Majo Maid wa Joou no Himitsu o Shitte Iru - Vol. 1 Ch. 3 - Something I Want to Protect

[MangaDex]

 

[Thepandas12]

I cannot find a good video to put here, so here's a tf2 seal trying his best to dance instead.

 

[Aliamus]

 

[chairlight]

Given the revelation of this chapter about how the magic works, its starting to make sense. The real crown princess(Queen) is kept safe, maybe doing things on the downlow/covertly, possibly even sourcing aid or allies for the kingdom. While the 'prince'ess operates on the surface guarding the kingdom from threats, using up his lifespan. He basically is a body double for her as well if neccesary, or vice versa.

The main thing that doesn't make sense yet, is this whole heir via Liz situation, unless the plan is to have the 1st prince return alongside its birth, or a purge of the other royals is being planned. The need for an heir is obvious, as if there is none between the 1st Prince and princess, it becomes a full faction war by the other Princes. And if the prince/princess are incapble of a heir, it only makes it easier to usurp power.

Actually come to think of it, pretending to be his sister until he can sire a secret heir is actually a pretty good idea. Especially if this is a Jacob and the coat of many colors type situation, where the other Princes tried to get rid of the first prince to gain power.




All in all this actually has a real chance of being a interesting story, than how it appears on the surface. Rereading through it there are some other details:

• Liz was adopted/raised in her house after someone paid them a lot of money.
• Given how secretive/rare magic is so far, it's reasonable for her house to have assumed she was setting up events so she could pretend to have predictive powers.(which it can be noted real or fake, if believed by the right person could give her immense political power and influence/importance)
• Given the 1st Princes motives and schemes it makes sense why he would take Liz and trust her. They both want to do the right thing, even at the cost of themselves. They have a strong sense of wanting to help others, and to help them live happy lives. And she has the power to see the future, which can be vital for the schemes being undertaken, as well as for the prince to survive as the princess.
• Holy crap, that house really got a good deal. They got boatloads of money to take Liz in the first place, they got boatloads from, the Queen, and they have potential political ties to the royal family(which we learn has a reputation for marriage/concubines with servants from houses).
• Given how the former king mismanaged the kingdom, I wonder if he really died because of an epidemic, or whether he was assassinated.
• Given the reaction of the Princes when told Liz could see the future, it seems obvious they have plans for power or at least overthrowing the "queen".
• Also it seems to be implied that the first prince disappeared under questionable circumstances(attempted assassination or exile as well)
• It seems there are factions/forces that are toppling nations, as seems attempted with the former king, as well as with the neighboring country(which didn't have an heir) in present time.
• It's openly stated if the "queen" were killed, the other 5 Princes would fight each other for the seat and cause chaos. See also "treachery and assassinations are a daily occurance at this castle."
• Rereading Liz viewing the "Queens" future again, it seems the real princess has some illness that perhaps leads to her death in the future, perhaps a chronic condition, since the first prince is at her bedside.
• Black magic comes from a ruined nation and is e tremely taboo, perhaps even a capitol offense. Hence part of why "Queen" kept black magic summoning a secret.
• Part of the reason the first prince impersonated the princess was confirmed because he was targeted by other nations and to help lower their guard.

Whether the author actually is good at writing, has a longterm plan, or this story will turn out well isn't clear yet. Right now we are In Medias Res, with a background info dump. With the author laying out the secret first, and giving the context first, before building up the characters. Not entirely unlike the star wars title crawls.

The choice to have the prince become the princess seems to actually matter, and not just be "lol gender bend to have technically yuri/not Yuri relationships". It's kinda like an inverse of the Mulan or "daughter pretending to be a son" trope. It doesn't seem to be some sort of horny or fetish based writing(yet at least).

The key to completely understanding the picture, is to understand what is going on with the real princess. Why she is unable to be the Queen, where the prince must impersonate her.

My bet is probably it is easiest to hide in plain sight, where people underestimate or look down upon him as his sister, while it is easier/safer to hide her sister than himself. Meanwhile the enemies both foreign and family can either run around chasing fake rumors of the first prince,, or let their guard down thinking he is dead. While the first prince bides time until he can grow up and strengthen his power to withstand direct attacks. With having Liz sire a secret heir, and plan when successful, to purge the enemies and return as the prince with his legitimacy and future secured.

