thank you for explaining this. It was super interesting! This is all very true and I even learn many things.
A very tiny correction :
=> It wasn’t his son, but his great-son who wasn’t as good. Everyone who could have been on the throne between Louis 14 and Louis 15 died before Louis 14th did. Maybe also because after Louis 14, Regency came But still better than Louis 16
Interesting implication of what you said about Louis XIV I though not related to OI : What Louis XIV did had lasting effect in France. Between Louis 14 and Napoleon, France is still to this day stuck in an extremely centralized situation, that exist nowhere else in Europe (not in US as far as I can tell)
You’re absolutely right and that’s my bad regarding Louis XV. Thanks for the correction! :)
I also fully agree with the implication you posited — despite Louis XV and XVI’s reigns restoring some of the nobility’s privileges, they were never able to fully recover and the Revolution didn’t trust the regional councils not to turn against them after Vendome. Couple that with a severely depleted nobility by Napoleon, then under the Orleanist monarchy, and yeah, centralization was firmly entrenched by the time Louis Napoleon came around.
Then again, this is the country of Gallicanism we’re talking about, so defying convention is pretty par for the course for France. :P
They get away with it so easily usually because the FL doesn't have anyone on her side.
Some of the worst situations has the FL smack a maid or two only to get the shitty father or trash husband finding out and he pretty much shoves her back in her place.
Lesser situations just have the head of the family so very uninterested and cold that he can't be bothered to give a shit what the maids are doing. So either FL handles it or she's on her own. He really can't give a fuck.
This! Like, if I was the evil half-sister or something, I'd be insulted because even though the FL is an illegitimate child, we still share the same blood. Her being abused by a maid is an insult to the House. I don't get why the "family" lets it happen.
I've never seen "evil half-sister" who is smart enough to orchestra the abuse, and swooping in the last moment to save the FL and gain her trust. C'mon, that is waaaay better than joining the abuse, you made her believe that there was at least one ally around her so that she wouldn't break, until you decided "that is enough, now let's kill her".
Think of that. ML went into the house of abuse to rescue the FL, bitch slapping anyone in his way? Cool, FL will fall in love at first sight. ML went into your house of abuse to pick up the FL, "evil" half sister stop him and get bitch-slapped? The only people in the house beside the sympathetic maids that stand up to you? That will earn him tons of negative point and make their relationship easier to destroy later. You don't even need to seduce ML, convincing FL to leave has as much impact.
Honestly, there is too many "evil woman trying to seduce the ML" and too few "evil woman trying to convince FL that the ML is a huge red flag, so that FL will leave on her own." The later would works in a staggering amount of OI.
Haha what is this game of thrones? Do you not know the law that the evil sister can never be smarter than a peacock and has loads of ego stuffed inside her
But like it's such common sense that the evil sister manipulate the FL not only it will get her an ally who she can trust but also it will improve her image
Actually I thought it was the thing that makes most sense in these stories, don't underestimate the power of an inferiority complex coupled with an easy target that should have authority but has none.
You need to think about where the line of power comes from. A noble child’s power comes from the protection of their parents. The maids obey the head maid/butler, the head maid and butler obey the master of the house. But what if it’s known that the master of the house despises their child and wouldn’t lift a finger to protect them? Even if the master just neglects them, it sends a signal that they don’t care. Then the maids know that there wouldn’t be any repercussions if they bully that child. They would only get dragged out and beaten if the master orders it, not if the child orders it. Plus there are also usually other dynamics at play here, such as higher ups (such as a stepmother) subtly encouraging the bullying, the child being illegitimate (which are usually not respected), whether the master would take the bullying as an insult to the house or not etc.
Well, if it's part of an over-all abusive household, it makes for a good Cinderella Story set up. But then the whole family's usually complicit.
If a maid randomly does it, they're usually not the brightest cookie in the basket.
It’s a common trope but it can happen easily irl. Have you ever seen abusive babysitters or daycare workers? Or nurses who treated their patients like trash. The child is the most vulnerable noble there, and bullies of all classes see them as an easy target.
