I got the impression, warranted or no, that the entity responsible for the isekai was also potentially (ben/mal)evolently rewriting the book upon the addition of a new transplant so that even half-remembered fragments would turn out wrong.

She seems to be trying to fix the plot, so maybe her changes - whatever she can get away with, I presume - are all for the best.

Maybe the full finished novel will be the one written when all the roles are filled and everyone gets one last run through the narrative to save themselves.

Except the king, because fuck that asshole. Like, the writing makes a big deal about how grimdark the setting is, but... actually, he's the only person who seems interested in wrongdoing at all? Both the wicked advisors were not wicked enough to wish for Rae's secret assassination, one seems to have tried very urgently to get her not to walk to her arrest, everybody in the street-of-doing-crimes took the time to warn Rae that it was dangerous to walk on that street, especially with Key - except Key's blacksmith buddy, who warned him about her. (Sidenote, I like that blacksmith. She makes a big impression given how few lines and scenes she's got, and she's connected to two major-but-not-viewpoint characters. Since there's guaranteed to be at least one more wildcard immigrant walking around I'm hoping it's her.)

Like, everybody is clearly just doing their best to do their best, and that asshole king is just assholing it up.