Akuyaku Ouji no Eiyuutan - Vol. 2 Ch. 6.2

[MangaDex]

 

[Huang-Teizan]

Praying her parents aren’t aristocratic assholes. Please.

 

[Tatsuya-Kai]

Sounds like the mc is a better choice for king than the brother to me.

 

[talas]

Whatever he's doing makes zero sense, especially because the King knows. Just tell the brother and be done with it, why let him act like an asshole all the time?

 

[Ohin]

Whatever he's doing makes zero sense, especially because the King knows. Just tell the brother and be done with it, why let him act like an asshole all the time?

I have no idea if this gets explained further on in more depth but honestly the read I get from this chapter is that even if the brother is an asshole Al still loves him and wants him to be happy, even if it means that love isn't reciprocated. Definitely explains why he basically lets him get away with the inciting engagement incident at least, imo anyway. It's definitely a bit contrived regardless though.

 

[itspleb]

This is just.. I'll let this manga do it's thing for awhile. I just cant take this .1 and .2 chapters.

 

[Faint15]

The MC is a genuine idiot/masochist.

 

[ciera]

Thanks for the release

 

[morichiro]

So... this implies that he'll let his brother become a tyrant because "as long as he's happy all's fine"... The kingdom is fucked.

 

[kaezeribato]

This entire royale family is trash... This brainded mc think that the pseudo brother that insult and ridicule him all the time deserve his sacrifice? This make no fucking sense... Only a brain dead retard would be ok with someone trying to destroy his life just because he is his brother.

Did author think people would consider MC to be a good guy for this? For real, the dude is ready to let an entire country to ruin just because "it's my brother"...

 

[Svelandria]

I agree that this is all very silly, but Makina mentioned it wasn't just Leor who would be seen in a bad light by breaking off the engagement like that. Rather, the entire royal family would suffer a huge blow. It's likely that Al still does harbor some love for his brother despite how much of a prick he is, but I reckon that care he has for Leor has been strained more and more over the years. My guess is things will come to a point where Al just straight up says "Fuck it" and gives up on protecting Leor, letting Leor deal with the consequences of his actions while Al does his own thing elsewhere with his new fiancé.

Regardless, it's not just Leor he's protecting. It's his entire family. We don't know what Al's standing is with his other siblings or his mother, but it's clear that he has a decent relationship with his father, all things considered. You could argue that Al isn't actually doing all this for Leor. He's doing it for his father. Now it's just a matter of what breaks first. Al's patience in Leor or his father's patience. My bet's on the father.

Edit: Btw, his father is actually against Al acting as the villain. It's likely that the king has been struggling with trying to bring his son back into the light, politically speaking. Sure, we as bystanders would see it stupid that the king has allowed Al remain in this "cursed child" situation, but mob mentality and the opinions of the nobility is very important for a ruler to manage properly. Everyone, from a common pauper on the street to the king's personal boot-licker, thinks Al is cursed. Trying to change that belief is likely very difficult, even more so because Al keeps doubling-down on the role he is playing. The hope here, the "optimism" Makina mentioned, is that Charlotte may help bring a new perspective to Al's life. Before, he was alone (save for Makina). But now that he has a fiancé, a WIFE, everything he does will directly affect her. That is to say, his reputation is now hers, and the more he falls the more she will suffer, and her suffering is the last thing he wants. Simply put, if Al won't live for himself, then maybe he'll live for Charlotte, and it is for this reason that the king bound the two together.

 

[Doodert]

Thanks for the releases! Looking forward to more!

 

[orangerain7734]

I agree that this is all very silly, but Makina mentioned it wasn't just Leor who would be seen in a bad light by breaking off the engagement like that. Rather, the entire royal family would suffer a huge blow. It's likely that Al still does harbor some love for his brother despite how much of a prick he is, but I reckon that care he has for Leor has been strained more and more over the years. My guess is things will come to a point where Al just straight up says "Fuck it" and gives up on protecting Leor, letting Leor deal with the consequences of his actions while Al does his own thing elsewhere with his new fiancé.

Regardless, it's not just Leor he's protecting. It's his entire family. We don't know what Al's standing is with his other siblings or his mother, but it's clear that he has a decent relationship with his father, all things considered. You could argue that Al isn't actually doing all this for Leor. He's doing it for his father. Now it's just a matter of what breaks first. Al's patience in Leor or his father's patience. My bet's on the father.