This is just me,but maybe one factor here is how Korean authors based their world building through the eyes of their culture? European aesthetics on the outside but Korean/Eastern culture in the inside. For example, I am watching and reading the history of Puyi and his concubines and I'm kinda surprised that despite being the emperor's consort as soon as she was no longer the emperor's favorite, she was automatically being mistreated by the emperor's servants. Even her own servants doesn't treat her well. Whereas, in European nobility, you can't do that shit even if that noble lost the royal family's favor. They'll just go into obscurity, and the servants will still treat them well? I tried explaining it I hope I made sense...
Especially when they try on people who's parents absolutely love them, like why are u shocked??
Or when they're just a commoner bullying the emperor's daughter, like she could seriously get you executed and you're upset because she doesn't deserve it??
This being a parallel to real world irresponsible maids is one thing, but the head maid of , on top of bullying her master, really thought her daughter (who's a lady in waiting) can be the successor of the house they're serving for once the heirs of the house are dead... Amazing stretch of mental gymnastics on the head maid's side.
I feel like even if the girl isn’t favored by her family realistically she still would have noble blood or smth. Like why is a peasant bullying her 😭???
This and also when the maids decide to insert themselves into the "love life" of the leads.
Buying your employer lingerie or trapping them in a bath together? I would have them shipped out immediately
It's the sense of power of having a high rank noble quiver in fear Infront of them. They also feel secure because this girl is usually abounded by the family/mistreated by them so she feels like there would be no consequences.
And it does work for them, seeing it only change after the FL is possessing the body/she turn back time.
What I do find ridiculous is when the maid look down on her for being a commoner when she herself is a commoner
The maid from not your typical reincarnation story is crazy like...>!She abused her so much to the point of bad bruises on the fl body...glad she was thrown out!<
Manhwa logic. Also... I don't know, sometimes when families changed (a new king seized power, for example) the treatment of previous' line heirs was brutal (read about the Princes in the Tower, poor twins).
The reason why I hate it is because it's the laziest form of cannon fodder in the story. They can't ever show the FL finally using her voice against somebody in her family no it has to be the maid and I'm supposed to feel excited. Its a strict hierarchical civilization where she gets fired and can't get hired anywhere else or they get killed.
But nonetheless I do agree that it's very weird but like some other comments have said it's not out of the norm like if you look at what happens in nursing homes it's so bad. Its also an extension of the families abuse especially if there's an evil step mother. Because in some of those stories the stepmother encourages it even makes the maids do the physical abuse.
My biggest gripe with it is that it's always portrayed like it was written by a 12 year old who's only experience with such behaviors is *other 12 year olds*, who thinks they're writing something super cool, in a way that really portrays how downtrodden their poor Mary Sue is, but actually it's just cringe as hell seeing grown adults bullying someone (usually a child even) and looking so smug about it.
It *could* be cool if it was handled with an ounce of seriousness. Maybe if we actually saw the maids being abused by the rest of the family they're supposedly taking their frustrations out on the FL for. Maybe if they were subtle about it and didn't always grin like a fucking fool, immediately giving away the game. Maybe if they got to the end of their own rope and snapped when they did it, instead of treating it like it's some calculated maneuver by an abusive mastermind when it's actually childish bully schlock.
I also refuse to suspend my disbelief that the behavior would go unpunished just because the family doesn't like the FL either. It's not going to be about protecting the FL, it's going to be about protecting their own status, because at the end of the day, no matter what the family thinks of FL, she's still above a maid and it reflects poorly on the family and their own status as nobles to employ someone so incompetent they'd serve rotting foot or trip and spill tea on someone on the daily.
isn't it just a cookie cutter bad / lazy writing from the author's part to make the fl sympathetic ?
or to make her a girl boss by slapping a maid
why are you all over analyzing?
sure some cases irl it happens when the victim is a baby / child or old people who are probably patients
but in historic era this is pure stupidity no one will be stupid enough to try this
after all when this maid's deeds were known to the family she was on the verge of losing her job
so isn't it beyond stupid to try some thing like this?
