A loli FL, who looks like she's 7 years old (at best), is actually 18 years old. She has a commoner's background, raised in a poor village, is street-wise and educated in medicine; she goes on to study in a proper imperial school, as well, seeking a job working in the government. Headstrong and independent-type of character. Her grandpa, who adopted her when she was abandoned as an infant, attests that she is 18 years old, despite her very young appearance.
She befriends and eventually falls in love with the ML, the newly enthroned emperor.
Typical status-difference, age-confuzzled, shoujo manga sorts of developments ensue.
Generally, it is cute and enjoyable enough to read, but I never stopped thinking that any scenes with implied or overtly romantic situations involving her was a bit icky since the ML looks like he's in his early 20's (though he is actually 17, and younger than the loli FL) and she looks like an elementary school student.
For most of the story, I wrote it off in my head like "ok, I'll just say that she was born with some congenital hormone issue and doesn't grow properly. That's not her fault. She deserves love too!"-- Which would've worked, except that at the end of the story (which is wrapped up quite abruptly) after a time skip Kouran has grown to look like a typical young adult woman. (-_-)
--- So now I can't help but feel my original suspicions of her circumstances was correct all along. That Kouran was just a generally clever kid who was told by her grandpa that she was 18 years old and she believed it. And she and the grandpa kept asserting it to others, and though they doubted it initially, they all ultimately accepted it as truth. -- So the romantic developments and story as a whole still leaves me feeling a bit odd about the whole thing. Especially since her lack of growth (if she was really 18 years old) and her sudden growth spurt are not explained at all.
It doesn't help that the author only made her look childlike because she felt that the female costumes (which she really wanted to draw/include) looked better on a child's body as opposed to an adult's. Hence, the FL became an 18 y/o ultra-loli.
Well, if you just accept it at face value that she is in fact 18 years old with an ultra-loli body that randomly develops into a full grown woman in the span of a 2 year time gap at the END of the story, then its not a bad read to pass the time.
Mikado no Shihou