By Natsuna Kawase. Released in Japan as “Shiranai Kuni No Monogatari” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine LaLa. Released in North America by CMX.

In the second volume of this short shoujo series, our hero and heroine are already together, so what’s keeping the plot going? Why, the approval of their family, of course! When you’re royals, things are bound to be more complicated.

There’s some nice character development here, particularly of Reynol. He’s right in that he’s closed off and not able to read people well, but at least he’s trying. In fact, the open communication and trust between him and Rosemarie is very refreshing, and one of the series’ strongest points. In a market dominated by characters hearing rumors, misunderstanding, and overreacting, it’s lovely to see a couple actually think.

We meet Reynol’s brother and mother here, and they’re both interesting, though it does lead into the manga’s main flaw. Everyone except the lead couple in this seem to be Machiavellian schemers. Prince Grayle plots to see why Reynol has opened his heart to Marie; Grayle’s not-quite-girlfriend plots because, well, that seems to be what she does; Reynol’s mother outplots both of them and keeps her true motives secret from even her eldest son; and of course Rosemarie’s brother is still manipulating her as he was doing in Volume 1. To be fair, they’re all rather upfront about it, but it can still be rather exhausting.

This volume also contains two unrelated short stories. They’re the author’s first two manga stories ever, and aren’t as good as the main feature. But they do offer an opportunity to show how she’s grown.

Overall, this is a cute manga with appealing main characters and a nice romance plot. And, as it’s rated E for Everyone, you can happily give it to your kids, provided you don’t mind explaining why every character seems to have eight ulterior motives each.