Akuyaku Reijou no Oyome-sama - Vol. 3 Ch. 16

[pik3rob]

Yeah, still fuck Aurora. This situation seems to have been somewhat directly caused by her. She decided to take Karina's place and send her out to the middle of nowhere and expected Karina to just stay there until she dies without giving Karina any single say in it. Not to mention that had Reshutoka not come, Karina would be dead by now. Don't think Aurora dies here, but don't see how she gets out of the situation unless Karina somehow shows up and intervenes out of nowhere. Reshutoka basically solos everybody Aurora has protecting her.

 

[3turtlesinacoat]

Thanks for the chapter.
Yknow i get that shes maybe a bit sheltered from her upbringing or whatever, but "after the fact" isnt exactly the best time to start caring about how someone would feel about the things you inflict onto them.
And i believe her that she only now started wondering about karinas thoughts on the situation, because otherwise a few of her actions seem rather foolish.

 

[EdgeGod]

Delicious princess ready to eat 😋

 

[Boyism]

Yeah Aurora definitely didn't think of the possibilitys of leaving her older sister in there or what the idiot prince would have done defiantly I can understand her good intentions but she never ever talked to her sister about it nor did she try to arrange something to ensure she knew Karina would be protected, really her efforts to protect her would have done nothing if not for Rashtoka saving him

 

[UdenEmpati]

I think they're talking about before that fact. Aurora had stopped the prince from mobilizing the army against Karina. However, she didn't stop him from sending the first batch of assassins after Karina.

Before chapter 3, Karina was already exiled and left to fend for herself with Ciel as her only companion. It's a question as to whether Aurora knew about the assassins or not prior to chapter 3.

While we can assume that she didn't, it doesn't change the fact that she had essentially sentenced her sister to her death by having the Prince null his engagement to her and exile her. After all, it was only thanks to Reshtoku that Karina had survived, and it's not as if Aurora could've naturally accounted for Reshtoku.

In other words...

This pretty much sums it up perfectly. Aurora had claimed that Karina would've became broken if she remained engaged to the Prince, so she had him exile Karina instead. However in doing so, Aurora had (possibly unknowingly) sentenced Karina to death, because the prince had sent assassins to kill Karina.

I don't know what the specific context is--whether it's a translation thing, or just an idiosyncracy of Aurora's to say "assassin" specifically, but she did stop Orlando from sending people after Karina. Twice, in fact, as she did it again in chapter 12 post-wedding scene, which is when she recruited Eve and decided to go after Karina herself. So her point does stand, here.

That said -- we know Karina was isolated from everyone while in the Palace. Her family would have heard rumors second-hand at best; and Aurora even more so, given she was still recuperating from her sickly childhood.
We also know that Aurora loves Karina dearly, but that Karina never really opened up to her (or anyone) about the struggles she went through. She was dutiful; not disobeying her parents, and doing what she thought she was supposed to as Queen Consort. And that she had tried to protect and care for Aurora as a child, even as her resentment built for her sister over time.

Aurora wouldn't have been privy to a lot of what Karina went through during her time in the Palace, as a result. She would know that Karina was having a hard time, because she knows that Karina is a kind person and knows via their mother's words that the Palace, and the Royal Family, aren't good. So Aurora's mindset of "I have to help Karina like she helped me" is consistent. And she knows Orlando wanted her first, so getting him to annul things with Karina would have been the easiest way to get her sister out of what she saw as a bad situation.

Aurora would not have had any real say in where Karina ended up; but she did try to make it easier, which is why she went and "spruced up" that northern castle, and return the stuffed animal.

All of this is from the perspective of a younger sister who was unaware of the true feelings of her older sister. She realized them too late--and now things are bad.

My overall point - while Aurora should not be absolved of what she's done, none of this was out of overt malice or even negative intent.

She just acted in the way she thought best, and unfortunately Karina's been warped due to her experiences so much that every decision made was a bad one.



Also - what is your page source for Aurora being the one to have Orlando exile Karina to the north? I couldn't find anything on a quick read-through, and her saying "I hoped you would be able to live in peace here..." in this chapter is easily explained by the fact she had a bunch of decorations and furnishings sent up to make the castle more enjoyable (in her mind) back after chapter 3.

