By Tobirano and Mai Murasaki. Released in Japan as “Zutaboro Reijou wa Ane no Moto Konyakusha ni Dekiai Sareru” by M Novels f. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Rymane Tsouria. Adapted by Zubonjin.

Generally speaking, it can be hard to do a happily ever after for a series unless you end it. If the series is a success, you’ll need to continue it, and the best way to do this is conflict. For the first two volumes the conflict basically wrote itself. Marie hated herself so much that she had almost no will of her own, and Anastasia was faking her own death and wracked with guilt about it. There was a lot going on, but by the end of the second volume things seemed to be wrapping up… except there are, um, eight more volumes in Japan. As such, don’t be surprised when this volume does not in fact have a wedding, and that the man who we thought was a comedy royal turns out to be the one in the family with the least number of issues.

Things are going pretty well. Marie has come to accept her place enough that she starts imagining actually decorating her room… after literally being told to do so. Anastasia is still irritated every time the third prince shows up, but it’s far more of a tsundere romance anger than it was in the second book. And we also get Mio’s backstory, which is heartwarming (her relationship with Kyros’ mother), suspenseful (her battle with the queen), and hilarious (the identity of her real parents). Unfortunately, they are still only engaged, because for some reason their wedding has not been approved. While Mio investigates what’s going on here, Luifon is forced to attend a royal ball, and we discover the reason why the marriage isn’t approved yet – and it’s not a good one.

As it turns out, the drama and suspense I thought would be at the end of the book is completely steamrollered. This is because the princess, who’s introduced to us as not only casually racist but also willing to get rid of Marie by any means necessary, is instead an immature brat who folds like a card table when presented with the awesomeness that is Marie. It also shows that she’s not really a terrible person at heart, just sheltered and learning bad habits and ideas. It also means we get to see Marie dressed as a man, which justifies its color page completely. That said, my favorite scene was a rather serious one, where Marie is shown the marriage bed in their castle. Kyros has avoided showing it to her. It only has a lock on the outside, and is clearly designed more as a prison for the wife/mother to pop out babies than anything else. But the reason he avoided showing her (it can easily be altered) is that the Marie of Book 1 and 2 would have accepted that fate without arguing. This is a Marie who has learned she can be happy. Which is great.

That said… still no wedding, as we have more royal annoyances to deal with. And that’s not even getting into the fact that the third prince is in love with a former baron’s daughter, now a commoner, who is disguised as a man. So yeah, there’s room for at least a couple more volumes. Great stuff.