I am disappointed in the lack of explicit confirmation of sapphic relationships/feelings in an anthology that's definitely supposed to be sapphic (in 2020/2021)— first one is very old school pg13 yuri of the 70s vibes🌸, then the second has uhhhhh a friendly hug to confirm their relationship 🥴, 3rd was fine... Still inexplicit but not subtle at all; the villainess was legit, like, "yeah I love you but I 100% prioritize my BFF over you, she's my #1"; heroine only married the prince so she wouldn't be separated from her gf that was extremely sapphic; the only way it could be gayer is uhhhhh... with the EXPLICIT CONFIRMATION of their relationship. If it said "my husband and my lover/beloved" at the end, I bet that would ease a lot of ruffled feathers (but still not Confirmed Gay).
The 4th installment was INSULTING.
This last one tho??? It's more subtext than text-text, but just that page with the heroine weeping while the "villainess" holds her tenderly in her arms... A literal gdamn embrace... The fact that she'd tear apart her own life and family to keep her woman safe... If you changed the "villainess" into a man and altered the annulled engagement (either with a princess or whatever)... No one would dare say that wasn't romantic. Again, they could have spared a page or two to make it more explicitly romantic, but a slow burn isn't bad either. I think it would have been better received if #4 wasn't such garbage and we didn't have the FRIENDSHIP HUGS and inexplicit romantic friendships all over this anthology 😤😤😤😤