We also see Aurora grow more bold/confrontational over the course of the series; in chapter 3, she's very deferential to Orlando when she asks to be allowed to "take care of" her sister instead of having the army sent. But in chapter 12, she openly defies him in front of a crowd of wedding-attending-worthy nobility, when she shuts his "army" idea down a second time, and with none of her previous demure attitude.
So this infers that she has changed as a character over the course of the story, including the time skips, meaning that at the outset, I question whether she'd have the sort of pull to overly influence Orlando's decision-making on whether Karina gets exiled, or to where she would go. And again, I couldn't find anything saying Aurora orchestrated any part of Karina's exile, other than her decision to try and take Karina's place to "spare her", as Aurora saw it.

 

[Jybu]

In my heart of hearts I dont see anything tooo bad happening... But the potential tragedy!! ooo... its still hittin my heart
Ty for the TL!

 

[UdenEmpati]

Nothing Auror Nothing Aurora has done has been of any use.

That's kind of the point of her character, up to this spot in the narrative. Aurora was a sickly sheltered child, whom Karina loved dearly, but grew to resent. Aurora didn't know this, because her sister just bore it all in silence, and she only ever saw the kind & caring & protective older sister.

So Aurora saw a situation--from afar and second-hand--and she tried to return the favor as she saw it best for Karina's sake. But, she didn't know Karina's true thoughts and feelings, because Karina wasn't one to share them with her (or anyone, as we can see with Reshtoka); so Aurora simply did what she could with what she knew, and unfortunately it's all gone to pot as a result.
Now she knows, and now it's whether Aurora can actually fix the mistakes she's made, and make up with Karina. And there's a lot more that goes into that than just what exists between them, but we're basically at the point of "Aurora's found out she's fucked up from the get-go", and with that clarity comes the time for deciding actions.

 

[IamaTire]

"Being betrayed by the sister you cherish so much" yeah sure Karina's feelings were the most important thing for you.
I guess she red far to many novels to take that decision.

 

[ElectroSlam]

Honestly, the mc was seemingly correct when she asked that maid which master she served given how she’s acting with the sister.

 

[Iratana]

My overall point - while Aurora should not be absolved of what she's done, none of this was out of overt malice or even negative intent.

No one said that Aurora's action was done out of malice. It's a question as to whether her actions helped Karina or not. Again, it was only thanks to Reshtoku that Karina survived her previous two encounters with the assassins.

Rather than discussing whether Aurora was acting out of malice or not, a better discussion would be whether she even knew about the first assassins, and if she did, did she had some contingency in place to protect Karina?

Also - what is your page source for Aurora being the one to have Orlando exile Karina to the north? I couldn't find anything on a quick read-through, and her saying "I hoped you would be able to live in peace here..."

It's literally this chapter... Aurora specifically sought to separate Karina and the Prince, because she somehow knew that Karina wouldn't make it in the palace. This is further supported by how Aurora saw how happy her mother was that it was Karina who was made the prince's fiance as opposed to Aurora. This combine with the scandals that surround the royal family and the other nobility already paints an idea of the kingdom's corruption.

So, if Aurora is aware of the royal family's corruption (even if it's too a degree), and seeks to have her sister's engagement annulled; then she should know that the royal family would react in primarily one way of annulling the engagement:

And that's simply banishment... It would look distasteful if the Prince annulled his engagement because he wanted Aurora over Karina. However, if he were to banish Karina instead, he could not only save face and chase after Aurora, but also more easily paint Karina as a villainess. So Karina being banished was literally the only option the Prince would take, since not only would it allow him to remove her from the public eye, but he could also get rid of her easily.

If anything, I'd have to ask you; if you don't think that Aurora was the one who played a part in the prince's decision to banish Karina, why didn't she have the prince return Karina to their mother and father? After all, if Aurora has enough pull to get the Prince to back off on all of his attempts of killing Karina, then she could have him allow Karina in a more stable environment.

 

[www_Wind]

I'm quite curious on how an Eve and Retoshka interaction would be like

 

[darkniter123]

So, what happened to the revenge..?

