Thank you. I am glad that discussion can make us more clear for the story. There may be Esther egg or foreshadowing waiting for zoosun nim to explain and develop the story. Spoiler: For throne candidates I agree with you that the schwandell family won’t be affected after Vess story, maybe just think too much for cost of expedition . And for Esperindo side, hoping Angela’s contribution will improve Rayburn’s reputation. Rayburn had already attacked by groundless rumours for a lone time and Esperindo family always are threatened after Rayburn dethrone ? (I am not sure for the following because I read 2 different translation. In ch39 Rayburn said the imperial knight will get rid to Espelindo member and pretend they were killed by thief if they found imperial knight involved in illegal transactions but another translation said that Rayburn used to get rid of imperial knight and pretending they are killed by thief ) (It is quite sad that Rayburn keep being attacked by the rumours even he fight for Empire and get hurt in war) Since the expedition is just before the emperor back to capital, it is important for the throne. And it is interesting to see completion between 2 powerful family. Spoiler: For alliance and Ludext You remind me one thing that talan also have. Ambitious expansion, otherwise talan won’t keep absorb neighbour countries. Just thinking the manga mentioned that the Ludext always in war but the people still having normal life. I am curious the reason that Ludext join the war and what can it benefit. And I type so many for alliance since Vess princess should marry the Ludext crown Prince. So that if Rayburn obtain the throne, he will probably have to marry garnet to maintain alliance. I don’t think it is good idea since he obviously in love with Angela. Just like princess garnet think, Rayburn won’t give chances to anyone unless he is interested. Their political marriage can’t give garnet a happy life. To think further far away, will Rayburn marry Angela as 2nd empress in this situation? Just like his father. (Angela will be more difficult since she is background-less and only receive support from Espelindo) (Just like myPrinceoppa said like father like son but I am afraid same tragedy may happen) Yes I totally miss that scene. Chancellor watching garnet touch Rayburn And the letter on chancellor’s desk, it may be the fabric document written by garnet. Oh yes, under such situations chancellor may think garnet even Vess imperial family may turn to Rayburn so that he get rid of them first. Spoiler: For past story I don’t think Rayburn should be responsible for the assassination too. But I mean Rayburn may do or not do something so that he can said it is completely irrelative to him (eg maybe he and 2nd experss have some promise but he failed and she died) So that Rayburn have nightmares about that in ch52 and he ask Angela what if the rumours about his past is true in ch13?. Rayburn should have some regrets on that so he keeps having nightmares about there
In the end I think Hoya will become the empress so Rayburn wouldn't have to marry Garnet and have Angela has the 2nd empress (I think he would loath the idea in fact...). It could be a possibilty that Garnet could marry Talan crown prince (if there is one and after some good character developpment): It would end the tension between the countries. Granted, Talan is a enormous empire compared to Vesstia but there could be some reasons for them to "link" themsleves with Vesstia (political reason, love reason if the crown prince end up liking Garnet and if she is willing - it would be different than with Frederick -...) Anyway, since we do not no everything this is just merly a supposition
But if Garnet marries the talanian prince it would mean that vesstia would break its alliance with ludecht and allies itself with talan instead. Which would make talan (all the desert) + vesstia vs ludecht and they want to avoid this. I think garnet is going to stay with fred as all the kingdom believes that they are some fairytale loveydovey couple. Unless she decides to blow up the cover after the general thing revelation. ( like tell her father yk i dont like him and he doesnt like me the years i spent there were an absolute nightmare. I lied he lied, go get yourself another pawn im done with yall ciao) well she probably won't but urgh. I kinda want her to confront directly frederick about it like you know they could talk and use that amazing thing called communication that no one seems to know in their world.
