Idk why everyone always acts like just because there's a lot of smut there's no plot at all. Like bro where have you been?
Cain was literally in the first chapter when Alec and Loneal were having tea, acting all shady about Loneal being close to Alec. That was plot. Cain attacking Loneal in the forest, saying he "betrayed them" and was supposed to be the Prince's enemy, then Alec saving Loneal, was plot. There was boning after that, but the plot still happened.
Cain almost killing Alec and Loneal saving him this time when they went to get the love potion ingredients was plot. Smut happening before and after that event doesn't negate the plot.
Zeno approaching Loneal and starting their fake friendship was plot. Everything that happened during summer vacation was plot. The school festival was plot. Zeno's schemes in recent chapters are the result of plot points that had been building from day one when he was first introduced. Just because smut happened frequently throughout these events doesn't mean the plot was non-existent.
Everything having to do with the Holy Bride is plot, and it's been there from the beginning.
The incident that occurred when Alec and Loneal first met was already foreshadowed in the scene Loneal awakens the powers of the Holy Bride, after Alec thanks him and Loneal gets deja vu when we're shown a glimpse of a hooded black haired man thanking him. Guess what? That was Alec. That was the incident. That was plot.
After Loneal confesses to having no memories of before the accident, Alec's mumbles of "why you always tried to look so happy" and "why you always worked so hard" are relevant to the present, but it's specifically him looking back on Loneal's behaviour and words during that first meeting. Him constantly hovering around Loneal that Loneal interpreted as Alec monitoring him pre-love potion? Alec had been searching for him for months before the school year started, he even quit his knight duties and went back to school specifically because he remembered Loneal having mentioned returning to school soon. He was dead set on winning Loneal's heart before they even knew each other's names. He when he said "I've always wanted to touch you" he was NOT lying.
Alec's behaviour after the love potion was also because of "the incident". Because Loneal did the exact same thing when they first met, except that time he tripped and spilled it on him. Even the way Loneal apologized for spilling the potion was the same. When Loneal talks about going in circles after talking to Lily, Alec's reaction in that moment is because they had the same conversation when they first met. It's one of the things they'd bonded over, even if Loneal doesn't know it had been Alec back then.
Every time Alec says "you haven't changed" this is what he means. Throughout all the chapters leading up to the actual backstory from Alec's POV we already get glimpses of that moment and why he fell in love with Loneal. None of this is a sudden development, the story was already building up to it.
I'm not gonna say this is some life-changing flawless masterpiece. You can say what you want about the funky anatomy, the love potion dragging on, or Loneal's personality being annoying, but saying it's only been smut up to this point is just a straight up lie. What is happening now is literally just expanding on stuff that was already established day one. That's how stories work.
Lots of boning doesn't mean no plot.
THANK YOU!! honestly.. I was so confused on why people kept saying there's no plot or that the plot "just started" when the plot is literally being told throughout the story.
The actual 5th chapter is the end. It's 44 pages starting from Albert's childhood through to the events of the main story from his perspective, and then the conversation that follows Albert showing up at the tower. Insane that it was skipped, it's literally the best chapter. There's also another, albeit shorter, comic adaptation of this published in another BL anthology, illustrated by a different artist, which also wasn't translated. That one is more faithful to the novel, Rei actually loses his arm instead of just being unable to use it.
To the people critical of Albert for not doing anything in the main story despite being the only one who noticed Rei's trauma; Yes, he did put his revenge first and used Rei to achieve his goals, which was a hugely scummy thing to do. And he KNOWS that.
The thing is, he'd convinced himself, just like Rei did, that everything would work out once the Demon King was dead, because he also believed Rei could go back home. Rei's trauma wouldn't magically go away, but not even Rei realized that until it was all over. They were both too desperate for things to be over to think clearly, and while I agree that Albert should have said something to Rei, I understand why he didn't.
To Albert, there was nothing left for him but defeating the Demon King. The world didn't matter, nor did the people in it, just vengeance and the Demon King's end.
But at a certain point Albert's goal shifted completely from "killing the Demon King to avenge his family" to "killing the demon king so Rei can be happy again". Because in a world so miserable that even kids couldn't laugh, Rei was the only hopeful thing in his life. Rei losing the ability to smile or even cry was genuinely devastating for Albert, even more so because he knew he was just as guilty as everyone else for Rei's lost emotions.
The man climbed a 160 foot tower with his BARE HANDS just to ask him what he had to do to make him smile again, even offering to be his personal jester for life, whatever it would take to see him genuinely smile just one more time. In the novel he literally formed a whole knight order to wipe out all crime in and around the capital just so Rei could feel safe and not have to experience anymore violence, even keeping knights posted around to keep people from approaching Rei because he knew that Rei didn't view himself as the hero everyone adored, he only saw a murderer, and even the gratitude of the people he saved just made him feel worse.
Albert is the first and most willing to openly admit, very frequently at that, that he f-ed up big time, and dedicates his entire life to atoning for it.
Also, in the novel, no one but the King and his council knew the situation. Everyone found out the same time as Rei that he couldn't go home, and they were all PISSED, especially since by that point Rei was a beloved hero. People did not take kindly to the news that the King had kidnapped some poor kid and forced him to fight for a world that wasn't even his own, only to tell him after he'd LOST HIS ARM that there was no way to send him back.The King's reputation plummeted so low he sent the Chancellor out to the middle of nowhere to climb all the way up that massive tower and desperately BEG Rei to come back. (They needed Albert back too, but as long as they could convince Rei, Albert would follow. Albert was NOT happy about them showing up, and Rei only agreed to return to the capital because Albert was giving REALLY strong "If you don't want to go back just say the word and I'll kill these guys right now so the kingdom will leave us alone" vibes.)
Personally, I don't think the King could ever redeem himself to Rei the way Albert and Mireille did, no matter how much "grandfatherly doting" he does, but I do still think it's really funny finding out that the King not only fully backed Albert's super intensive "Rei Protection Operations", he even banned everyone in the castle from approaching Rei without good reason or otherwise doing anything to "disturb his peace of mind". Legit mass no contact order because he did genuinely feel bad about what happened, and wanted to respect Rei's wish to just be LEFT ALONE.
Also the King very loudly announcing to Albert he was legalizing gay marriage in the middle of the very public castle courtyard as a way to not-at-all-subtly push him to stop being such a pussy and just confess to Rei already, love him for that. Truly iconic behaviour
can you tell me where to read the novel?
The author published it to read for free here: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n0449go/
Unfortunately it wasn't picked up by a translation group, so the only way to read it in English as of right now is something like Google Translate or your browser's built-in translator.
I am working on the novel along with the manga chapters that weren't translated, but as I only know very basic Japanese I do rely on MTL tools and dictionaries. I know a lot of people don't vibe with that, totally get it too, questionable accuracy and all. I spend a lot of time trying to make sure it's as accurate as possible, but I am limited in that regard compared to a proper translator.
I only translate things that aren't available at all in English, unless what's out there is very poor quality, because I want people to be able to enjoy and appreciate all the series I love, and in a readable state.
Thank you so much for filling us in! It's really unfortunate we can't read it in manga form
So the extras in the physical and digital releases of this series haven't been translated in English, which sucks because they're super cute
Since what's posted here is Coolmic's official translation, I don't know if fan translations of the extras can be uploaded, so in case not I made an album I'll be uploading my own translations of them to for anyone to check out if interested