Akuyaku Reijou no Oyome-sama - Vol. 3 Ch. 13

[dumbziri]

This doesn't seem like a true accounting of events, but, like, if this was what was happening, then that seems fairly reasonable? Like, yeah, most people are willing to put in more effort to save their sister's life than to save their sister's reputation.

Yeah, but after stepping in to stop two execution orders you'd probably consider that your fiance's justifications for wanting your sister dead maybe aren't on the level, and you shouldn't glibly parrot them back to the person trying to help you save her.

 

[MysteryMedia]

Wow, I was not expecting this level of vitriol for this chapter. I’m still very excited to continue following this manga, great chapter and thanks for the translation!

 

[shemper]

Thank you for your work!

 

[UdenEmpati]

Yeah, but after stepping in to stop two execution orders you'd probably consider that your fiance's justifications for wanting your sister dead maybe aren't on the level, and you shouldn't glibly parrot them back to the person trying to help you save her.

The thing is, the "rumors" about Karina as the Princess Consort included being frivolous with money, lavish social parties, various overbearing demands of nobility, and so on. Those are things that Karina herself refers to by more "tempered" terms all the back in chapter 1, but the accompanying illustrations on those same pages show her acting as one would expect a "conventional villainess" to act--domineering, materialistic, and so on.
The operative context, though, is that Karina was doing all of this because of the people who approached her, seeking favor, telling her to act this way, speak like that, and so on. We get that in various other flashbacks of her remembering interactions with nameless nobles, and it creates a picture of Karina being fed one line, but then more nefarious gossip and malicious twistings of her conduct were whispered behind her back--and it seems that all of it was fueled by Orlando, who was pissed that he was given "the spare sister" instead of Aurora.

So he sought to have Karina's reputation tarnished by those with influence around the palace and kingdom, taking advantage of Karina's deferential nature in wanting to please him and everyone else and be seen as "a good queen". Some of the nobility would lavish her with praise and presents and curried favors, all while the rumor mill twisted everything into ammunition for Orlando to point at and say "see? Karina is a selfish wretch who is unfit to be queen, she must be ousted and this engagement annulled" - all so he could take Aurora's hand, the moment she was healthy enough to do so.

And those rumors, are what Aurora is referring to. Because in a sense, they're correct--Karina acted in ways that could be objectively be said to be frivolous, domineering, and so on. But she was manipulated into doing so, all while trying to keep her head above water because the people she trusted most--her parents--told her that she had to become Princess Consort for the sake of their family's political future, and for the sake of her sister Aurora who, let's be clear, was very important to Karina at that time.
But the thing is, Aurora herself says that she didn't see Karina all that much, once Karina left for the castle. Everything Aurora heard from that point, was secondhand at best, and that would have been through the very rumor mill that was working to destroy Karina's reputation.
However, Aurora knew Karina when they were children--the older sister who read to her, who would give up her own gifts for her, who smiled at her and was always kind and considerate. That's who Karina was to Aurora, and that's the Karina that Aurora remembers, and who she wants to save now.
Even Karina's anger that's aimed at Aurora is believed to be meant for others--and as someone else pointed out earlier in this thread, Aurora can objectively be said to have done next to nothing harmful toward Karina that we have seen. Karina's perception is what initially paints Aurora as the villain who stole everything from her, but looking at what we're shown, it's just not the case.

It wasn't Aurora who took the doll from her, it was their parents asking Karina to give it to her sister. It wasn't Aurora who stole Orlando, but Orlando himself who despised Karina and coveted Aurora, seeking to dump her the moment he could get his hands on the younger sister. It wasn't Aurora who sent assassins or soldiers after Karina, but Orlando. Aurora's direct actions that we've seen have been to keep harm from befalling her sister, playing to her latent influence on Orlando and the nobility to stymie anger or waylay aggressive action.

Because everything we've been shown of Aurora that paints her as Karina's antagonist, has been from Karina's perspective. And we've been shown over the last thirteen chapters that Karina's perspective of things is flawed, skewed, and otherwise inaccurate.

Aurora repeating the rumors' validity to Eve isn't her affirming that Karina's a villain, only that those rumors reflected the truth. They also sit separate to Aurora and her perception of and feelings toward Karina, because for her, the focus isn't Karina, Villainous Consort. It's Karina Crocus, Beloved Sister.

 

[Turbotune]

Only posted for like less than a day but with 60+ comments, and I can already guess that unsatisfactory rates have been rather high, leading to a rather heated discussion, understandable because the story is “derailing” on secondary characters and setting up for the second storyline parallel to the MC, but I’ll not dwell on that. I just want to say thanks for the translation and I’ll be eagerly waiting for the next chapter.

