By Almond and Yoshiro Ambe. Released in Japan as “Mujikaku Seijo wa Kyō mo Muishiki ni Chikara o Tare Nagasu: Imadai no Seijo wa Anede wa Naku, Imōto no Watashi Datta Mitai Desu” by Earth Star Luna. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Dawson Chen.
Last time I mentioned that this book was unsubtle about letting the reader know exactly what was going to happen next. This volume is a bit better, but that might just be because everything that happens to Carolina in this book is done to put off her happy ending some more. Which is ironic, given that she gets married to Ed at the start of the book. This leads to the most frustrating part of the book, which is where Ed, on their wedding night, says that he wants to wait a little longer before consummating their relationship as he worries he cannot control his heathen lusts and will break his new bride with her enormous… lovemaking skill. Unfortunately, all I could think to myself was “oh goddammit, they need to not have screwed so that some third party can declare the marriage invalid later on”. Cue the cliffhanger to this book…
Despite the occasional assassination attempt, Carolina and Edward are ready for their wedding at last, and the wedding itself goes without a hitch. Unfortunately, on their honeymoon they go to the domain of Carolina’s handmaiden Marisa, who turns out to have a backstory that’s quite similar to Carolina’s, with a horrible sister and a surprise engagement. Then she goes to get her magic tested, and discovers that the reason that the magic test came up blank for her was that she basically broke the test. She’s really a divine bearer, and this explains why the kingdom has been so fertile and monster free since she arrived (and why Flora is now failing and her old kingdom is in crisis). Amidst all this, she also volunteers to heal Edward’s brother Gilbert… but this leads to problems of its own.
Last time I asked why they couldn’t do the obvious thing and just test her for magic and heal the prince when the signs were obvious? The answer turns out to be “we need a plot for the second book”, but honestly I’m glad we waited, as it allows us to get a better look at Gilbert. He’s a lot less pleasant than he looked when we first met him, and shares something with his younger brother – an obsession with Carolina. It’s never QUITE made clear how much of this is sheer amazed gratitude and worship for essentially near healing his fatal condition almost immediately, and how much of it is love at first (well, second) sight, but at least he has the presence of mind to recall that Carolina is already married. Unfortunately, that leads him to pull a “I will make my brother who does not make time for her new bride jealous” story, which really didn’t sit well with me. Honestly, both of these princes feel a bit predatory. Perhaps Edward was right to hold off on the wedding night.
In any case, the third volume will no doubt feature Celestia reaching out to Edward to ask “hey mister, can we have our ball back?”. Till then, this is pretty good, but something about the characters kind of grates on me in general.
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