 

[UdenEmpati]

It's literally this chapter... Aurora specifically sought to separate Karina and the Prince, because she somehow knew that Karina wouldn't make it in the palace. This is further supported by how Aurora saw how happy her mother was that it was Karina who was made the prince's fiance as opposed to Aurora. This combine with the scandals that surround the royal family and the other nobility already paints an idea of the kingdom's corruption.

So, if Aurora is aware of the royal family's corruption (even if it's too a degree), and seeks to have her sister's engagement annulled; then she should know that the royal family would react in primarily one way of annulling the engagement:

And that's simply banishment... It would look distasteful if the Prince annulled his engagement because he wanted Aurora over Karina. However, if he were to banish Karina instead, he could not only save face and chase after Aurora, but also more easily paint Karina as a villainess. So Karina being banished was literally the only option the Prince would take, since not only would it allow him to remove her from the public eye, but he could also get rid of her easily.

If anything, I'd have to ask you; if you don't think that Aurora was the one who played a part in the prince's decision to banish Karina, why didn't she have the prince return Karina to their mother and father? After all, if Aurora has enough pull to get the Prince to back off on all of his attempts of killing Karina, then she could have him allow Karina in a more stable environment.

I also referenced this chapter, and said that none of Aurora's monologue indicates that Aurora was the one who got Karina exiled or that she had any real say in what happened to Karina.

I also cited Aurora's shift in behavior and demeanor over time in the series; she was much more demure and deferential toward Orlando earlier in the series, growing more bold and directly confrontational. Orlando himself has a shift in attitude & demeanor toward Aurora in the times we see them interacting, in chapter 3 and then in chapter 12. So the dynamic between them isn't static, and I'm interpreting that as, absent explicit confirmation from the story or one of the characters, Aurora wasn't part of the exile plan.
For Aurora, the most important thing was that Karina be released from her duty & position and not physically present in the Palace, due to the strain Aurora believed would be placed on her. None of that says she had an active role in making the decision of where Karina would go, to any extent.

And, even if Aurora was aware that Karina would likely be exiled, she still sent furnishings and comfort items to that northern castle. Again, an attempt on her part to assist Karina, in the way she knew how. Karina always comforted her in childhood, and gifts and other material comforts were part of that; Aurora doing the same is her mirroring the things her sister did that helped her.

Again--we do not see whether the rumors spread to Karina's family at the time leading up to her exile. Her mother was aware of it, of course, at the point Eve was (unknowingly) interviewing her years after-the-fact, but to my knowledge we don't know how privy the Crocus family was to the specifics of what Karina was going through, other than the mother's sense that it was bad enough that she was glad the "stronger sister" was the one becoming queen consort. That's the sum of what we're shown they all know, though, at the time Karina was actively away from her home. So at best, I'd argue we can only say that Aurora knew that the Royal Family were 'vaguely bad' per her mother's worries and apparent relief that Karina was sent in her place, and that she wanted to help her sister in the same way she'd been helped all her young life.
She just made a series of bad decisions based on faulty premises and assumptions, because--and this is kind of operative--Karina has never been one to talk about her problems with others. So while Aurora's "help" has been more hindrance than anything, they both don't really know the other, because didn't talk when they were younger, and then were physically separated for pretty much all of their adolescence with only hearsay and prejudice connecting them.



And yes, I ultimately agree with you--Aurora's "help" has been pretty much anything but that. And I apologize if I put words in your mouth with assuming you were criticizing Aurora's actions in this series from a "she's a bad person" perspective; there have been more than a few comments of that nature going back several chapters, and so I admit I might have read your initial comment through that lens. I mostly was citing the surrounding context as to why Aurora has done what she's done, because while the results of her efforts are obviously not-good for Karina, her intentions are specific and reasoned out by what we've seen thus far, and I would argue are at least understandable from her perspective with what she knows. And more than a few comments seem to either miss that, or dismiss it.

 

[NinjaGoemon]

This pretty much sums it up perfectly. Aurora had claimed that Karina would've became broken if she remained engaged to the Prince, so she had him exile Karina instead. However in doing so, Aurora had (possibly unknowingly) sentenced Karina to death, because the prince had sent assassins to kill Karina.