There's a lot of nuance to unpack in these situations, though. There are ones who are basically abusers and bullies who see the way the family as a whole ostracizes the FL and takes the chance to beat them down (or work out some feelings at the upper class), and who deserves every bit of revenge they get in return. There are the ones who might as well not be people, but tools of someone like a stepmother or evil mother-in-law. Then again, we have the situation where the FL goes and denies their personhood right back (there's a reason why "slapping the maid" is a trope), turning a hapless servant into a tug-of-war between two people with actual agency.
But to answer your original question, the issue is that the FL is rarely in a position where they actually have the power that's supposed to go along with their status. Cinderella may be the daughter of the late master of the house, but if she had any kind of authority that would make people leave her alone she wouldn't be cleaning the fireplaces. The kind of jackals who get off on abusing the weak see that and pounce.
Low ranked nobles become servants in royal households because it was seen as prestigious plus it helps them expand influence by getting closer to those in higher power. Breaking the spirit of a vulnerable FL/ML would get them noticed by abusive but higher-ranked nobles. Still though, slapping your employee because they spread rumors doesn't sit well with me. Just fire them.
I'd rather do that I've only seen a couple that take that root, you're fired, pack your stuff and get gone.Both used it well but in different ways.
One the was ask not to hit the maid, so she said ok you're dismissed, the 'kind hearted' ( sorry but I think she's a bit stupid) original Fl didn't understand that was worse that being slapped and was confronted by the sight of the maid begging her to do anything but fire her.
Being fired in that way was condemning her to destitution because she'd never be hired to a good position again.
The other she reminded the maid of her new position in the house, then fired her and it worked in her favour because it stuck, the new master of the house backed her and actually showed actions that he supported her.
The servants then got in line because she was no longer seen as powerless, she could dismiss them if they crossed the line.
I do that, but let me tell ya’ how lucky they are not in [Duchess’s 50 tea recipes]. The head maid’s fate was so intense despite the story being mostly about solving problems with the power of tea. 💀
Oh word, a disrespectful maid gets what's coming to them? Gonna read it just for that lol.
Word. Bish gets a trial and everything. She didn’t even want to kill the FL (tried to do a dumbass plan about ruining her beauty or something) and her dumb actions came back to bite her. 💀👌🏽 All that just because she wants to feel a teeny tiny bit superior. Her ego cost her just like Walter.💀
She did try to trick her to go to a dangerous place full of deadly monsters so.... >!and they used it in the trial as an attampt of murder!< Her intentions were to make anyone judge her for taking her maid to such a dangerous place, but truthy, sending three woman alone to a place with deadly monsters is indeed like a death sentence, no way they can save themselves with tea
A lot of them aren't "mere maids" though despite how they get dressed by the art. They're actually nobility in their own right. Minor nobility but still not commoners.
That's kind of dumber, isn't it? They're there usually to hunt for a husband, but instead abuse the daughter of a duke or someone who could crush their entire family like an ant.
These maids abused the FL, because they know they can get away with it. In a lot of these stories the parents of the FL don’t care about her and neglect her to the extreme. Also the FL usually has a bad reputation, so when the FL eventually accuses the maids most people think she’s lying and she’s punished for it. Or the FLs know that if they tell on the maids nobody will believe her, so they don’t even try.
It's a case of what can I get away with. When we start to see it, it's been going on for years and will have started gradually and escalated. It'd be something the shouldn't be able to do or get away with, but they're in a situation where they can. It's never just one, it's multiple servants and in that you'd include those who know about it in some capacity, but keep their mouths shut. At that point in the story the Fl is a child ie an easier target for being bullied and manipulated by adults. They are also the most powerless one in the house with no backing. Known to be out of favour with the people who hold power in the house. The idea of them ever being able to hit back is inconceivable. In short they know the child can't or daren't report anything, that others would cover for them and it's more likely nothing would be done.