Spoiler: Second Empress route Angela as a second empress is so so unlikely because Angela and Rayburn would strongly object to that. Plus the author wouldn't make the main character ended up as a second empress. No one states that Garnet has to marry the future emperor right? Marrying Frederick has already secured their peace deal, besides, who would like their precious princess to get transferred from one man to another, that's so humiliating for Vesstia (even if Garnet agreed to it). Plus, FerNet already showed public affection so it'll be a very scandalous thing following the ascension. From how the thing going FerNet is probably going canon as Ferderick committed to keeping the alliance with Vesstia. Either they'll work on their feelings or cut the ties completely, leaving FerNet without a spouse or both ending with a new character. The author is taking the issue of female empowerment as she did with Hoya's character and Angela's steady development. Garnet is showing a little bit of development as well by letting go of her ego and actually being snarky with Ferderick. No way in hell that Garnet will just end up as a royal trophy wife who got tossed there and there, and getting ignored for the rest of her life by being Rayburn's first empress. I think it's clear that this generation wouldn't repeat the mess their adult counterparts have created. This 'Angela as a second empress' route is humiliating for Rayburn, Angela, Garnet, Rudext, and Vesstia. I really wish this won't cross the author's mind lol this is going down to a Chinese palace harem trope T.T Spoiler: Princess Angela Many people already mentioned the hints about Angela's possible royal origin. If Angela really is a lost princess either from Talan or Hanell, then the ship will sail even more smoothly lol. The one thing that differentiates Rayburn and Ferderick is the marriage pact, which is why that ugly uncle feel anxious when Garnet touched Rayburn's face. But currently, Duke Rayburn is the most sought-after bachelor in the empire with outstanding war achievements. He's a free man and a prince at that. If Angela turns out to be a royal, the whole thing about status discrepancy will no longer be an issue. And House Espelindo and Angela's family could've requested another marriage pact. This is a very tempting offer to Rudext, an empire that is hungry to expand its territories. If anything goes smoothly, without inside fighting or other parties meddling with it, House Espelindo will be Schwandell's deadly competitor in the throne fight. House Espelindo, with two pillars standing strong and supported by another country, is an unstoppable force. If that happens, I hope that ugly uncle got hypertension out of shock that the girl he's tryna to kill is biting him in the ass real hard and regretting why he didn't kill her sooner lol. Anyway, this is only the assumption if Angela is a royal and she could clear her fake identity without a problem. It'd be interesting if Angela is truly a commoner, too. So I'm looking forward to what Zoosun-nim will unfold in the plot!
True... When I wrote this I had in my mind the possibility of Angela being Talan long lost princess and the wedding would be hold at the end when the tension dissapeared (in the post war part where they need to rebuild the continent): If Angela is the lost princess of Talan and she marry Rayburn (Duke of Ludext) it could politicaly secure the relation (Then again Rayburn is "just" a duke whereas Frederick is the crown prince - this could lead to a conflict between them). I think there will be some stuffs that will happened with Talan and Ludext that will improve the relations between the countries, for in the end, global peace (I want to know more about Talan!) As for Garnet, I think she will stay with Frederick but not forever. She might discovered the truth about the General, Angela... and decided to act for Vesstia (wich in the end would help her statut, which is what she wants) When all will be reveal and when Frederick will no longer be the crown prince (which is what I think will happened) she will no longer have to stay with him. But, there could be the other way, where she decide to tell everything to her dad which would openly lead to tension. Honestly, I don't want her to go tell her family and rely on them. One of Garnet main point as a character is the fact that she lets other people do things instead of her (Like she had to marry Frederick for the sake of her empire (Being the wife of) - which is one way to do it and it will possibily be done by Angela and Rayburn - but, still, it's a centric point in her character: she is always "used"). It would be nice to see her take an important place in the resolution of the situation instead of just waiting for other to do suff. She would be seen as the Vesstian princess who helps to solve the situation by her actions (she would shine as a Princess, as a Vesstian and as a woman - apparently misoginy is a crucial theme in ISTP) instead of the Vesstian princess who "just" marry the Prince to secure (and not solve) the situation. I agree with you: Frederick and Garnet need to talk. And yes, I think she will confront him about it. But, given the fact that they do not have a good relationship and she is the princess of an other country (that he had to marry), he won't open to her. Sure, he could tell her that this true but I don't think he will let himself be vulnerable and tell that it's his uncle plan, not his, that he is being abused... That could lead Garnet to realise that she needs to take the matter in her own hands because other people can't do sh*t.
Author-nim would have ruin the story if she decided to make Angela a 2nd empress(I would honestly be so disappointed if she does this). It just wouldn’t really fit right into the storyline and likely will be something that Rayburn would go against(likely could remind how the current emperor had two empresses). Status/class plays a big role in these type of settings. What if Angela is a fallen princess/commoner ? That can affect the whole possibility of being a 2nd empress. No one would want a person like that to be in the position of empress. I don’t remember if Rayburn said he was going for the throne, but if he was, he’s going to have to think deeply about Angela and whether she wants to be involved. There’s a lot of possibilities about what Angela could become. Maybe Hoya wins the throne and Rayburn somehow stays as a duke, allowing Angela to become a duchess. Or Rayburn runs away with Angela?!? They live a life as commoners in some other place, maybe outside ludext and stuff. We don’t really know what’s going to happen, but I just really hope the next few chapters talk about Angela past.
