Akuyaku Reijoutachi wa Yuruganai - Ch. 14

[Psychronia]

This is kind of interesting. Eric is exceedingly flawed and made many mistakes without seeming incompetent.

He's still level-headed, but he truly had no frame of reference to see Aini as anything other than a novelty and source of new experiences. He's a "sheltered prince" done quite well.

Of course, part of it is that he wasn't lucky enough to have splendid childhood friends who would grow into even more splendid aids. The narrative worked against him and saddled him with the losers who refused to learn until they suffered a painful experience.

Let's see...he'll have Bernard, and I guess Orva can still be a guard if it's just for his strength. Sauri is better than nothing if he's able to grow some more, but ideally, his fiance lets him poach her far superior talent.

 

[JamesMoriarty]

Intriguing to see how level-headed Prince Erik is being through all of this.
I keep reading his thought process through the lens of looking for hints that he's slipping up, missing a turn in his own logic that betrays his ideals and goals, but I'm not really seeing anything. It seems like he retains his faculties in a way that the other two boys didn't, and he still firmly holds to Seraphina and his engagement (and, in a sense, alliance) with her.

I suspect we'll get at least one more chapter with him, and I suspect we'll get a full(er) rundown of "the lunch incident", since we're now dealing with Erik directly and it's all centered around him. But I am intrigued by how he alone seems to be the only boy not affected by Aini in that pseudo-magical way (though I guess Bernadetta's foreign prince was also similarly resistant, for what it's worth), so I am curious of that resistance holds true, or if he starts to slip and Seraphina has to step in and "correct things".

He isn't falling for the saintess, but he seems to be more soft on her than he should be. When they met for the first time, he looks at his fiance and recognizes that he should act like her, but still decides to give leniency to Aini. Same thing when she invited herself to eat with them. It could be said that he is too soft on people, and both Airi and the brother of the girl who is teaching her are taking advantage of that, but he still has enough sense to draw a line and not cross it. The guys who did became enthralled by the saintess personality or magic seemed to have some complexes, so she could have exploited that. The prince doesn't have that.

 

[looc64]

I do think he is as pure as seraphina because we see that as royalty he takes his duties seriously as the crown prince with this background chapter of what he thinks.

Edit: though I guess his flaw is that his 2 potential aides, the idiotic knight and the dumber brother. He can't or doesn't see their flaws.
Edit: corrected to crown prince, Seraphina gives off such MC vibes he felt like a consort

Thinking it over I feel like his problem is that there's sort of a buffer between him and the kind of people who would make good aides for him.

Setting aside the areas where they're evenly matched, Seraphina's strong point is that she's very good is at reading and inspiring people, and his strong point seems to be that he's open-minded and inquisitive about his people's lives.

Seraphina's two aides are basically extremely competent girls who were feeling undervalued and uninspired, which is a super good match for her (that she engineered.)

He could have a similar affinity for people who're extremely talented/knowledgeable but lack the status/polish/filter needed to climb the ranks normally, but that kind of person is by definition not gonna show up in his social circle, so he's just kinda muddling along with his current mediocre aides.

Feel like that's why he's semi-interested in Aini, she's the closest he's gotten to talking to someone who'll infodump to him about commoner shit.

 

[TheEnd478]

The baron's illegitimate child is still the baron's child, though. I assume that if he didn't immediately recognize her (at least for marriage alliance material), then he should have recognized her after the holy power manifested. If he didn't at all that's really weird, actually.

Aini's also so brazenly trying to manipulate the Prince that everything she says should be taken with several pinches of salt.

I assume we'll eventually get an Aini PoV and that's how we'll learn how she was actually treated.

Spoiler: Her Father

He's a POS, he only kept her intially because he planned to "sell her" at a later date if she became a beaut! When her power manifest, he thought he could "sell her" but Bernie's dad essentially "seized her" without resistance from him (The fool thought a "mere baron" could "negotate" with "his betters!" I found it the one GOOD thing Bernie's father did in this story! Since her family sucks! Her stepmother was a bitch, her half-sister was a bitch and her "bullying" is why she has much of her mindset that you see, including her intial opinion on Bernie/Berndetta! And her mother, 100% USELESS, and I mean that in a sense of not trying to do ANYTHING to make that experience LIGHTER! It's another factor on why she is the way she is!

