As of Ch. 3 I swear she bit him as a kid.
Still, he took apparently the scenic route with stewing and came out freshly steamed and slightly deranged.
No matter what, there's something I agree with the Empress on:
his first son is an idiot.
If anything, I am enarmored with the prospect that - while these characters where gambled - the prince pulled the "heroine" card and Vicky got the "hero" card.
1. Making idiotic decisions and leaving (supposedly) secure environment in a fit of rage and hightened emotions with next to no contingency plan? Check!
2. Blushing with all his might for one reason or another? Check!
3. Mildly useless in a fight and the damsel in distress? (he damseled his distress beautifully) Check!
4. Mysteriously showing cleavage for no reason? Check! (That shirt was risqué)
5. Fanservice "almost naked" scene? Check!
Lilliana used her special move [getting lost in desserts]
... it was super effective
The premise of "too tired to give a fuck, might as well" is too enticing.
Look, between Melmont and Kin and the rest (with the base laid out by Abel), you'd think the Princes character might be MAYBE a little weird.
So it kinds makes sense that Kin's worries are like "oh noes, he might evolve into a terrible playboy if no one watches over him, whatever are we gonna do" but off-handedly proposes just a tiny little bloodbath. Just a bit of homicide. For morale.
As of chapter 2 I am rather convinced Maria is the only one believing in this contract marriage stuff, but ok - do go on, I very much want to see the guy dig himself out of this predicament by his own design
Ok, so the insufferable fool wants our hero for personal reasons, and our hero wants the insufferable fool chopped to pieces like here, there and WAY over there.
And I can relate. He IS insufferable. And his learning ability seems to dither on a backwards arch, like come on. Stop meddling with someone who could obliterate you and is starting to wonder why he SHOULDN'T; like earnestly questioning what was the reason for not killing the fool on sight.
You can't DO that to our herbivore Hero. Man went through hell, weaving back and forth the pit of suffering like a shuttle and the next best thing you can think of
is fucking spiders.
Goddamn wolf spiders.
That make Abel faint in every iteration just because (and god, do I FEEL this man) and he still makes a olympic effort to call them cuties if that means he can reign in someone's bloodlust. They are cute, alright. It's just a few legs tooo manyyyyy
I just love tropes that entail aides going
"you know WHAT?!"
[tosses almighty royalty like a sack of potatoes in the general vicinity of "better equipped to deal with this"]
Damn it all to hell and back. If I REALLY believed something like "hey, this is a novel and I know EXACTLY what's going to happen, there's a tight deadline" I would feel so utterly betrayed and loose all sense of self-efficacy cause... 10 days earlier.
Struggling and struggling to finish it all and having it WITHIN REACH; can you grab one more worker when it's finally happening? Maybe! Just one more mouth to feed? She already stacked for surplus.
But like, having your deadline overturned the moment you think "hey, it's getting tighter, need to get my shit straight" and boom.
I am aware that the deeper the ML digs his own grave, the higher he has to climb - that's a nice trope and all.
But to begin with, if we start in the devils basement and the ascent takes like, half a chapter, it reveals itself as a shallow trope, yes?
Right out of the gate he admits:
- you covered me from grievous harm (which I am rather immune to, but thanks for trying)
- wow, your ability is so useful, I should just start breeding you ASAP to harvest benefits
- you're plain and maybe I am stressing you out every minute of the day, but at least I am nice to look at, that should suffice for your troubles
- if all else fails, I could always just force you to be my wife / mistress / breeding mare
My man is standing in a trench already and shows indications of wanting to dig some more.
Our FL plotting to keep the king away from more bad karma (hunting competition) NO MATTER WHAT, what's a few broken bones?
Also, my condolences to her contingency plan (Jade, the poor bastard)
Maybe it's just me and my delusions, but it feels as if the author is baiting me with glimpses of her being the one to introduce predators to prey fear... but then not delivering.
And I WANT SO SEE IT
...so I keep on reading
Barely reaches my knee! Could be a tiny assassin!
Maybe he needs some valerian drops. The ladies for sure can procure some.
Love how he goes through with the Captain Commander.
Also love how thugs have entirely reasonable outburst about it.
Okay so she can reattach her head no problem, healing powers yay, but sore feet in the wrong shoes is like, the limit?
I mean, I am open to reasoning as to why, but just putting this setting out there, hoping it does its thing...uhm (like, come on, just say the healing power only activates for grievous injury and a blister doesn't cut it or something but don't just forget about it ^^)