I feel like there's also this streak of naivety to Aurora. She didn't adequately predict how Karina would be treated after the annulment. We don't know how much influence Aurora had during the "Villainess Confrontation", but assuming she knew that Karina had a bad reputation it was unlikely that Karina would be allowed to go home without issues. Exile breaks people down emotionally, it's one of the reasons it's used as punishment. So even if she managed to "save" Karina from an abusive partner and treacherous atmosphere, she should've expected that Karina would not have it easy.

Maybe she thought it would be best regardless. Guess we'll have to see.

 

[onedumninja]

Does our ladywolf have a very savage mentality here or a practical one?

"I can kill the sister and bring her head to my beloved so she'll be happy."

"I can capture the sister, bring her to karina and then let karina kill her. That would be more satisfying for my beloved."

Ya get what I mean? If she's really savage she'd just want to kill aurora right away. It's more reasonable to ask for karina's input first...

It would be shocking if the author actually let wolfy kill aurora. I really don't see that happening unless this is suppposed to be a tragedy. Which feels unlikely since karina's revenge was just putting up the middle finger to her sister and the prince. She didn't even kill anyone after assassins were sent, by the prince, to kill her. Based on the tone so far, I don't see wolfy killing aurora in cold blood. Dragging aurora over to karina potentially harmed though, likely.

I imagine aurora will have to convince wolfy to spare her temporarily so she can apologize to karina. "Let me say sorry first, then you can kill me." Something like that.

 

[Reina4444]

Aurora's talking about what she told Orlando in chapter 3. (I guess "3.2" here on MD, pages 18-20).

and aurora's personal visit resulted in karina's complete humiliation in chapter 5.
aurora throwing leftovers to her without ever properly explaining her intentions, while wielding all the authority karina once had was the final blow to her guts.
a realistic option to reconcile the sisters would be if aurora renounces her title and her marriage or publicly rehabilitates her sister and lifts the exile, but i doubt that the author will go with that.

 

[phabrykMaester]

Just read all of this today and this story is kinda dogwater (get it?) see you all next chapter.

 

[UdenEmpati]

and aurora's personal visit resulted in karina's complete humiliation in chapter 5.
aurora throwing leftovers to her without ever properly explaining her intentions, while wielding all the authority karina once had was the final blow to her guts.
a realistic option to reconcile the sisters would be if aurora renounces her title and her marriage or publicly rehabilitates her sister and lifts the exile, but i doubt that the author will go with that.

Yes, from Karina's perspective; not from Aurora's, because up until the wedding ceremony that took place years after the "castle incident", Aurora had no idea as to how Karina felt. I'd argue she still doesn't, but that's because Karina has never been one to talk about her problems and struggles with others, and Aurora had very little chance of significant contact with Karina from the time she was taken away to be Queen Consort, up to Orlando annulling their engagement and exiling her.

Aurora's actions have all been in the context of what she thought would help Karina and/or make her happy. Karina spent their childhood doing just that for Aurora, and she sought to reciprocate in the manner she assumed would be equivalent. She just didn't know that Karina's perception of all of it, and a whole bunch more, over the span of their adolescence.

The way you're choosing to phrase everything is entirely taking Karina's side and how she perceives things. She's the protagonist, so that's understandable, but we do have a lot more context for the other characters now than we did at the point of chapters 3-5, and continuing to only parse Aurora's actions through the lens of another character--particularly one we know has a warped view of things--starts to seem unfairly judgmental.

Aurora's made a right mess of things, but not with the aim or intent that Karina believes she had. That's a key point, and is what I'd argue one of the central themes of the series: that perspectives and prejudices are clouding the truth of what's actually transpired, and that the truth needs to be sought out and uncovered, or else tragedy will befall them all.

