beta
Ngl the prince’s pov tugged at my heartstrings. I’m usually fed up with this kind of trope (I cried) but I also think Alphina shouldn’t be confined inside the palace walls. The world outside would treat her genius better. Although the inner dialogues from the beginning did feel weird, but ig that’s why I wasn’t prepared for the angst. Also, I wouldn’t say she unlocked this “super love” mode, but that her enigmatic behavior has always been a force that pulls people to her side (I did remember her familiar explaining that this power was simply about reading others’ minds).
The prince and Alphina’s story isn’t any different from most really. It’s ordinary. I don’t even know if Alphina did come to reciprocate the prince’s feelings or how she fared while she reenacted her past lives in vain. The betrayal couldn’t have been easy. And the prince… well, I thought it’s lovely how he rejoiced in secrecy with Alphina’s selection as his empress-to-be, never minding how the royal will welcome her as he seemed confident that it only gets to know Alphina to like her despite the rumors. Those, and the fact that he worried if he was even a tad bit deserving of her when they’d first gone out after the announcement- when all that he’ve seen, touched, and eaten as the future Crown have been catered to perfection… dammit.
Special mention to the adorable little brother of the mc! He was about to take everyone with him after the enchantment of the saintess wore off (a thunderstorm no less, not ice or fire magic. I’d say thunderstorms are more frightening and did more to elucidate the loss of a dear sister).