Title	Empress of Another World
Credit	Lee Seo Rim, Lee Young Yu
Media	Korean Manhwa / Webtoon
Genre	Fantasy, Drama, Romance, Comedy
Year	2015
Character Type	1 Yandere (Minor)

Sabina (Bina) was on her way to school for her examinations, when all of a sudden she collapsed onto a train track. As the train approaches, Bina lost consciousness, and later wake up to find herself in an entirely different environment. While skeptical, she soon realized that she had somehow been teleported to another world. A turn of events landed her into the palace a year later, where she had no choice but be embroiled in the politics of the palace. How will Bina survive in such an environment, and will she find her way home?

SPOILERS AND PERSONAL OPINION

Empress of Another World features Bina, a 20-year-old high school girl who mysteriously landed in a different world. From then on, she had to force herself to adapt quickly to a world with a totally different culture and practice from hers.

It does not help when she was sent into the palace as a concubine of the old, fat and disgusting then emperor as a token. With much fortune, the late emperor was assassinated on the night of their consummation, by none other than crown prince Lucretius (Luke).

Lucretius was named the succeeding emperor shortly after, and now Bina and him find themselves on the same boat. While initially distrustful of each other, Luke and Bina began to respect each other for their ability, and started to treasure each other before they even realized it themselves.

While Luke was quick to acknowledge and embrace his love for Bina, Bina did not dare to return his feelings; she may find a way to return to her original world one day.

Despite her hesitance, the time spent together with Luke slowly began to move Bina. Luke’s overfilling love for Bina was obvious, and he was willing to sacrifice everything for Bina, and live a happy life with her. As they face the multitudes of troubles both in and outside of the palace, they grew increasingly closer towards each other.

In the end, Bina decided to stay in Luke’s world with him. Together, they had a baby girl, whom Luke wishes to teach Bina’s mother tongue to. This way, her daughter will carry on her mother’s characteristics and language. Traces of Bina will be passed on for generations to come. Even when Luke and Bina grow old and passes on, the evidence of their love with remain.

Personally, I find the main characters of this story to be really likeable, both Luke and Bina have their own flaws. However, they are able to complement each other very well.

I also enjoyed the romantic moments between Luke and Bina. Luke has no qualms displaying his affections for Bina for the world to see, while Bina never fails to get embarrassed over his exaggerated words and actions. There are also many comedic and lighthearted moments, and I really enjoyed those as well.

The plot is not too complex; it is very digestible and suitable for a casual read. However, I do find some issues to be addressed too easily. In particular, I find that Bina had assimilated too fast and too easily into the new world, and into the palace. It is really quite unrealistic for a 20-year-old modern girl to adjust so quickly to the environment, which resembled the medieval times, much less gain the ability to rule an empire. She also gain loyal subordinates at an astounding rate, for the smallest reasons.

Nevertheless, if you can see past these loopholes, Empress of Another World is definitely worth a read. Lucretius is an awesome male lead, and the scenes where they make use of their wits to win against their enemies are so satisfying. Do check it out!

CHARACTER SPOILERS