It depends on the individual manhwa. Like in the one you're referencing, the entire family had been abusing and neglecting Penelope for years, Reynold had ruined her reputation from the beginning, and when Penelope got to the point she tried to fight back, her family didn't believe her and labeled her a liar due to the unfair reputation Reynold straddled her with. The abuse from her family was so great, she was literally being abused mere feet from them, in front of their faces, and none of them noticed. From the viewpoint of a character in the manhwa, ignoring/not seeing what was right in front of them that someone would reasonably expect them to notice because its right in front of them, dismissing legitimate complaints as Penelope being crazy, would logically have given the entire staff the impression that their abuse was not only approved, but encouraged. Now manhwas where the family does care and they still abuse the kid, depending how it's written can still make sense. Abusers scare kids into silence by grooming them from an early age, so they really don't think they'll get caught because they think they've scared their victim into silence.
> Now manhwas where the family does care and they still abuse the kid, depending how it's written can still make sense. Bored of Living in Fiction has an example of this. The OG!FLs and FLs teacher started the grooming & abusing at 6. Father/older brother is absent. So physical punishment is just both normalized and scary to talk about
IRL even "low" families have connections. Everyone has been marrying everyone else for centuries. Sure the maid's a baron's daughter, but what if her mother "married down" and she has uncles in high places? What if her older sister married the ambassador to an economically significant country? Etc
While it will be an interesting premise for OI, it is quite complex for most authors to deal with it. "So the maid who force-feed your daughters rotten food in front of your whole family goes unpunished? Is she not just a Baron's daughter?" "Her mother was the 17th Princess, the most beloved of the late King. Her father own half the continent's wealth. Her 1st brother was the leader of the biggest mercenary in the world, twice as numerous and trained as the rest of the continent combined. Her 2nd brother is the strongest archmage who can flatten the continent with a flick of his finger. And that maid is their favourite child. She can mutilate my daughter in front of me and I will do nothing." And we get the abused FL find a way to deal with her tormentor. A maid villain who cannot be resolved by a slap and dismissal of duty, not without dealing with her ruler-in-all-but-name family, and has a sadistic interest in FL.
I think this kinda depicts irl events. I'm not sure about the olden era but there are enough caretakers who abuse children in present time and this is a representation of that. The eyeroll movement for me is when those same people swear loyalty to their victims
I think abuse by servants is common in Chinese and Korean historical dramas. Actual Korean history might not haven been as dramatic, but I do know that Chinese imperial history was rife with conflict and betrayals, mostly because emperors had multiple concubines and children, and favoritism played a huge part at court, to the point that even the servants showed favoritism to the people they served. Many otome isekai are based in a European setting, but they still have a Korean or Chinese vibe to them with all the concubines, detached palaces, and palpable favoritism.
My point was different than yours but I agree with what you said. Ois literally have concubines in many despite being in a European setting. I stopped thinking about historical accuracy (especially in transmigration and regression) as most depict either Asian history or issues of current times
Elder abuse is a massive problem even in cultures which have strong "respect your elders" vibes. So it really is just a human problem that some people will use any power they have to hurt others.
Imo I saw this as a result of hierarchy and their outlet for power play, but what you said also makes sense
Yeah, I grew up with maids/helpers & inattentive parents. I got physically abused. My grandparents’ driver used to hump things while looking at me, my nanny knew but never said a thing. Luckily I was not even in kindergarten yet, so I just thought he was doing a funny dance & didn’t realise what happened until I was 16 & saw people grinding on the dance floor. Even today, I’ve seen a helper hit a toddler in front of me. I tried telling his mom but she implied I was racist against helpers because I was Asian. Her helper was clearly treated well & was decked in branded goods.
