Though I May Be a Villainess, I'll Show You I Can Obtain Happiness! - Vol. 9 Ch. 2 - After My Engagement Was Broken Off, My Unknown Brother Came Char…

[Meo]

Er...it was good...up to page 10.

Then it kind of became a gongshow.

 

[stanloona]

This felt like a fever dream (also is the "villainess" here supposed to be the guy lmao)

 

[jenev]

This is like a knockoff of a knockoff of that earlier story in the anthology about the villainess helping low-ranking or illegitimate noble children with learning manners and being prosecuted for bullying instead.

Amazing that they tried to one-up the first anthology story in awefulness though.

 

[xXPenisXx]

I thought he was her actual brother for most of the chapter. I think actual incest would have made it significantly more interesting. As it stands, it was a very silly and enjoyable 4/10

 

[hina_sw]

I apologize for the long wait, this chapter took a while.

Spoiler

IMO, This is by far the worst chapter in this anthology, not volume. And it's also quite hard for me to edit because of the text bubbles placement and whatnot. I'm sorry, I'll do better next chapter.

Not sure if someone told you or if you care (since this chapter really sucks story wise) but there's a small grammar error on page 23. It says "you're always been" should be "you've always been". Thanks for translating though

 

[Banesephy]

Well, I guess they'll just about publish anything. I bet the printers unplugged themselves from the socket from 2nd hand embarrassment on this one.

 

[blackLuna]

NGL this entire series (and "villainess has her engagement broken" stories in general) has become infinitely funnier to me now that I've learned about "Breach of Promise", which was basically a law that forbade men from breaking engagements.

(Since in real life during the time this law would've actually been enforced, men were the only ones who could propose, women were conversely the ones who had the power to break it off should the man prove undesirable- "it's a woman's pejorative to change her mind", after all. Although given the familial politicking involved in noble engagements, whether a woman actually could invoke this right is another story...)

In other words, every time a man breaks his engagement in these stories, he's doing something illegal.

... Actually, I wonder if that's where the condemnation thing came from? Since the original idea is "a man is trapped by his engagement to a vile woman who refuses to break it off," proving she's some sort of criminal would provide a defense against a breach of contract suit (there is a precedent in real life that a man could file a countersuit if he could prove the woman only got engaged to him for his money) but over time the game of trope telephone led to the current story format.

Anyways, I'm adding "Breach of Promise" to terminology I wish villainess writers knew about, alongside "morganatic marriage"

First, "breach of promise" belongs to common law (in other words, the Anglophone world), the writers and mangaka of this anthology are East Asian. (FYI, most of the world, including most of the Western world, uses civil law.)

Second, Fiction-Land. Reality applies as the author wills it (how the audience takes the result is separate).

Third, breach of promise was itself a bit more complicated. Basically, what the law means is that for a man to terminate an engagement, he needs to convince his betrothed or else face humiliating litigation. A man couldn't break it off for just proving that the prospective bride wanted his money or connections (that's the actual purpose of most political engagements), he had to prove that she either had no intention of fulfilling the engagement or is cheating (even if those were only flirtations).

Finally, overall, rather than legal consequences, you usually had social ones, which until the mid to late nineteenth century, typically meant duels (which were often deadly). Other Western countries had equivalents of "breach of promise" (most were social, others, such as Kranzgeld, were legal).

As for your theory of the birth of the condemnation trope, interesting but see my first point. Moreover, either party attempting to break off an engagement publicly (apart from actual trials) was a major social faux pas and one Hell of a scandal. You'd had to be drunk out of your mind to do anything of the kind publicly, outside of a trial over the betrothal, that is.

 

[Amimikamoon]

First, "breach of promise" belongs to common law (in other words, the Anglophone world), the writers and mangaka of this anthology are East Asian.

Woooow I NEVER would have guessed that all these japanese mangaka writing japanese manga were east asian. Thank you for enlightening me, O great sage, with knowledge I never could have gleaned on my own.

It's not like all these stories have nominally western settings, or anything, that might incite comparison to actual western laws and practices at the time. And it's not like a lot of people have some lighthearted fun pointing out the glaring discrepancies between what these authors think is "etiquette" and what was actually a social custom, even in stories that are set in fictionland.

You know what, I'm going to go write a story set in feudal japan right now, but give everyone the attitudes and laws of 21st century america, and when someone calls me out on it, I can just snidely tell them that it's fiction and our world's history doesn't apply, even if I am clearly taking inspiration from a specific place and era! Thank you so much for giving me this brilliant idea!

 

[blackLuna]

Woooow I NEVER would have guessed that all these japanese mangaka writing japanese manga were east asian. Thank you for enlightening me, O great sage, with knowledge I never could have gleaned on my own.

It's not like all these stories have nominally western settings, or anything, that might incite comparison to actual western laws and practices at the time. And it's not like a lot of people have some lighthearted fun pointing out the glaring discrepancies between what these authors think is "etiquette" and what was actually a social custom, even in stories that are set in fictionland.

You know what, I'm going to go write a story set in feudal japan right now, but give everyone the attitudes and laws of 21st century america, and when someone calls me out on it, I can just snidely tell them that it's fiction and our world's history doesn't apply, even if I am clearly taking inspiration from a specific place and era! Thank you so much for giving me this brilliant idea!

You ducked. Hard. …And decided to go snide in response.

Let me rephrase my main points simply:

My first point was that "breach of promise" was specific to Britain, Ireland, and British colonies, former or then-current. Other Western countries never had it. These kinds of stories are only broadly set in the Western world. So unless there's indication of a story having a setting inspired by a particular Western country or group thereof, something so regionally confined is not an issue.

I only mentioned the fact that the authors of the anthology are East Asian to highlight the resulting disconnect.

The Fiction-Land thing was supposed to be a pithy reminder that this is a work of fiction, fantasy at that. And that part of a fictional work's rules are determined by the author's knowledge and choices. If you want me to go into the specifics of authorial decisions and audience responses, I will, but it'll be a long and dense philosophical essay (which is why I avoided that).

The genre's lack of expected social and legal consequences for breaking of engagements, especially doing so publicly, does put strain on suspension of disbelief. Especially, when the work in question is neither a short story nor oneshot.

On the other hand, a oneshot failing to apply a law specific to the Anglophone world puts no strain whatsoever on the audience's suspension of disbelief.

Now do you get what I'm driving at?

 

[Ruduen]

Ugh, the last two were doing so well, and then... This mess. The start was somewhat promising, with the signs of an obvious plot and the FL taking steps to deal with that... And then suddenly, ML comes in, ends up acting generally creepy, and drops several plot details that don't end up being relevant because he conveniently ignores all of them? This tries to stuff a whole lot into too small of a package, and the remainder just feels weird. (And 'ladies need to be in charge of their men to keep them from cheating' is messed up in several ways...)

My ratings on the series, from best to worst (with lines between 'enjoyed', 'neutral', and 'disliked'):
1-2, 7-3, 2-3, 2-4, 6-4, 4-5, 5-2, 6-1, 2-2, 4-1, 9-1, 5-5, 2-1, 8-5, 1-4, 7-2, 3-2 | 4-4, 6-6, 7-4, 6-5, 7-1, 4-3, 4-2, 3-1, 6-3, 8-3, 5-1, 4-6, 8-4, 2-6, 5-4, 1-5, 3-3, 8-1, 8-2 | 7-5, 3-4, 1-3, -9-2-, 2-5, 3-5, 5-3, 6-2, 1-1