 

[Neushaartje]

Given the revelation of this chapter about how the magic works, its starting to make sense. The real crown princess(Queen) is kept safe, maybe doing things on the downlow/covertly, possibly even sourcing aid or allies for the kingdom. While the 'prince'ess operates on the surface guarding the kingdom from threats, using up his lifespan. He basically is a body double for her as well if neccesary, or vice versa.

The main thing that doesn't make sense yet, is this whole heir via Liz situation, unless the plan is to have the 1st prince return alongside its birth, or a purge of the other royals is being planned. The need for an heir is obvious, as if there is none between the 1st Prince and princess, it becomes a full faction war by the other Princes. And if the prince/princess are incapble of a heir, it only makes it easier to usurp power.

Actually come to think of it, pretending to be his sister until he can sire a secret heir is actually a pretty good idea. Especially if this is a Jacob and the coat of many colors type situation, where the other Princes tried to get rid of the first prince to gain power.




All in all this actually has a real chance of being a interesting story, than how it appears on the surface. Rereading through it there are some other details:

• Liz was adopted/raised in her house after someone paid them a lot of money.
• Given how secretive/rare magic is so far, it's reasonable for her house to have assumed she was setting up events so she could pretend to have predictive powers.(which it can be noted real or fake, if believed by the right person could give her immense political power and influence/importance)
• Given the 1st Princes motives and schemes it makes sense why he would take Liz and trust her. They both want to do the right thing, even at the cost of themselves. They have a strong sense of wanting to help others, and to help them live happy lives. And she has the power to see the future, which can be vital for the schemes being undertaken, as well as for the prince to survive as the princess.
• Holy crap, that house really got a good deal. They got boatloads of money to take Liz in the first place, they got boatloads from, the Queen, and they have potential political ties to the royal family(which we learn has a reputation for marriage/concubines with servants from houses).
• Given how the former king mismanaged the kingdom, I wonder if he really died because of an epidemic, or whether he was assassinated.
• Given the reaction of the Princes when told Liz could see the future, it seems obvious they have plans for power or at least overthrowing the "queen".
• Also it seems to be implied that the first prince disappeared under questionable circumstances(attempted assassination or exile as well)
• It seems there are factions/forces that are toppling nations, as seems attempted with the former king, as well as with the neighboring country(which didn't have an heir) in present time.
• It's openly stated if the "queen" were killed, the other 5 Princes would fight each other for the seat and cause chaos. See also "treachery and assassinations are a daily occurance at this castle."
• Rereading Liz viewing the "Queens" future again, it seems the real princess has some illness that perhaps leads to her death in the future, perhaps a chronic condition, since the first prince is at her bedside.
• Black magic comes from a ruined nation and is e tremely taboo, perhaps even a capitol offense. Hence part of why "Queen" kept black magic summoning a secret.
• Part of the reason the first prince impersonated the princess was confirmed because he was targeted by other nations and to help lower their guard.

Whether the author actually is good at writing, has a longterm plan, or this story will turn out well isn't clear yet. Right now we are In Medias Res, with a background info dump. With the author laying out the secret first, and giving the context first, before building up the characters. Not entirely unlike the star wars title crawls.

The choice to have the prince become the princess seems to actually matter, and not just be "lol gender bend to have technically yuri/not Yuri relationships". It's kinda like an inverse of the Mulan or "daughter pretending to be a son" trope. It doesn't seem to be some sort of horny or fetish based writing(yet at least).

The key to completely understanding the picture, is to understand what is going on with the real princess. Why she is unable to be the Queen, where the prince must impersonate her.

My bet is probably it is easiest to hide in plain sight, where people underestimate or look down upon him as his sister, while it is easier/safer to hide her sister than himself. Meanwhile the enemies both foreign and family can either run around chasing fake rumors of the first prince,, or let their guard down thinking he is dead. While the first prince bides time until he can grow up and strengthen his power to withstand direct attacks. With having Liz sire a secret heir, and plan when successful, to purge the enemies and return as the prince with his legitimacy and future secured.