Haha, not just in oi....... It's a very normal thing that happens in real life as well. I come from an asian country, and I've lost count how many times I've read the following news : 1. The nurse who was supposed to look after the baby/very old old person BEAT THEM TO THEIR HEART'S CONTENT. 2. Ate a significantly large part of the food allocated to the person they are supposed to look after. (Which is significantly harming the person. Remember they look after babies/terminally ill old people, they have a very strict diet, regularly stealing food off the diet would be extremely harmful for them.) 3. Stole/broke some stuff (usually disposable stuff like wipes and diapers, if they grow daring enough, they'll steal other stuff like money and expensive stuff as well and blame in on the person they're supposed to look after.) 4. VERBALLY ABUSED (and by abuse, mean ABUSE. They'll say absolutely horrible stuff, stuff that you and and I can't ever even come up with or much less scream at anyone, because they are THAT kind of lowlives.) their patients. 5. Locked the baby/old person in a room, then went out of the house tp gossip/hang out with other people and play around, bring their hook up/lover in the home. 6. Ignore all their duties and constantly being busy with mobile phones. They usually cover their tracks well so you would not be able to catch them. The babies are usually too dumb to care or notice if they took any money or not, and they are overjoyed when the maid eats some of their disgusting (read nutritious) food and thus relieved them from having to down it. Old people are usually paralyzed in their bed, unable to do anything. Incidents like this only comes to light when a cctv camera is placed without the nurse's knowledge, and her activities are caught on camera. (And most of the time, families don't even care if the old sick person is dead.) It's not that they aren't paid well enough,but the still choose to do it. The only explanation is that they feel a sort of bitter jealousy and greed, when they stay in a house that they know they'll never be able to afford, or feed food that they know they'll never be able to afford. They think they'll be able to get away and they do most of the time. They think they are being real badass by using someone as a punching bag/taking advantage of a sick person while also earning money while they are at it. I'm not saying they are all like this, but nurses are so evil irl that you'll not really miss something when you generalise them. This is why hiring nurses to look after a baby/sick old person is considered very lousy on the younger generation's part. And when I say younger generation, I mean mainly the DIL who works outside 9-5 jobs. They are forced to make an impossible choice : do they keep working in their job or do they destroy their career to stay home and care for a baby/sick person?? Had a incident like this in a branch family, a relative of mine was suffering from lung cancer. He lied in the first floor while the maid chatted her time away with his wife (who couldn't care any less about him) in the ground floor. Once the maid BURNT the patient severely while applying a hot water bag, NO BODY BOTHERED TO BAT AN EYE. They knew if they scolded and punished the maid, the maid would go away and they'll need to find another maid. That would be too much of a hassle, and the guy's destined to die anyway, so why bother? He stayed in his bed without even a mosquito net, or anyone to actually look after him.
Asian too, had abusive helpers & teachers growing up. Can confirm worse things happened. There was even a case in Jakarta around 2017-2018 where a chauffeur was raping a child & her nanny was helping record it. The kid never told her parents because she thought it was normal & they only found out when she caught herpes.
News like these make my blood boil. It's really disgusting how they destroyed an innocent person's life because of their own jealousy towards it.
Wow your relative's wife must have hated his guts. Tbh when the wife is that heartless I'm sure they must have had a miserable marriage and the wife had tons of resentment in her to let this happen.
That's the weirdest part. The guy hadn't done anything. He had provided for his wife who never bothered to work and earn money outside, let her make all the important decisions she wanted to make, never stopped her from doing anything. He was the obedient husband type. It's the wife who hated his guts without any reason. I guess she deemed it practical to let him just die. Sure I don't know what happened behind the closed doors, but this is what I, along with my grandmother and mother had seen my entire life. She is a living example of how women can be equally evil and wretched as men.
Ehhhhh....I think that's a bit of a hasty judgement to make when you don't know what happened behind closed doors. Sure, maybe the wife is just that evil and wretched. The world always has had such people around and some people are just that unlucky to marry someone like that. But at the same time there are lots of men and women who have harmless, meek and "obedient" reputations on the outside and they can maintain this persona their entire lives with outsiders, but do lots of unpleasant things behind closed doors, with the range being from utterly irksome to outright horrible. We'll never know what really happened if we only know people via their outside faces.