And even though I can understand the disappointment, I can understand the author’s decasino as well. I’ve said it before. This type of story is very cliche, with little to no world-building aside from the wolfkins’ culture, and only set in a world of classic royalty, which leaves very little to the imagination. On top of that, the relationship between the lovers haven’t been fulfilling because there haven’t been genuine “love” and nor are there any funny moments to make it sweeter. The process has been slow, and for some reason, none of the characters are any closer to the truth. Things have been said and done, but they’re all just starting their exploration.

Also that royal guard‘s new. Hopefully she’ll get to influence the narrative plenty, and have a better relationship with her highness.

However, I still think the story is really compelling. And I would love to see how they proceed to deal with their conflicts, with dangers by their side.

So yeah, godspeed on the translations and the creation of such a manga! I hope all is well!

 

[golestar]

So i went back to the first few chapter to see if Aurora was actively malicious and yeah, i don't see anything. The teddy bear was just Karina think she was vindictive, which is understandable at the moment.
So for once, i think Karina is actually an unreliable narrator.

 

[ShamefulFox]

Okay crazy theory that is likely not going to happen.

But what if Aurora actually loves her sister. And wants her for herself. And is a complete Yandere, it wouldn't suprise me if she took the Prince so Karina couldn't marry him. And is able to control the Prince so she can have Karina.

Unlikely. But It would be a nice change though. Since sisters are often only good, or villains. Why not a mix of both.

 

[BrotherCoa]

Wow, so much hate for the little sister...

 

[dhanzi]

i dont like the way the author make the sister look line innocent and pure character tbh... she could help her sister from THE BEGINNING and yet she did not, and if the plot is a misunderstanding or something like that WHY not SHE TRY to gather some fact or atleast TALK TO HER. its just uuughghhgghg.
.
.
tbh i dont know how to write what in my mind but i think many of you guys already know how bad the sister is.... like she cannot make decision??????? if only the sister is TALKING, the MC life would not be this bad

 

[Jackal-Lantern]

She says herself that Orlando "never cared for her". That wasn't a mystery to her, or something she wasn't aware of. It was certainly downplayed initially in the narration from her perspective back in chapter 5, but she never once said that Orlando was anything approaching kind or fair to her. So no, that portion of her dream isn't at odds with what's been established before now.

Yeah, that's point... Her dream is showing an accurate recount of what she went through, hence her dreaming it. She went through it. Look at it this way... if her dream was skewed by her perception like you claimed, then why isn't Aurora looking smug or arrogant just as Karina usually believes Aurora to be? Because the dream is showing what Karina had experienced, not what she believes to have happened. Which means there is a clash of information if she's reliving the gossip which she shouldn't have been aware of if we're to believe her words earlier.

Yes, Karina thinks she had direction, and saying "doesn't everyone?" doesn't refute my point. Unless I misinterpreted, you initially claimed that Karina was first shown to have a plan of revenge, and then said revenge fell flat.

Correction: I said that Karina and the story didn't know where it wants to go. You're the one who said that being directionless was a part of Karina's character. I disagreed and pointed out Karina's revenge being part of her direction, which you then claimed that it was Karina 'thinking' she had a direction.

Your point becomes refuted in that if Karina thought she had a direction that meant nothing in the end, then she's no more pitiable in that regard if it also applies to Everyone. It's no longer her character trait to be directionless nor does it make up for the actions she's taken, if everyone is directionless. Do you understand now why saying her being directionless has always been her character is wrong?

I'm saying she had a general desire for revenge upon her sister. That was the whole of it. She thought about the strength of the wolfkin, but then she finds out they have no written language, no real oral history beyond passing down what's necessary for survival, and that she would be unable to glean anything that would give her any advantage in manipulating or otherwise persuading them to assist her--beyond Reshtoka, who is in love with her.

Except it wasn't just her sister. It was the entire kingdom as well as the prince. That's only speculation on your part. We're only shown her to be discouraged of manipulating, but she never stated her desire to give up on the plan. In fact we're not even shown her attempting to manipulate any beastkin besides Reshtoku nor did she ever voice even attempting to. What's even crazier is that she and Reshtoku did have some Beastkin gather intelligence for them briefly, so it's not as if she couldn't have them assist her.

Now sure, you can say that her rage and target for revenge is unfocused. But while that may be true, it was by no means insignificant, or at least that's what the story wanted us to believe all up until she crashed the wedding.

In that moment in the church, she stood pontificating because she was the center of attention, all eyes on her, finally on Karina instead of Aurora. She took the ring, that was a symbol of what she should have had in the first place, and like the stuffed animal in reverse, took it from Aurora, mirroring that first-depicted slight.