Edit: Btw, his father is actually against Al acting as the villain. It's likely that the king has been struggling with trying to bring his son back into the light, politically speaking. Sure, we as bystanders would see it stupid that the king has allowed Al remain in this "cursed child" situation, but mob mentality and the opinions of the nobility is very important for a ruler to manage properly. Everyone, from a common pauper on the street to the king's personal boot-licker, thinks Al is cursed. Trying to change that belief is likely very difficult, even more so because Al keeps doubling-down on the role he is playing. The hope here, the "optimism" Makina mentioned, is that Charlotte may help bring a new perspective to Al's life. Before, he was alone (save for Makina). But now that he has a fiancé, a WIFE, everything he does will directly affect her. That is to say, his reputation is now hers, and the more he falls the more she will suffer, and her suffering is the last thing he wants. Simply put, if Al won't live for himself, then maybe he'll live for Charlotte, and it is for this reason that the king bound the two together.

Yeah, mob mentality can be a bitch. Aside from Leor, if the rest of the family was willing to keep Al despite the 'curse' his dark hair brings and what the public says about it, especially the aristocracy, yeah, shockingly enough, the royal family are the better people in this instance. The people they're trying to govern are probably better off dead if they're willing to kill off an innocent baby for a superstition.

Moreover, while it's sort of understandable why Al's trying to play villain ... has he not considered overturning that superstition and become a better person than what those with the curse are described to be? If everything he's doing is for the sake of his family, then this route will play out way better than playing the villain because:

• Superstition will be proven false.
• It proves the royal family keeping Al, despite the curse, was the right decision not only for them, but for the country as a whole.
• Not just Al's reputation, but the royal family's will skyrocket.

And the king likely knows this, too, but I guess he hasn't convinced Al enough that that might be the case, or maybe Al doesn't have as much faith in his own family than he has us believe, despite how much he loves them.

I kind of don't like how the king's solution to this is chaining a woman to him through marriage, but I swear to god, if Leor's being such a dumb asshole up to this point because he's trying to make Al better all along ... I just can't, everyone in this is stupid with no redemption.

 

[LordofLeechers]

I kind of don't like how the king's solution to this is chaining a woman to him through marriage

Welcome to nobility. That said, considering how chatty the maid is, she likely told the king about Al's prior crush on Charlotte, and since the king knows that Al is a good guy, Charlotte would likely be happy with him. All things told, it definitely is a win-win for all parties, provided they manage to kick Al into gear and have him fix his reputation.

 

[Svelandria]

Yeah, mob mentality can be a bitch. Aside from Leor, if the rest of the family was willing to keep Al despite the 'curse' his dark hair brings and what the public says about it, especially the aristocracy, yeah, shockingly enough, the royal family are the better people in this instance. The people they're trying to govern are probably better off dead if they're willing to kill off an innocent baby for a superstition.

Moreover, while it's sort of understandable why Al's trying to play villain ... has he not considered overturning that superstition and become a better person than what those with the curse are described to be? If everything he's doing is for the sake of his family, then this route will play out way better than playing the villain because:

• Superstition will be proven false.
• It proves the royal family keeping Al, despite the curse, was the right decision not only for them, but for the country as a whole.
• Not just Al's reputation, but the royal family's will skyrocket.

And the king likely knows this, too, but I guess he hasn't convinced Al enough that that might be the case, or maybe Al doesn't have as much faith in his own family than he has us believe, despite how much he loves them.

I kind of don't like how the king's solution to this is chaining a woman to him through marriage, but I swear to god, if Leor's being such a dumb asshole up to this point because he's trying to make Al better all along ... I just can't, everyone in this is stupid with no redemption.

I agree with you and think you're spot on. I want to assume a lot of the issue with Al (on top of everything else, of course) is a lack of self-confidence, or perhaps instead a weird sort of guilt for being the "cursed child." And if the King's awareness goes that far then maybe having him marry Charlotte, someone he likes and who clearly has no problems being with him, could be his way of getting his son out of his rut. Far as I can tell, Charlotte is pretty self-confident to an extent. She is one of the best, if not THE best, amongst magic practitioners, not to mention she's been educated to be the next queen, a very demanding role that would require an extensive education. And to top it all off, despite everything that has happened, she's kept her head high. Perhaps the king hopes some of what Charlotte has will rub off onto Al.

Of course, with that said, I doubt Charlotte is unfazed by everything. It's just that rather than suffer from the condemnation "event" she instead keeps moving forward. And the person she ends up hooking with being someone she has had nothing but good memories of? Bonus! It's even better because it seems like she might actually favor him romantically already, to an extent. I mean, she likes him that's for sure, and that like has only increased since she's witnessed his good work in the shadows.