This is actually a very interesting analysis of many things I missed. In particular that line in the first chapter that they were paid to take care of Liz which was simply thrown in there together with the Queen just showing up inside the house might imply it was all masterminded from the start.

As for the genderswap thing, it should be noted that Ema Toyama likes this trope. This artist is much more known from Vampire Dormitory, which has a female protagonist who dresses up as a male for no real reason, ends up in living in an all-male dormitory of vampires, then a while into the story is changed into an actual male by magic, again for no reason, then is changed back into a female about four volumes later, and now in the last volume is changed back into a male again with magic, none of which really happened for any reason other than seemingly the artist liking it. — It should also be noted that that title was clearly well planned in advance so this artist is probably not making up some nonsense.

I think another big reason might be simply to make Liz pregnant. Forced pregnancy as a trope is frightfully popular these days.

The big thing for me that doesn't add up is that the real Schriess is older than Brad so why did Brad need to disappear for Schriess to take the throne? It essentially suggests it works on a very unusual system where the male secondborn takes præcedence over the female firstborn but the male thirdborn does not. It would make more sense to say that Brad is the firstborn and Schriess the secondborn. I even went back to double check the original lines to see if I made a mistake, but there's really no mistaking that the Japanese lines make it clear that Schriess took the throne in place of Brad.

 

[BayuAH]

You should not suck venom out with your mouth. Even though there is a tool for it, do not attempt to suck venom out.

The "cut and suck" method was discredited a few decades ago, when research proved it to be counterproductive. Venom spreads through the victim’s system so quickly, there’s no hope of sucking out a sufficient volume to make any difference.¹

Never try it in real life. It is recommended to go directly to a hospital for medical care and antivenom if required.²

---

¹ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/90886/can-you-suck-poison-out-snakebite
² https://news.virginia.edu/content/how-avoid-snakebites-and-what-do-if-youre-bitten

 

[chairlight]

This is actually a very interesting analysis of many things I missed. In particular that line in the first chapter that they were paid to take care of Liz which was simply thrown in there together with the Queen just showing up inside the house might imply it was all masterminded from the start.

Glad it came out coherently. There were some issues typing it and fighting formatting on mobile.

As for the genderswap thing, it should be noted that Ema Toyama likes this trope. This artist is much more known from Vampire Dormitory, which has a female protagonist who dresses up as a male for no real reason, ends up in living in an all-male dormitory of vampires, then a while into the story is changed into an actual male by magic, again for no reason, then is changed back into a female about four volumes later, and now in the last volume is changed back into a male again with magic, none of which really happened for any reason other than seemingly the artist liking it. — It should also be noted that that title was clearly well planned in advance so this artist is probably not making up some nonsense.

I have no idea of Authors previous series. That's kinda dumb. Still, I plan to judge each series on its own merit. There have been plenty of good authors who make bad series and vice versa.

I think one of the series I am reading , I learned is from someone who is renowned for extremely graphic ecchi stuff(trash series). And it is a genuinely good, wholesome, tame, rom com or something.

Combining this new information, I suspect the author could have some genuinely good ideas, but is probably going to do some dumb stuff down the line.

I think another big reason might be simply to make Liz pregnant. Forced pregnancy as a trope is frightfully popular these days.
.

I don't know if I would call this forced pregnancy(though it certainly could've been). But even though it has genuine precedent in a setting like this(bloodline, heirs, etc are very important), I am not a fan of it(reducing women to mere breeding machines is sick). It's a really good thing for everyone that such emphasis on bloodlines and politics connected to it have mostly been extinguished in most of modern society. It still exists in some places, but grows weaker all the time.

And if there is actually a trope of actual forced pregnancy......I would say I am shocked, but I have read enough series to see this is the money paw of Japanese creativity. We get some genuinely amazing creative series.(Take something like One Piece which pretty much has almost every genre and tag possible, while still being completely connected and not a mess) And there are lots of derivatives that are pretty good as well. And then we have the Anime/Manga rule of creep(relative of rule 34). Where morals go out the window and anything happens and gets popular enough to be recognized as a trope no matter how despicable.