And yes we WILL get one on her eventually! It was the best part I liked in the Novel as

Spoiler: Spoilers for those who don't want to wait

It reveals she isn't a White Lotus, she really IS an "innocent Fool" nothing she does is malicious, well KNOWINGLY! But when the Prince DOES reveal that "she was the one who misunderstood" she gets a wake up call because she always had a sense of "knowing more" because of her "bullied" past, she never HATED her sister, she actually "pity" the girl, because she was taking ALL her "insecurities" out on her! It's why she saw Bernie the same way, and in a sense she wasn't wrong since we know Bernie dislike of her is SOMEWHAT because of her own issues! But after what happens later with the Prince does Aini start to realize she has some "Growing up to do herself" and at that point, is when Bernie and her FINALLY get along, as in "Bernie having resolved her own issues at this point" gives her some STRONG advice that helps her start "making her own life choices instead of having them made for her!" And the Prince REALLY taught her another lesson! "Stay the HELL away from TAKEN Men" LOL

Of course in the case of "the other Taken Man" in her Harem! She cuts contact with him BECAUSE she finds out as she didn't KNOW before this point, his treatment of his "Fiancee" at this point he's already been DISINHERITED as turns out, his MOTHER wore the pants in the family, so EMULATING his idiot father and "cheating on his fiancee" was the factor his brother used to have the engagement and "Heir title" switched to him! Moron only ASSUMED now he could "try" for Aini, but as said, his poor treatment of his fiancee comes back to bite him in the ass

Honestly HE is prehaps the ONLY major character in the plot who gets a BAD ending! Bernie's brother gets HUMBLED, and the Prince was NEVER a cheating asshole. I'll save Aini ending for if asked! But she gets a GOOD ending!

I hope we get the EPILOGUE of the story that follows her and the Royal Couple's "daughters" in the future!

 

[Vexrapopple]

Interesting that the prince's primary goof, if it can be considered that, is that he doesn't understand that the Saintess is attempting to seduce him.

She's so far out of his interest that it doesn't click with him that she's actively trying.

His secondary goof is assuming his future aides are as self-sufficient as he is. Which indicates he isn't really paying any attention to them to realize what they're actually like.

I don’t think she has the brains for that. I believe she is as naive… er innocent as she appears and her 2 braincells believe they’re good friends. She’s a romantic airhead who doesn’t cope with the cynical realism of noble society.

 

[SunSun]

The baron's illegitimate child is still the baron's child, though. I assume that if he didn't immediately recognize her (at least for marriage alliance material), then he should have recognized her after the holy power manifested. If he didn't at all that's really weird, actually.

Aini's also so brazenly trying to manipulate the Prince that everything she says should be taken with several pinches of salt.

I assume we'll eventually get an Aini PoV and that's how we'll learn how she was actually treated.

Yes, she wasn't recognized until after her power manifested. That's the point. She hasn't had any of the training and upbringing as expected of a noble lady, since she was living with her commoner mother. And because of that, she isn't treating the Crown Prince as someone educated should, but as an ignorant commoner would. Which is why he's using her as info on lives of commoners.

That is not how royalty/noble's marriage happened in the past. No engagement like we did in modern times, no such thing as childhood engagement or engaged really, just straight up searching for spouse candidate, and if suitable matches find, it's straight up marriage afterward.

And if we are taking otome game into account, none of the love interests are taken. So why do those otome isekai insist that those love interests cheat with their non-existent fiancée?

I don't know where you heard that from, but nobility absolutely had an extremely structured and strict betrothal, engagement then marriage process from childhood to marriageable age. The only situation I can think of what you're talking about, is nations outside of the Catholic Church.

Just really quickly, the process can start with two families before they even have kids, about land, money, alliances, etc. Then once they have children and after a certain age, the children are basically making a "promise to marry", then once recognized as adults, actual vows are exchanged so if seggs happens, they're instantly married. But usually after sometime the marriage ceremony is prepared because it acts as a public announcement of all the legal shit happening behind the scenes regarding the marriage.

Given that, any fiancée is a promise of marriage between the two individuals and families and are absolutely taken.

 

[maddery]

Yes, she wasn't recognized until after her power manifested. That's the point. She hasn't had any of the training and upbringing as expected of a noble lady, since she was living with her commoner mother. And because of that, she isn't treating the Crown Prince as someone educated should, but as an ignorant commoner would. Which is why he's using her as info on lives of commoners.


I don't know where you heard that from, but nobility absolutely had an extremely structured and strict betrothal, engagement then marriage process from childhood to marriageable age. The only situation I can think of what you're talking about, is nations outside of the Catholic Church.

Just really quickly, the process can start with two families before they even have kids, about land, money, alliances, etc. Then once they have children and after a certain age, the children are basically making a "promise to marry", then once recognized as adults, actual vows are exchanged so if seggs happens, they're instantly married. But usually after sometime the marriage ceremony is prepared because it acts as a public announcement of all the legal shit happening behind the scenes regarding the marriage.

Given that, any fiancée is a promise of marriage between the two individuals and families and are absolutely taken.

I don't know any nation that have such process. Royal families usually only have engagement shortly before their marriage, and that is only after they came of age.

Which country are you talking about anyway? No wonder why these Japanese webnovels keep having this problematic settings. Even worse when they enforced it on otome, where no such thing happened (all love interests are single, no matter how much those damn webnovel authors tried to twist it).