The ending. Every thing is supposed to go downhill. There wasn't much hope. It was :
"Do a forced marriage with the asshole and maybe gtfo to Japan with Hanako by simulating Alice's death and avoid the family from being shamed because she's supposed to be dead" (unlikely but still possible)
"Kill Alice and bam, problem of forced marriage solved" (Yeah Nah, that's a joke, that would have been the worse ending possible and NOBODY wanted Alice's death, ESPECIALLY Hanako)
"Just cancel the wedding, expose yourself in front of everyone so that the asshole can't use the info of you being gay and with the tremendous money coming from your books, take off to Japan and go full Lovey Dovey as a writter."(Well... That's a lot of the actual ending but still, the major flaw being that the family will take the full blast instead of her (Even if the mom kinda deserve it ngl) so yeah...)
So yeah. That ending imo reeks of "The Power of Love can overcome everything, even when the world is almost done for" and even if I'm happy that they got a happy ending, I still think that it lacks consequences of her choices and a proper conclusion.
If there were a 18th chapter as some sort of epilogue, I would have done it that way :
After Alice announced during the wedding ceremony that she's in love with a woman and take off, Edward do not have anymore pressure on Alice and Hanako. He realizes that this was the worst play possible and that his actions led to this ending. He sulks himself and start to hate Hanako, Alice and himself for the events but still blames it all on Hanako, "that damned japanese maid" for "turning Alice away from him" and "corrupting her" or whatever.I just hate that asshole, let him die of alcohol poisoning because of his hatred against himself.
Most of the people in the assembly go on his side because of pity and... You know. Gays in the 1900s? More like no.
Alice's Mother can't really get over the fact that her daughter let her selfish love before the family's honor and probably disown and cut ties totally with her.
Her suffragette sister roots for her and continue her fight in England to give more freedom to women. Same for most of the maids rooting for their happiness, especially the head maid that will even prepare some luggages for them.
At the end, since Hanako already had her baggages done, she only waits for Alice to be done with her owns that she already partially prepared because she felt that something was going to happen. While being helped by her maids, both happy and sad for Alice's departure, she gathers clothes, some jewelry and pricey items and the money that she stocked up as Victor without forgetting her most recent work that she'll give to her editor, a long time friend that will always help her and Hanako publish their work.
After one or two days at an Inn to prepare themselves before the great journey, they quickly go to Japan, together, already imagining a lovely future where they can live happily and without worrying much about people's opinion. Both of them decide to continue writing while Hanako restart her activities as a teacher and Alice, because of her origins, follow in her steps. To add to this, they receive some letters from back at Alice's home by her sister and the head maid informing them of their current situation back there, explaining that it wasn't that much of a surprise because of the already existing rumors about her but that it was a shock and that Edward is searching for her everywhere in England, while treating her like his "possession" and saying that "he loves her more than that filthy japanese woman" (Yeah, not that original but under effect of anger, you can spit nonsense for months so...). In the end, they'll exchange letters as much as they can and be at peace without worrying about anyone.
Finally, they then both come across Alice's first love and Hanako's teacher (2 in 1, wow), enjoy a peaceful life without any regrets anymore and... Why not finishing with the main couple observing the beautiful Cherry Blossoms and a final kiss under one of them?
I know that it's a bit pretentious to just be like that and say that the ending wasn't one I can love when I don't even have 1/10000 of the author's talent but for me, a good conclusion closes almost every side doors while opening the main door that leads toward satisfaction and completion for the reader while still giving a bit of things to imagine their future. That doesn't mean that I'm right, at the end of the day, it's just an opinion on a manga ending. Yeah... I got a ton of free time.