The Truth Hurts completed The Truth Hurts AUTHOR: Pearlescent
LEAD: Kai
GENRE; SETTING: angst, romance; adventure
CHAPTERS: 24
READER INFORMATION: None  

Kim Jongin was assigned to protect the princess. She put her trust in him to bring her to safety. But along the way, the princess realizes she would forever be in danger because Jongin is full of secrets.

thoughts PLOT: Princess Han Eun Kyo is a bored guest in the castle of one of her suitors, but when she wishes for something exciting to happen, she doesn't expect it to come in the form of a dashing young spy who kidnaps her ostensibly for her own safety. Reality turns out to be a lot more dangerous than she bargained for.

Overall, I did like how the plot held together, though parts of it towards the end – while clearly planned out in advance – did tend towards the incredulous. I thought the weak point was really that there's magic in this world-setting. While the magic is subtle rather than explicit, which is fine, it was confusing rather than gently in the background, which didn't quite work.

There were also one or two parts in the plot which were rather obvious, such as the time when one of the character's soup is laced, which is done in front of said character – a more competent person would do it when their target is obviously not looking rather than dooming themselves to failure on that front, even if you're going to insist it's something else. The onl