(Also can they stop sexualizing Lolis(young girls) already.....the fact the term "legal loli" needs to exist already shows there is a real problem(also, loli≠petite. If half of that stuff were pictures and not drawings, so many mangaka would be in prison)(sorry, mini rant over. I'm just frustrated at having to drop so many series that were perfectly good, and then had to venture into criminal/obscene directions).

The big thing for me that doesn't add up is that the real Schriess is older than Brad so why did Brad need to disappear for Schriess to take the throne?

If my rereading is correct, Brad is the eldest child and Schriess is second. I think it is possible they might be twins but have no evidence yet.

Brad needed to disappear(politically) , because even if he were not firstborn, he may have been first in line to the throne publicly or societally(assuming typical Male>>female in leadership).

But that is besides the point as he chose to disappear at least in part because his life was in jeopardy, and to lower the guard of others(a Queen is not considered a threat the same as Brad being King would be).

It is unclear if Brad intends for Schriess to be Queen(and is serving her)(what I initially thought)or if they are mutually in cooperation for a long term plan, and Brad is using Schriesses name/appearance until it is time for him to become King.

All of this hinges on the real Schreiss. What her real goals and capabilities are. (Is she a real ruler/schemer, she someone who just wants to help her brother or nation, is she someone who just wants a quiet life, etc)

Brad is someone who simply wants the best for his nation. His brothers at least as he has seen, are selfish and vice driven, and would be just as bad or worse than his father. If Brad thinks Schriess would be a better ruler, he would have her be Queen and support her. If not then he will keep power.

It essentially suggests it works on a very unusual system where the male secondborn takes præcedence over the female firstborn but the male thirdborn does not.

This is actually a bit more simple.

Male Fifthborn could be>female firstborn in ideal inheritance conditions in their society.

However considering the age all the heirs were at the time(basically toddlers?), the unstable condition of the kingdom, and the vacant position, the other Princes may not have been in any condition to take the throne while Schriess/Brad proactively seized it.(Not unlike scarra in simbas absence)

And Schriess may have stepped up in an opportune time before they could challenge and claim power themselves. Meanwhile Schriess(Brad) already has claimed power and public/political favor through her acts as queen over the years. And since she is already Queen, and had unified the country again, it is hard for the Princes to usurp her and become king, even as they would normally have precedence in line to the throne.

Unless she is dead, or she cannot produce an heir(then they might practically be able to challenge the throne).

In normal conditions, this obviously wouldn't have happened, as a nation could simply wait for a prince to mature a bit more, or a chancellor could be a interim ruler in the meantime. But the story made it clear things were not good when Schriess took power.

It would make more sense to say that Brad is the firstborn and Schriess the secondborn. I even went back to double check the original lines to see if I made a mistake, but there's really no mistaking that the Japanese lines make it clear that Schriess took the throne in place of Brad.

I think part of my comment is split. Because I wrote the bullet points while rereading it, while the first part before, so my thoughts changed/expanded after noticing more details.

But firstborn or not, Brad was specifically crown prince, heir to the throne at least in translated text. When the king died, Brad was next in line, but he went missing so Schriess became Queen instead.

 

[AncientWatcher]

A candle burned at both ends will not last the night. That is quite the deal Brad took to save his country.

 

[Neushaartje]

I have no idea of Authors previous series. That's kinda dumb. Still, I plan to judge each series on its own merit. There have been plenty of good authors who make bad series and vice versa.

Ah, but it is not. It's still ongoing and it's better than this title in my opinion.

I don't know if I would call this forced pregnancy(though it certainly could've been). But even though it has genuine precedent in a setting like this(bloodline, heirs, etc are very important), I am not a fan of it(reducing women to mere breeding machines is sick). It's a really good thing for everyone that such emphasis on bloodlines and politics connected to it have mostly been extinguished in most of modern society. It still exists in some places, but grows weaker all the time.

That's the reason it's there and why it's so popular. It's supposed to be degrading and invasive. Ema Tooyama has done many other such things, titles full of rape, or a protagonist who's sent to an arrangement marriage which did not involve having sex with the person this protagonist was married to, but this person watching as others had sex with the protagonist.

Vampire Dormitory also has the protagonist start out as essentially a blood bag.