Whatever the case, I think Al is basically depressed even if he doesn't show it nor know it himself (although, I'm just guessing here). He's stuck in what others think of him as the cursed child and therefore stuck in his own head, believing that following the script as the villain is the best, safest course of action. Meanwhile, Charlotte is there willingly to help support him and maybe pull him out of his self-loathing since the king has been unable to, to show him that it's ok to be loved and be seen in a positive light, to be seen as the "hero" rather than the "villain." She's there to let him know that it's ok to be happy.

As for Leor... I really hope they just keep him stupid. Having him come out of the woodwork and proclaim that it was all his ploy to make Al look better would leave such a bitter taste in my mouth, not to mention it wouldn't make sense. He's been nothing but a jerk and was willing to ruin his ex-fiancé's life for his own selfish stupidity, and for that to be part of his plan to elevate Al would be such a dumb and gross twist. I'd rather he remain the actual villain to Al's hidden heroics.

(It's almost 6 in the morning and I'm tired, so I hope what I said made sense. :S)

 

[Matthewkeen]

nice.

 

[Grikath]

Whatever he's doing makes zero sense, especially because the King knows. Just tell the brother and be done with it, why let him act like an asshole all the time?

You're forgetting the .... rather convoluted... japanese societal mores here.
Brother/Senpai/Superior is Right, even when they're wrong. Which is what gave us Fukushima...

The author is dialling this up to 11 here, with chuuni sprinkles on top, but still..
It's almost like he's criticising certain japanese aspects of society in a shounen....

 

[JACGohu]

You're forgetting the .... rather convoluted... japanese societal mores here.
Brother/Senpai/Superior is Right, even when they're wrong. Which is what gave us Fukushima...

The author is dialling this up to 11 here, with chuuni sprinkles on top, but still..
It's almost like he's criticising certain japanese aspects of society in a shounen....

Not sure it has anything to do with that, but much more to do with aristocratic politics and public perception in this story.
First and foremost, at the root of it all is that Al is perceived to be a "Cursed Child", and not just by the nobility, but because everyone knows the tale, that is how even the people view people with black hair and eyes, particularly among the nobility, worse still if you're a royal. Perception of the rulers as the highest authority in the land, if something which is considered a symbol of misfortune is born into the family, how can people with an inherent bias against it, not view it badly? All for a superstition which every living person in that country accepts as a truth. Changing the perception of it won't be easy either, since it's a task of convincing every living person in the country at the least.

What Makina describes is that Al is trying to divert negative sentiment and doubt against his family, and take it all upon himself so that the family's position won't be placed in jeopardy among the nobles or the people. He's young, but he's already playing the political spin-control game. Else the trust of the people can be lost, the loyalty and support of the nobles would diminish and can eventually disappear, members of the military, and some ambitious, power-hungry bastiches among them may even plot to overthrow the crown because a cursed omen like a black-haired child could be interpreted by them, as the royal family being unworthy and unfit to rule. Part of politics is keeping up appearances, and Al is trying to make sure that his existence doesn't tarnish the family's. Though I do agree his brother needs to be slapped silly for his behavior.

Given Charlotte just underwent the typical Otome Game scenario of having her engagement called off in public by false-accusations, I wonder what the odds are that Leo's new fiance was actually the one responsible for orchestrating this mess. Or perhaps, some of the other nobles' daughters. The proverbial mean girls with daddies who control the country, jealous of Charlotte for being engaged to the person of their worship, and hating her enough to do anything to make her fall.

 

[Greedygreen]

He spoiled his brother rotten

and that without his brother even noticing it

 

[Seraphus]

Difficult choices in a royal family.

A. Allow a dipshit to stay in line for the throne, and eventually allow his incompetence to sacrifice 49.9% of the population to his ego and arrogant idiocy... BUT, it will keep the family in power, and ensure continuity of classic primogeniture while making sure the kingdom (though diminished) will survive as a political entity.

OR

B. Show the idiot for the utter fool he is, allow some other sibling to take the throne, and ensure that a majority of the population survives... BUT, there won't be any fun game to play, and everything will still be fine for the kingdom.

I mean... obviously, the option where the kingdom almost gets wiped out through heinous fuckery most foul is the correct choice; without death, ego, destruction, arrogance, suffering, and retardation, you wouldn't have a Monarchy!

This MC has no business claiming to have done anything good, ever; he's just as much a single-minded dipshit as his brother.