Meanwhile I'm just re-reading every translation of the manwha to find breadcrumbs on Hanell. Tappy toons, first translation group, that one guy who translated the last 3 chapters since the first group dropped it, the new Salty scans. There isnt a single mention of Hanell by anyone, which is SUS. Zoo Sun nim please I'm scared why is it on the map but not mentioned even once. That one scene where Frederick said Angela would leave the castle since Vess doc is solved and she's "Vesstian" what a big/small world and THEN THE NEXT PANEL FOCUSES ON HANELL. VESS AND LUDECHT IS BLURRED. I'm holding onto this needle in the haystack like a raft in the eye of a hurricane sjskskskka. And UwU Angela as a 2nd Empress is good angst material but obviously it wont happen cause Rayburn would very rather eat burning coal unless Zoo Sun nim said SIKE
Maybe Angela is from Hannel and not Talan... But yeah I totally forgot about Hannel since it only appears on maps I hope it will play a bigger role than just "The name of the neighbour country that is on the map to help the rearder regarding the geography"
Yeah true true, he either might have been unconsciously involved or really had nothing in it at all. And I checked the raw for chapter 39, Rayburn thought “In the situation where illegal transactions were caught like this, would the Imperial family treat the Espelindos favorably? If it were usual, I would have handled it myself and staged it as the bandit did it” Normally if the Imperial knights found out if the Espelindos was doing something wrong, they’d just kill the Espelindos -> in the name of justice. So if Rayburn were just out there by himself and they discovered that it was him and suspected that he was infatuated with illegal transactions, they’d try to kill him -> he had to kill them first to protect himself (from being attacked and rumors as well). I'm just curious about one thing. Hanell was shown to be bordered with Vess and Talan right? And Talan is hungry for territories, if so why haven't then attacked Hanell and attacked Vess instead? Hanell isn't attacking Vess and Hanell doesn't ally with any countries as far as we know. So what kind of power does Hanell hold?
Also look at how it's surrounded by mountains. Either Hanell is untouched cause it's literally challenging in land terms, scaling mountains to cross a country ain't easy or it's military might is no joke will give any invaders nightmares. Or it could be both. Hanell's just there, silently. Waiting to be a plotline. I wonder if they allied with Talan for some reason. Maybe Hanell's speciality is knowledge and being terrifyingly ruthless strategist when it comes to war and conquer (or [p]harmacists the p is silent here)
after i caught some points from the discussion and what i got.. in ch 52 when the southern region guide with the rabbit teeth said something about 'if war happens, vestia will be in the middle' with 3 arrows pointing to the red cross.. And as we got so far, vesstia is a small country in the middle of 2 big countries, so what I conclude is.. ~ hanell is a country too (which is neither small nor big) which is in alliance with talan as well as rudecx with vestia. because that's all I noticed, a country listed on the ISTP map must be marked by a name, lol.. because we don't even know the logo of the country of talan in ch 52 it also says like 'we don't have to worry about the northern region, 'vestia is also a small country that can be penetrated' the question is who previously belonged to the northern region? lol.. this is an important point for me.. It seems like the talan country used to be so powerful that it took over vestia too and almost entered Rudecx's territory (considering that the king didn't seem to have any power before marrying 2 women from the most influential families in ludecx) And after the ugly chancellor succeeded in taking over the northern region, vesstia spontaneously sided with rudecx (preventing her country from going to war and it seems that vesstia is not very familiar with talan) And I'd like to add a bit, looks like the war over the northern territories wasn't about 10 years, but 8 years ago plus Rayangel's time together,, because after that ugly uncle went to the queen, it was the same day Hoya gave Rayburn a little dove, right? well that's my assumption..
Ooohh, if Hannell is a northern country that was conquered by Ludext, it would make sense that the royal family was disbanded, killed, or (shocker) sold into slavery. If Angela is indeed a missing princess, it's also possible the her parents or family sent her away to survive. It's also possible whoever they trusted to get her to safety betrayed them and sold Angela. Then it would also seem Spoiler that when she told Rayburn that she was a princess when they were children, it was both a lie and a suppressed memory. But with the expedition going towards Talan, I'm now wondering when/if zoosun will touch on her origin story (if she's from the north) unless by some chance some northern royals fleed to Talan to help them against Ludext or something.
