We’re back with a new Webtoon feature, and this week we’re reading “Your Eternal Lies“. The webtoon is by Kkomak, based on an original webnovel by jeonhoochi. It’s a romance drama with some pretty dark and heavy themes, so prepare to get angsty.
Your Eternal Lies
Don’t believe a word she says.
Infamous jailbreaker Rosen Walker is finally being transferred to the Isle of Monte, the most notorious maximum security prison in the world. Her guard? None other than the beloved war hero of the empire himself – Ian Connor. Now he must unravel the truth. Is Rosen really a murderer? Or is there more to the story?
The story takes place in a fictional country that just came out of a war, and the setting feels vaguely post-WWII Europe. It’s a rather unusual choice for a webtoon, as particularly romance series tend to go either modern or fantasy-medieval.
Rosen, accused of murdering her husband at age 17 (let the alarms go off), after escaping from prison twice, is being moved to the Isle of Monte. We’re told this is a max security prison, and honestly wondering why a person who allegedly committed a single murder could be deemed dangerous enough to put in there. Lots of gossip and an air of mystery surround her case, this pretty young woman must be a witch, must be a demon… Aah, so the answer is sexism, glad we cleared that up.
Ian was a war hero, his face used in all kinds of war propaganda. He’s all-business and is just gonna make sure she gets there, and in one piece. These two are seemingly opposites, the impeccable hero and the accursed murderess. On the journey to Monte, he might have to face that nothing is as clear cut or black and white, not matter how convenient that would be.
The verdict
I was wary of starting this at first. The post-war setting is really not my thing, but I was hooked so quickly I forgot all about that. You can probably guess at some of the terrible things these characters have been through; The story does get quite dark, as you might expect, but it’s so worth reading. Slight spoiler: the ending is better than you’d expect, all things considered.
The leads have this interesting dynamic throughout the story, tentative, powerful. Up until the very end, we also don’t know ‘the truth’ about Rosen’s crime. And by the time we do, it’s clear that it doesn’t matter. Under everything, both are victims of different circumstances. But one came out hailed as a hero while the other is ‘a vile witch’, supposed to rot in jail.
“Your Eternal Lies” is such a unique webtoon, in so many ways. At face value you may think it falls under the villainess redemption trope, but it has none of the usual trappings of the genre. It’s 80 episodes, it’s completed, and it’s absolutely worth a read.
