Ohitorisama ni wa Naremashita node.: Kon'yakusha Houchi-chuu! - Ch. 20 - Honest Feelings

[Eclipse616]

Nicole x Gainful Employment is the canon endgame OTP.

 

[Yukisuna]

Thanks for the chapter! I noticed a glaring mistake, however.

Page 37: "And yet, when I used to hard for him, he never once even looked my way."

Hard? What was supposed to be here? Pine? Long? Wait?



This story only keeps getting better. I'll go buy a Japanese copy (that I can't even read) to support it.

 

[Fushiginiku]

It's observations like these that make me disagree with the notion of redemption for Keios, we have been shown time and again that, not only is Keios putting himself first throughout the whole endeavour, but his attitude, while not malicious, is the standard for the noble men of this society. Not helped by the fact that Nicole is emotionally tuned out of the relationship, making any specks of true appeal get bludgeoned down my her interpretations, which Keios will not correct.

For Keios to ever be able to get Nicole back, he needs to completely overall his understanding of relationships in an environment where all will tell him that he is wrong, and that Nicole is influencing in major ways. Then overturning Nicole's view of him with clear and concise language that cannot be misinterpreted, that is also not portrayed as farcical and facetious. In essence, with the growing movement for woman's rights, Nicole's unchallenged view, and the lack of a serious will to change by Keios, I feel like Nicole will leave Keios and that'd be that.

I agree, and I kind of hope that this is where it is headed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with an ending in which Nicole and Keios are together because Keios managed to finally figure out how to see things clearly and also somehow won Nicole's affections back. I think for this to happen, Nicole's future in a role other than a traditional noble wife, and Keios's acceptance of this, is probably necessary.

We are still in the middle of his character arc. He has fought past all his initial assumptions and is now beginning to understand where he has done things badly. He hasn't earned her trust or her affections and at this point, he doesn't deserve to have done so, but he does deserve to continue trying as long as he can still do so.

Nicole is, quite frankly, still at the beginning of her character arc. She arrived at her current stance nearly at the start of the story, and only now, watching Claude and Melitia, is she beginning to grasp that she has things to sort out. At first, she was just accepting marriage blanc and was okay with it. Now she is noticing that Keios is making efforts to be a proper fiance and she is grappling with her emotions about it. She might currently be feeling guilty that her heart isn't aflutter at those efforts (as it shouldn't be, but she has to recognize it's his fault and her reaction is okay). But she still hasn't actually sorted out, now that she understands that Keios was not aiming for a white marriage, precisely what she will do about it.

I know that there are those that want her to just tell Keios to go away, just break things off and be independent. But those who feel that way need to realize that Nicole hasn't come to that conclusion yet, and that she may not come to that conclusion in the end.

 

[humane_scanner]

Thanks for the chapter! I noticed a glaring mistake, however.

Page 37: "And yet, when I used to hard for him, he never once even looked my way."

Hard? What was supposed to be here? Pine? Long? Wait?



This story only keeps getting better. I'll go buy a Japanese copy (that I can't even read) to support it.

fixed
thanks for pointing that out

 

[Yukisuna]

fixed
thanks for pointing that out

So that's what it was! Thank you very much, it's much better now!

 

[GapMoeGuy]

I’m genuinely very pleased with this chapter, even if it is bittersweet. It is completely in character while also showing attempts at growth.

Keios, once again, is allowing his fear of other peoples’ opinions to prevent him from sincerity. He scraps his plans for the day because strangers laugh at him. He allows his friends to help him craft the plans in the first place because he’s too afraid to just ask Nicole why she’s working with Claude. Nicole, in turn, is unable to hold an earnest conversation about herself with Keios and deflects the conversation to other people. While both of them are working hard to grow, they fall back into old habits, despite the new events in their life.

The reality of the situation is he should really just be asking how she feels. He should have done it from the beginning, but the second best time is now. All of the pomp and circumstance of trying to woo her is avoidance of rejection. On the flip side, Nicole is also avoidant of stating how she feels. The whole onus of this began because she didn’t want to accept that she tried so, so, so hard to make the relationship work and her heart was broken. Rather than get rightfully angry, she decided to improve herself and become independent.

But that independence is still a form of avoiding telling Keios that she was genuinely hurt by his flippant behavior. She wasted years of her life trying to get him to open up for her, only for him to turn heel and chase her once she decided to move on. Beyond being upset by the initial coldness, I am sure there is a deep seated anger towards that quick flip that she is trying very hard to fully grasp.

While she doesn’t need his approval, she does feel pressured not to make him outright angry (due to women not having as many rights in her country). That societal imbalance is holding her back from being honest with herself. Meanwhile, Keios has no reason not to be honest, as he has more power in this situation. Conversely, there’s Claude, who is outright rude to her and his fiancée because he knows he has the power to do it.

I am really enjoying seeing how this plays out. Really dynamic writing here and excellent drama. My ideal scenario is that Nicole manages to go abroad and, finally freed from the pressure of court life, is able to articulate how she feels about the foolish men who failed her. And rather than being completely left in the dust, Keios and Claude realize that they should be using their power to do better; perhaps even use their nobility try to reform the country in a way that would have made Nicole/girls like her feel comfortable saying how she felt all along. A romance along the way would kick ass, but at this point, it would have to be hard earned.

 

[HoneyPopper]

After all that, Nicole is still an afterthought for this little pos. "I" will win Nicole's heart, "I" will do this and that and bla bla bla. "Wait for me".. like.. excuse me? She's been waiting for years.
Claude is no better. He's just going to ghost his fiancée until some other dude picks her up.
I can't wait until Nicole goes abroad to broaden her horizons and cut ties with Keios.

 

[Jdnylire]

I’m just here to say He already fucked up big time. He is only thinking of saving his marriage, he does not think or try to ask about her wants and desire, but I guess it is really hard to communicate to someone who already gave up. The mirror is already broken

 

[OWMWO]

Clumsy, but hey, he is trying hard in his own way.
The problem here is, seems no one give him the correct idea how to woo a woman, moreso when the woman decide that you, dawg, is no longer worth to think about.
Still, A for effort, F for respect.

 

[Mallinka]

Oh, thanks for continuing! I give Claude credit for trying so hard to patch things up, but Nicole isn’t going to forget how badly she was treated so easily. She isn’t gonna fall back in love like she had been before. If she does, it has to be by Claude changing into a person that deserves to be by her side and becoming someone who can prove he learned from his mistakes. I worried when the manga continued past the original ending but I'm glad reconciliation isn’t going to be easy, for both of them.

"Claude", don't you mean "Keios"?