And I'm not even sure if that's a "realistic" option, though I'm not going to guess at where the author's headed from here. But as of now, there's no reason for Aurora to renounce being Queen Consort, especially if the Crown really is corrupt or otherwise doing something nefarious; her removing herself from Orlando's side means she'd lose her existing leverage with him, and we've seen her stave off his desire to send an actual army after Karina twice now (chapter 3, and again in chapter 12)--and the second time, Aurora actively stood up to him in front of assembled nobility, in a much more aggressive manner than she did in chapter 3. Aurora's own temperament and demeanor has changed over the course of the series, and so giving up the power she's gained would arguably make her aim of protecting Karina all the harder.
As for making a public declaration of absolving Karina--that also wouldn't fly at present, given she still has to contend with Orlando, and with the King himself. Until the Crown's power can be somehow diminished--in whatever way that plays out, which I assume is also part of Eve's own arc within the story, being a scribe/sleuth/etc--Aurora still has her hands tied, and she would have to figure out how to rehabilitate Karina's image among the nobility and reverse the years-long rumor mill against her sister.
But before that, she needs to find Karina, and start the process of addressing the tensions and problems between them. Nothing can happen before that, as Aurora could move heaven and earth to change Karina's fate in the eyes of their kingdom, and it wouldn't matter while this severe "misunderstanding" between them persists.

 

[MsW0lf]

and aurora's personal visit resulted in karina's complete humiliation in chapter 5.
aurora throwing leftovers to her without ever properly explaining her intentions, while wielding all the authority karina once had was the final blow to her guts.
a realistic option to reconcile the sisters would be if aurora renounces her title and her marriage or publicly rehabilitates her sister and lifts the exile, but i doubt that the author will go with that.

With what authority? Everybody talking about Aurora’s actions and Karina’s feelings: Karina would have been fucked with or without Aurora’s intervention. Orlando’s actions have shown that regardless of what anyone wants he will ultimately do what HE wants. Aurora tried protecting Karina by removing her from the court and sending her into exile and stopping Orlando from sending assassins. He sent them anyway meaning that if Aurora had literally just stood by and did nothing he would still have orchestrated something to remove Karina and install Aurora. The rumours and narrative of Karina’s behaviour at court completely back this up.

So which would have been worse: Aurora watching everything, doing nothing, and Karina being murdered before Aurora was installed as Queen? Or Aurora trying to intervene not knowing that her actions were futile and could exacerbate Karina’s feelings of betrayal? Orlando is gonna Orlando and a lot of people seem to be blaming a girl who has almost as little agency as Karina does.

 

[UdenEmpati]

Does our ladywolf have a very savage mentality here or a practical one?

"I can kill the sister and bring her head to my beloved so she'll be happy."

"I can capture the sister, bring her to karina and then let karina kill her. That would be more satisfying for my beloved."

Ya get what I mean? If she's really savage she'd just want to kill aurora right away. It's more reasonable to ask for karina's input first...

It would be shocking if the author actually let wolfy kill aurora. I really don't see that happening unless this is suppposed to be a tragedy. Which feels unlikely since karina's revenge was just putting up the middle finger to her sister and the prince. She didn't even kill anyone after assassins were sent, by the prince, to kill her. Based on the tone so far, I don't see wolfy killing aurora in cold blood. Dragging aurora over to karina potentially harmed though, likely.

I imagine aurora will have to convince wolfy to spare her temporarily so she can apologize to karina. "Let me say sorry first, then you can kill me." Something like that.

Capturing (or attempting to capture) Aurora makes the most sense to me in the moment, if Reshtoka believes that Karina will feel most fulfilled in taking her revenge for herself. If she doesn't, then she might simply attempt to kill Aurora here and now, and present her corpse.
The kicker for the second option, is that Charlotte is there--and more importantly, Eve, who is also a wolfkin and thus someone who might be able to talk all parties down from a violent ledge.

The way I think it might go, is that death is ultimately avoided (depending on Reshtoka's decision and/or Charlotte & Eve intervening), and then all of them go to Reshtoka's village--whether Reshtoka is bringing Aurora as tribute to Karina, or is convinced by the three of them to take Aurora to Karina so that the sisters may speak--and that will lead into all of them discovering that Karina's gone AWOL into the woods alone.
If I'm correct, then we'll maybe see a temporary team-up between Reshtoka & Team Aurora, which might also lead to Reshtoka speaking with the Sister, and learning some stuff about Karina that she didn't know, thus changing her perception of things and furthering the ongoing plot point that is Karina's warped view of her place in the world.

We'll likely have to wait a few chapters, though.