And if there is actually a trope of actual forced pregnancy......I would say I am shocked, but I have read enough series to see this is the money paw of Japanese creativity. We get some genuinely amazing creative series.(Take something like One Piece which pretty much has almost every genre and tag possible, while still being completely connected and not a mess) And there are lots of derivatives that are pretty good as well. And then we have the Anime/Manga rule of creep(relative of rule 34). Where morals go out the window and anything happens and gets popular enough to be recognized as a trope no matter how despicable.

Everything is out to make money in the end. You're reading something that clearly takes it's inspiration from rapeharems here. There are of course far more degrading things going on, which is the appeal and point. Diabolik Lovers has the protagonist sent to a house with six horny vampires as a “sacrificial bride” at the start who proceed to treat the former as a blood bag. — It's all frightfully popular, and delicious, these days.

(Also can they stop sexualizing Lolis(young girls) already.....the fact the term "legal loli" needs to exist already shows there is a real problem(also, loli≠petite. If half of that stuff were pictures and not drawings, so many mangaka would be in prison)(sorry, mini rant over. I'm just frustrated at having to drop so many series that were perfectly good, and then had to venture into criminal/obscene directions).

No, that too is most welcome I must say.

If my rereading is correct, Brad is the eldest child and Schriess is second. I think it is possible they might be twins but have no evidence yet.

No, the real Schriess is unambiguously older than Brad:

The Japanese lines state so too. So I'm not sure what system they work on; it would make more sense if Schriess were the secondborn.

And Schriess may have stepped up in an opportune time before they could challenge and claim power themselves. Meanwhile Schriess(Brad) already has claimed power and public/political favor through her acts as queen over the years. And since she is already Queen, and had unified the country again, it is hard for the Princes to usurp her and become king, even as they would normally have precedence in line to the throne.

That's not what the backstory in chapter 1 says, which clearly indicates that Schriess could only ascend to the throne because Brad disappeared:

But firstborn or not, Brad was specifically crown prince, heir to the throne at least in translated text. When the king died, Brad was next in line, but he went missing so Schriess became Queen instead.

Yes, and this is quite strange since Schriess is older. This would make sense if Schriess were younger, or if no other male offspring were to exist since some countries to have a system where male offspring always takes præcedence over female offspring, so female offspring can only ascend to the throne if no male offspring exist, but whatever system they have here is clearly most unusual.

 

[killme8th]

Seriously guys. I'm amazed by how serious you guys analyze this sucks story. I gave up to read the comments after seeing how long is that. How passionate you guys. Got my respect.

---

Well, since my curiosity have been satisfied. I shall drop this. 😌

 

[Neushaartje]

Seriously guys. I'm amazed by how serious you guys analyze this sucks story. I gave up to read the comments after seeing how long is that. How passionate you guys. Got my respect.

---

Well, since my curiosity have been satisfied. I shall drop this. 😌

Because it's a fairly good mystery plot thus far that suggests something is planned, there are many clues dropped of foreshadowing that suggest they will lead somewhere:

• Liz' old family being paid handsomely to take care of the former.
• Liz' vision of what appears to be Brad taking care of the real Schriess who seems to be sick
• The feelings of Lucion towards Liz who seems to be set up as a love rival
• All the other princes are clearly there for a plot reason, not simply for the otome harem vibes.

The fourth chapter will also come with many things and it's also this artist's other work that suggests it's going to have a fairly good plot.

 

[killme8th]

Because it's a fairly good mystery plot thus far that suggests something is planned, there are many clues dropped of foreshadowing that suggest they will lead somewhere:

• Liz' old family being paid handsomely to take care of the former.
• Liz' vision of what appears to be Brad taking care of the real Schriess who seems to be sick
• The feelings of Lucion towards Liz who seems to be set up as a love rival
• All the other princes are clearly there for a plot reason, not simply for the otome harem vibes.

The fourth chapter will also come with many things and it's also this artist's other work that suggests it's going to have a fairly good plot.

I mean, Yes, It has good mystery and good art. But, what is it called? Characters? How it's delivered? It's hard for me to relate the emotion that author want to tell. Is it because too cliches? Well, there's other things than that has to be pointed out too. But, what clear to me is this manga is not for me. And for readers who find this enjoyable, happy reading!