Yes I always think the possibility for Angela is the northern lost princess so that she just introduced to Rayburn as princess when they first meet and also I think if Angela is lost princess from hanell, she won’t be slave since if Ludext input so much to kidnap hanell princess, it will be more vulnerable to use her as hostage in bargaining with hanell. Sending her as slave only punishment to Angela but no party benefit
Oh I guess my post on that was a little confusing. I was saying it's possible the Hannell royal family sent her away, and it's possible whoever they entrusted to care for her sold her as a slave.
Omg I just deleted my reply in short You are right for more accurate description But it assume that around 10 year before is just based on 8 year separation plus 2 to 3 year little Rayangel time Since Angela seem to be 6 or7 when that met and was in brown clothes And they separated, angela is in light blue clothes and look like about 10 Since slave won’t get new clothes every year They should have childhood time for 2 to 3 year and yes, I totally miss the arrow from hanell in ch52 so that it is likely to be alliance from talan but by comparing the may in ch46 hanell seem not directly next to Ludext boundaries But I don’t know details Maybe zoosun nim give more detail later Yes it is another’s possibility But that create another question Since looking after little Angela is request from royal family from foreign countries Why the one look after her sold her as slave? Is it sth new method to protect her? Or the one take care has guts to against with hanell ? Since Hanell is still existed I think they are able to get little Angela back before anywhere have a war Or punish the guys who sold Angela so that I prefer Angela may be. Lost princess from northern region, who fail in war and not able to find the lost royal family member (if Angela is noble/ princess)
oh,, right.. it never crossed my mind RayAngel together for years,, if so I'm worried what will be her condition in winter well although that's most likely the case
I'm really enjoying these theories on Hanell. Also to add another one, maybe the one who was escorting little Angela and making sure she reaches the refuge that is now Hanell (I'm really digging the idea that Hanell used to be the north part of Ludecht but now migrated to that mountain haven) just died protecting her from assassins. time for another Fanfic. It's okay to skip not lore important just a fun read, I was listening to Tommie Profit's Gloria Regali. Spoiler: My dear regalia. Please run and hide. The woods experienced disturbance. A bunch of horses galloped, chasing one ahead. They fired arrows, some missed the mark, others hit the rider. Said rider was holding a hiccuping child, gently lulling them. "Shh, it will be alright, your grace. They can never catch up to me. Ugh" Another hit our dear rider. "Just a little longer... your grace have I said how brave you look right now. A fierce lion cub." The child nodded in their temporary refuge, sheltered in the rider's arms and body. "This is 47th time, Max" there was a tremble and waver in the soft voice but it was firm. The others were gaining on them. Max didnt have much time, they must protect the regalia. The little sun. Max devised a plan but the child will definitely cry now. Max will also cry. "My regalia, please focus on everything I say. You must keep going straight, right of your hand where the sun rises. You must hide, and run. Hide and run. Never trust big giant men, they are evil. One in particular. You'll come across Rupert. Mr. Librarian. Oh dear, my regalia, it's okay." The child was sobbing. But nodding their head. "And where must, my regalia, go?" "Right of me where the sun rises. Never trust bear men. Run and hide. Run and..." the child heaved. They dont have much time. The rider noticed the thick shrubs and bushes. He went through them and discounting from his horse unceremoniously. They pulled their sword from the sheath but not before saying their goodbyes. Time was not on their side. "Gloria Regalis" "Peace and understanding" "May you see the next light" they said to each other. Rubbing their forehead together affectionately and hastily. The child sprints. The sun is setting, so it means she needs to go left side straight. The knight rises, holding a decoy of bundle of the child's clothes. The assasins doesnt know and that's to the rider's advantage. It seems there was a waterfall nearby, Max sprinted there the opposite of where their regalia is headed. Max stood their ground bravely, neutralizing all the assasins before their last breath. He hopes the little sun is safe. The litte sun is bright and brilliant. They'll be fine... she must be fine. Then Max succumbs to gravity and falls with the waterfall
and just to cross my mind,, maybe the previous sclan was someone close to Angela or like the name of one of her family? before she lost his memory according to our discussion.. haha
The Hanell theory is intriguing, if we consider that Angela is from here, I have two questions. 1. Why did she never go back?? (Or even make an attempt) 2. Has she lost her memories before she was enslaved and Rayburn?