"I think I'm going to be eaten"
ah. ahm.
very. very. likely.
Ch. 38 canters through a side-branch that would be a whole fleshed out book in another world - but here's its just a brief flashback to add context.
Admirable.
Knocking the king out to have a moment of peace? Absolutely on brand.
Giving a "literary gift" is like a prime example of everyone doing their respective sensible thing and still ending up in smoldering mayhem.
Terrific.
I do have to wonder - what was his plan with that wardrobe going forward. just reinforce that door until he moves?
there's no honor in being taken out by a trash avanlanche of your own making.
Yes, of course Alex will be out for 2 weeks and Victoria is stalking the premises. Just like a proper cold duke of the north would.
Please tell me she at least froze that whole damn palace into one big classy icecube. Give 'em a taste of winter.
"I believe in his stupidity"
Nations have been founded on less.
Oriana's father pointing to his own face wide-eyed?
That'll get me through this murderous work season. That'll get me trough A LOT
Oh she'll say yes, to his surprise and misguided delight, and whats-his-name will have a whole bout of misguided jealousy about it (that's not what's happening mate, what IS happening should worry you much more and NONE of that has anything to do with her romantic feelings that aren't to be found as of yet)
And we'll probably see more of Illian, who was the most uncomfortably creepy puppy-character I had the misfortune to witness. Man is his own yandere villainess.
"You KNEW??!!
STILL being the origin of so many misunderstandings because everyone keeps just too many fucking secrets to keep track of...
wonderful.
If I had a dime for every time the "coldhearted Marquis" had the emotional range of freshly mashed potatoes, I'd be FUCKING RICH.
"what could she possibly misunderstand"
You mean from the premise that she was chosen as a perfect breeding tool from BOTH SIDES with that being her only selling point, figuratively AND literally? The summary of how you both got to know each other fit in 4 panels including marriage?
So far nothing definite was even exposed via story ASIDE from the breeding part, so the possibility of everyone being an unreliable narrator notwithstanding, there's so much room for misunderstandings, several couples could waltz in there, simultanously.
This Forest Master is fantastic
And she's right. What HAVE the adults been doing.
But this Forest Master is also fantastic.
(Actively scritches her totally reasonable rant into a wall so that doofus of a king has a taste)
Channeling his inner chihuahua, I see.
Settle down, or it's burrito time again.
I am trying WITH ALL MY MIGHT to disregard all this casual and non-subtle condescension towards commoners and big people and non-pastels.
I am TRYING.
The guy is pretty cute, freezing up on the spot like 404-page-not-found.
Dunno how to feel about reading about my daily work in a "cute context" but we'll see.
Found family with a little grafting here and a little roping there and a generous helping of "I do however, think all of you would be helped a great deal by a therapist" and that begins with this saponite statue of a Duke, leaving his kids to rot WAY BEFORE their mother died, like don't give me that. DO NOT serve me this "working dad can only feed bodies, not hearts or minds"
Shirking his duties to begin with, nono. "I think we ate together before"
that was FIVE years. Five years in kids years is being 3 different persons each
And I can understand the flowers and the golden font very well, but if a mother would act like this in earnest a therapist would call that "parentification" and it would lose its golden nimbus pretty fast.
"Barland is the MVP, setting the prince straight every other minute." Which is, after all, quite confusing, as the prince-per-panel-ratio unexpectedly keeps rising.
So let's just go with Kotoro:
"Barland sets the Idiot straight every other minute", and this is also confusing, as the average idiot-per-panel-ratio keeps rising, too.
At least they're all rather pretty. If nothing else -
her going "I didn't see... ANYTHING. AT ALL" was perfect.
Alright. I am ready for her to ask if "Mr. Cat" has been neutered and the Mayhem following after.
So she ain't got all her marbles in a bag (for which she gets a pass, as she's been raised in way that it would be WEIRDER if she was ok) and he's a little... no, very... normal. Suppose the most normal within a days travel.
Did they send the wrong guy for collection or did they just one-sidedly exaggerate the terms of the contract because everyone had lost their minds back then?
Adorably down to earth from the get go. Suppose if one would let her she'd go, "that's true! but then, any of us would do, why not just pick one of the one's WAITING to be picked for years and years and let us common girls go where we REALLY want to be after finishing our duty, like our goddamn home."
But then, she must have had some kind of resolve to begin with to accept her life as it. Guess that'll carry over to her "next duty"
This certainly isn't the first manga to explore the angle of "you brought a magical staff?!" but I almost laughed myself to tears with every new panel.
"I died a social death" - well only if this gets known in detail. Don't worry about us readers, we'll keep it down.
... sorry Vincent, bad word choice.