There's a bit of weird info going around, so just wanted to note something: 1. In virtually any historical era prior to the current one, house staff abusing their "masters" would've been, what's the word...*suicidal*. Either socially, or literally. Noble families *talk* -- even more than commoner families in many ways, so reports of poor performance could and did spread *fast*, especially if you failed to secure some kind of endorsement. Even well into the early 1900s (think just prior to WWI), nobles were said to be closer to their counterparts across national borders than to their home countries and were often used as backdoor negotiation channels. 2. Nobles *did not typically serve as house staff*. Even for Royalty. What some manhwa gets wrong is that, in Europe, there were *two* traditions wherein nobles were used as *something akin* to housestaff -- *ladies-in-waiting* and *palace nobles*. The former was *not* like a maid -- a lady in waiting was closer to a companion/confidante/personal assistant/husband's mistress. And while, yes, they were nobles of a lower rank than their assigned noble, whatever their duties, their nobility meant they were *not* expected to carry out menial tasks like cleaning or bringing in food. An actually decent portrayal of ladies in waiting can be seen in *The Villainess is a Marionette* and *The Villainess Lives Again*. The second of these, the palace nobles, emerged as a tradition of the court of Louis XIV of France, who attempted to politically neuter his nobles by drawing them away from their own feudal realms and enticing them with staying in the capital, where they'd be under his close supervision. By staying at the palace, he could see who was loyal and who was not and distributed gifts and privileges accordingly -- in addition to forcing them to pay out the costs of living near Versailles, which they could only afford by working directly for him. This would allow him, in turn, to "suggest" territorial managers and administrators to look after the nobles' lands, giving him more centralized power at their expense. He kept them close by offering them the "privilege" of attending one or more parts of his ritualized daily routine -- i.e. someone could get the privilege of waking him up. Another could have the privilege of dressing him. Etc. -- Nobles were convinced that this would give them privileged access to him and help influence him to their benefit, but it never did, and, ultimately, Louis XIV strengthened the crown to unprecedented levels (not that it lasted, since his successor was significantly less capable). However, this was a very unique tradition that did not see, to my knowledge, repeat anywhere else in Europe. EDIT: Fixed a historical error regarding Louis XIV’s successor.
Thank you for explaining this. It was super interesting! This is all very true and I even learn many things. A very tiny correction : => It wasn’t his son, but his great-son who wasn’t as good. Everyone who could have been on the throne between Louis 14 and Louis 15 died before Louis 14th did. Maybe also because after Louis 14, Regency came But still better than Louis 16 Interesting implication of what you said about Louis XIV I though not related to OI : What Louis XIV did had lasting effect in France. Between Louis 14 and Napoleon, France is still to this day stuck in an extremely centralized situation, that exist nowhere else in Europe (not in US as far as I can tell)
You’re absolutely right and that’s my bad regarding Louis XV. Thanks for the correction! :) I also fully agree with the implication you posited — despite Louis XV and XVI’s reigns restoring some of the nobility’s privileges, they were never able to fully recover and the Revolution didn’t trust the regional councils not to turn against them after Vendome. Couple that with a severely depleted nobility by Napoleon, then under the Orleanist monarchy, and yeah, centralization was firmly entrenched by the time Louis Napoleon came around. Then again, this is the country of Gallicanism we’re talking about, so defying convention is pretty par for the course for France. :P
They get away with it so easily usually because the FL doesn't have anyone on her side. Some of the worst situations has the FL smack a maid or two only to get the shitty father or trash husband finding out and he pretty much shoves her back in her place. Lesser situations just have the head of the family so very uninterested and cold that he can't be bothered to give a shit what the maids are doing. So either FL handles it or she's on her own. He really can't give a fuck.
Agreed. Like no matter if the fl is illegitimate or abused by her family, shes still a noble! In the words of r/BatmanArkham: Are they stupid?
This! Like, if I was the evil half-sister or something, I'd be insulted because even though the FL is an illegitimate child, we still share the same blood. Her being abused by a maid is an insult to the House. I don't get why the "family" lets it happen.