Except it didn't even mirror the stuffed animal, and if that was the intent, then Karina failed even at that despite that event living rent free in her head. In the case of the stuffed animal, Karina gave it to Aurora at the request of Aurora and her parents. With the ring, Reshtoku took it off the ground and presented it to Karina, with Aurora showing she didn't care for it. Karina did mention 'won't you let your dear older sister have it instead', but seeing as Karina believes Aurora to have taken everything that ever belonged to Karina, Karina was possibly equating all of her happiness and desires to a damn ring that hardly anyone cares about (heck even the kingdom cared little for it afterwards). And we see just how shallow her happiness and desires are when she was left holding the ring. Empty.

But I also have been saying that she thinks she has direction in her life, but again said perceptions of such are built on faulty premises, and so everything she's been doing has been destined to fail because she's not gotten to the heart of what's truly wrong and who's actually to blame.

Which goes back to both the story and Karina being directionless. It wouldn't be an issue if Karina were always directionless and/or the story is told solely by Karina's pov, but neither have been the case. We're shown from the perspective of at least Eve, a bit of Aurora, and a bit of Eve's lover, so this is no longer just "Karina's Story". Sure she's the protagonist, but the world no longer revolves around her, so there shouldn't be a reason for it to be just as directionless as her. At that point, that's poor story telling.

 

[Iratana]

Regardless of all of this discussions... I think we can all agree that the prince seriously got off all too easy and seriously deserved more than a slight ego bruised.

 

[Ironclad]

I don't really like this series. The main couple is a non-consensual relationship. And if the sister seriously wanted to help the main character she could have helped her earlier so that she wouldn't have been driven out of the Kingdom. Even if she was sick she could have still sent the MC invitations to talk.

Yes it's a very dumb premise based entirely on simple misunderstandings. There are a lot of ways the series could have been improved. Make it a well kept secret in the royal family that the first prince isn't just mean-spirited but outright sadistic and Karina was originally trying to not only fulfill her obligations as a noble but protect her sister only to find out all the prince's ill will was reserved for her alone and her struggles and sacrifices were pointless. Then it would be believable that all her anguish would be twisted into hatred for her sister, house, the royal family, and entire nation that made a mockery of her.

Instead we have this really petty, immature one-sided sibling rivalry just because the sickly younger one got more attention growing up, and she stupidly believes her sister conspired against her for no good reason.

Personally, I'm more interested in whether we'll meet more beastkin and these so-called real monsters.

 

[Boyism]

All I want in the next chapter of other chapters is for there to be a explanation as to why Aurora couldn't talk to her sister or reach out when she was in the castle and also Fuck Orlando have fun getting manipulated by the girl you wanted to have

 

[Sleepingair]

Aurora dear when you say save her, you meaning killing that pathetic piece of shit of a trash prince right???right??!!

 

[Sleepingair]

Erm so her objective is like same with the manga/light novel/anime " the too perfect saint" it's just that the little sister on that story was perfectly executed (literally planned to marry the shitty prince to ruined his life pro max plan right there to avenge her dear sister lol) unlike the lil sister in here which is kinda meh, tbh. Though I'm still giving her a chance to explain well her motive on the next chapter and also her action plans, if her plan doesn't include ruining some prince's trash life then she's useless sister imo.=_=.

 

[dumbziri]

And those rumors, are what Aurora is referring to

We don't know what rumors she's referring to. We see at the beginning of the chapter that some rumors about her actions got fabricated out of nothing when she was being abused, so it seems off that we're being reminded of how untrue the rumors could be right before Aurora says "they were mostly true 😊" if she only meant the Good Rumors.

 

[hbmonk]

I should stop reading the comments on this manga, people are so weirdly aggressive about it.

 

[Ju2c0c0]

I don't know how to read Aurora

 

[cosmicbiscuit]

Regardless of all of this discussions... I think we can all agree that the prince seriously got off all too easy and seriously deserved more than a slight ego bruised.

I hope he's dead by the end, but I'll settle for some intense public humiliation and ending up all alone if I have to.

 

[hondashiori]

This doesn't seem like a true accounting of events, but, like, if this was what was happening, then that seems fairly reasonable? Like, yeah, most people are willing to put in more effort to save their sister's life than to save their sister's reputation.

Her life was turned upside down. She was banished; it wasn't simply reputation. It doesn't tantamount to death, but if you cared at least a little bit for someone, you would've done a little digging rather than just say "the rumors might be true".

But I agree my statement doesn't account for the entirety of the events. I'm as clueless as everyone is on how Aurora operates. Given what we're fed though, it's not strange to find Aurora's characterization messy.