They literally threatened and tried to blackmail his fiancée into breaking her engagement so that she could take the spot as the future queen and mother of the nation and got caught doing it and then tried to lie to him about it
Thank you. I also thought original commenter's post was pretty stupid. Although original commenter's biases were borne from previous WN/LN/Manga bad trope crutches, more than lack of thought. I don't blame them, I blame lazy-ass JP authors spamming the "corrupt noble" trope to drive plot.
Things prince knows, we do too:
(italics indicating monarchy nuance)
- Lying to the law during a formal investigation (as a member of the nobility)
- Attacks on his fiancee (and Coup d'état indirect attack on the throne)
- Slander (of royal family)
- Inciting civil unrest / riots (via Discrimination and Heresy of church doctrine)
- Harassment (of royal family)
Things we know they did, prince doesn't:
- Harm the nation (instigating attack on the saint)
- Treason against the state (via mother's words/actions)
I also agree with -- and am glad to see -- the potential prosecution of their entire families.
Especially because this is set in monarchy setting. I would actually hope to see their families lose/demote their titles, cede important/profitable lands, or stripped of their military forces. Engaging in literal treason causes that.
Too many stories handwave this off for artificial drama. This isn't modern day. You can't cherry-pick which elements of "20th century civil rights" (such as free speech) you import into your fictional manga mideival universe.
- The powers that come with being an aristocratic noble de facto come with the responsibility to keep family in line. Hence communal responsibility and communal punishment.
- Without this, monarchies would not exist. Whole point is give power to a few cronies you can trust, to dominate the masses you can't trust. Cronies backstabbing you like this destroy that. (Handwavey propaganda fed to masses of "nobless oblige" aside.)
- Although most JP fantasy stories funge corruption in there (almost by default) as lazy writing crutch. It's nice to see at least some semblance of rational worldbuilding here... even if tinted in Yandere ML glasses.
Tell the Queen of England you incited papparazi to ram into Princess Dianna's car, because you wanted your son/daughter instead as their fiancee. See how well it works out.