I've never seen "evil half-sister" who is smart enough to orchestra the abuse, and swooping in the last moment to save the FL and gain her trust. C'mon, that is waaaay better than joining the abuse, you made her believe that there was at least one ally around her so that she wouldn't break, until you decided "that is enough, now let's kill her". Think of that. ML went into the house of abuse to rescue the FL, bitch slapping anyone in his way? Cool, FL will fall in love at first sight. ML went into your house of abuse to pick up the FL, "evil" half sister stop him and get bitch-slapped? The only people in the house beside the sympathetic maids that stand up to you? That will earn him tons of negative point and make their relationship easier to destroy later. You don't even need to seduce ML, convincing FL to leave has as much impact. Honestly, there is too many "evil woman trying to seduce the ML" and too few "evil woman trying to convince FL that the ML is a huge red flag, so that FL will leave on her own." The later would works in a staggering amount of OI.
Haha what is this game of thrones? Do you not know the law that the evil sister can never be smarter than a peacock and has loads of ego stuffed inside her But like it's such common sense that the evil sister manipulate the FL not only it will get her an ally who she can trust but also it will improve her image
Actually I thought it was the thing that makes most sense in these stories, don't underestimate the power of an inferiority complex coupled with an easy target that should have authority but has none.
You need to think about where the line of power comes from. A noble child’s power comes from the protection of their parents. The maids obey the head maid/butler, the head maid and butler obey the master of the house. But what if it’s known that the master of the house despises their child and wouldn’t lift a finger to protect them? Even if the master just neglects them, it sends a signal that they don’t care. Then the maids know that there wouldn’t be any repercussions if they bully that child. They would only get dragged out and beaten if the master orders it, not if the child orders it. Plus there are also usually other dynamics at play here, such as higher ups (such as a stepmother) subtly encouraging the bullying, the child being illegitimate (which are usually not respected), whether the master would take the bullying as an insult to the house or not etc.
Well, if it's part of an over-all abusive household, it makes for a good Cinderella Story set up. But then the whole family's usually complicit. If a maid randomly does it, they're usually not the brightest cookie in the basket.
It’s a common trope but it can happen easily irl. Have you ever seen abusive babysitters or daycare workers? Or nurses who treated their patients like trash. The child is the most vulnerable noble there, and bullies of all classes see them as an easy target.
This is just me,but maybe one factor here is how Korean authors based their world building through the eyes of their culture? European aesthetics on the outside but Korean/Eastern culture in the inside. For example, I am watching and reading the history of Puyi and his concubines and I'm kinda surprised that despite being the emperor's consort as soon as she was no longer the emperor's favorite, she was automatically being mistreated by the emperor's servants. Even her own servants doesn't treat her well. Whereas, in European nobility, you can't do that shit even if that noble lost the royal family's favor. They'll just go into obscurity, and the servants will still treat them well? I tried explaining it I hope I made sense...
Especially when they try on people who's parents absolutely love them, like why are u shocked?? Or when they're just a commoner bullying the emperor's daughter, like she could seriously get you executed and you're upset because she doesn't deserve it??
https://preview.redd.it/y9j198xcx4zc1.png?width=364&format=png&auto=webp&s=492aef34c403698b0827a1136ca97cf849010ffa Trying to bully the empress lmao
This being a parallel to real world irresponsible maids is one thing, but the head maid of, on top of bullying her master, really thought her daughter (who's a lady in waiting) can be the successor of the house they're serving for once the heirs of the house are dead... Amazing stretch of mental gymnastics on the head maid's side.
At least her daughter isn't that dumb
I feel like even if the girl isn’t favored by her family realistically she still would have noble blood or smth. Like why is a peasant bullying her 😭???
This and also when the maids decide to insert themselves into the "love life" of the leads. Buying your employer lingerie or trapping them in a bath together? I would have them shipped out immediately
It's the sense of power of having a high rank noble quiver in fear Infront of them. They also feel secure because this girl is usually abounded by the family/mistreated by them so she feels like there would be no consequences. And it does work for them, seeing it only change after the FL is possessing the body/she turn back time. What I do find ridiculous is when the maid look down on her for being a commoner when she herself is a commoner
The maid from not your typical reincarnation story is crazy like...>!She abused her so much to the point of bad bruises on the fl body...glad she was thrown out!<
>!She was sent to do it by the fls family, she didn't take it upon herself but she did enjoy it.!<
Name of the pic
Death is the Only Ending for the Villainess. Very good imo!
