When her count father brings a rugged servant boy named Étienne into their home, the last thing Sioanna expects is to befriend him. Étienne has learned the hard way to be quiet and reserved, but as his relationship with Sioanna blooms, the two form a bond of affection... and obsession. Despite the pain in their lives, their ability to treat each other with kindness is just the remedy they needed. But will it be enough to get them through the countless obstacles that stand in their way?

The Bondservant has story by Jezz and art by Lena Jeong. Translated by Faith. Published by Lezhin (September 10, 2026). Rated 16+.

Bolts
Rating:

There are a lot of K-comics that focus on the disturbing corruption of aristocratic nobility. I would get annoyed at just how many of these stories inherently have a lot of these noble families being full of downright terrible people, but then I look at aristocratic societies throughout history and realize that maybe we don't talk about those things enough. The Bondservant is a story that puts the cruelty of those family dynamics at the forefront, following two characters that form a sort of kinship over just how cruelly they are treated by people. A young boy with red eyes is forced to run away as a slave after his family was murdered, while a young woman with blue eyes constantly walks that tightrope between trying to be there for people and becoming just as terrible as her family is. The desire for approval and trying to make sure all of those efforts don't go to waste are at the forefront here. There's a tragic element to this story because it feels like for every good deed that is done, there is an equally terrible action that is inflicted.

What I like about this story is that it's very hard to tell if there is a light at the end of the tunnel. This story does such a good job of bouncing back and forth between the occasional wholesome moment and visceral displays of unwanted cruelty. This could be seen as a cautionary tale about how sometimes certain people will never be able to escape that cycle of violence, but this could also eventually turn into a hopeful story of people who are able to overcome it. It's hard to say, but I like the fact that I can't immediately tell what direction the story is going in. That does make certain elements of the story hard to read because of how visceral the violence can be, but I appreciate the fact that the author was willing to play around with an element of K-comics that is usually just seen as a background element or an obstacle. Can the two leads overcome everything? I just have to keep reading to find out, and the fact that I want to know must mean that the story is doing something right.