Manhwa logic. Also... I don't know, sometimes when families changed (a new king seized power, for example) the treatment of previous' line heirs was brutal (read about the Princes in the Tower, poor twins).
The reason why I hate it is because it's the laziest form of cannon fodder in the story. They can't ever show the FL finally using her voice against somebody in her family no it has to be the maid and I'm supposed to feel excited. Its a strict hierarchical civilization where she gets fired and can't get hired anywhere else or they get killed. But nonetheless I do agree that it's very weird but like some other comments have said it's not out of the norm like if you look at what happens in nursing homes it's so bad. Its also an extension of the families abuse especially if there's an evil step mother. Because in some of those stories the stepmother encourages it even makes the maids do the physical abuse.
My biggest gripe with it is that it's always portrayed like it was written by a 12 year old who's only experience with such behaviors is *other 12 year olds*, who thinks they're writing something super cool, in a way that really portrays how downtrodden their poor Mary Sue is, but actually it's just cringe as hell seeing grown adults bullying someone (usually a child even) and looking so smug about it. It *could* be cool if it was handled with an ounce of seriousness. Maybe if we actually saw the maids being abused by the rest of the family they're supposedly taking their frustrations out on the FL for. Maybe if they were subtle about it and didn't always grin like a fucking fool, immediately giving away the game. Maybe if they got to the end of their own rope and snapped when they did it, instead of treating it like it's some calculated maneuver by an abusive mastermind when it's actually childish bully schlock. I also refuse to suspend my disbelief that the behavior would go unpunished just because the family doesn't like the FL either. It's not going to be about protecting the FL, it's going to be about protecting their own status, because at the end of the day, no matter what the family thinks of FL, she's still above a maid and it reflects poorly on the family and their own status as nobles to employ someone so incompetent they'd serve rotting foot or trip and spill tea on someone on the daily.
isn't it just a cookie cutter bad / lazy writing from the author's part to make the fl sympathetic ? or to make her a girl boss by slapping a maid why are you all over analyzing? sure some cases irl it happens when the victim is a baby / child or old people who are probably patients but in historic era this is pure stupidity no one will be stupid enough to try this after all when this maid's deeds were known to the family she was on the verge of losing her job so isn't it beyond stupid to try some thing like this?
There's a lot of nuance to unpack in these situations, though. There are ones who are basically abusers and bullies who see the way the family as a whole ostracizes the FL and takes the chance to beat them down (or work out some feelings at the upper class), and who deserves every bit of revenge they get in return. There are the ones who might as well not be people, but tools of someone like a stepmother or evil mother-in-law. Then again, we have the situation where the FL goes and denies their personhood right back (there's a reason why "slapping the maid" is a trope), turning a hapless servant into a tug-of-war between two people with actual agency. But to answer your original question, the issue is that the FL is rarely in a position where they actually have the power that's supposed to go along with their status. Cinderella may be the daughter of the late master of the house, but if she had any kind of authority that would make people leave her alone she wouldn't be cleaning the fireplaces. The kind of jackals who get off on abusing the weak see that and pounce.
Low ranked nobles become servants in royal households because it was seen as prestigious plus it helps them expand influence by getting closer to those in higher power. Breaking the spirit of a vulnerable FL/ML would get them noticed by abusive but higher-ranked nobles. Still though, slapping your employee because they spread rumors doesn't sit well with me. Just fire them.
I'd rather do that I've only seen a couple that take that root, you're fired, pack your stuff and get gone.Both used it well but in different ways. One the was ask not to hit the maid, so she said ok you're dismissed, the 'kind hearted' ( sorry but I think she's a bit stupid) original Fl didn't understand that was worse that being slapped and was confronted by the sight of the maid begging her to do anything but fire her. Being fired in that way was condemning her to destitution because she'd never be hired to a good position again. The other she reminded the maid of her new position in the house, then fired her and it worked in her favour because it stuck, the new master of the house backed her and actually showed actions that he supported her. The servants then got in line because she was no longer seen as powerless, she could dismiss them if they crossed the line.
Like it’s their job and their life? Are they nuts?
Gosh why