I'm honestly one of the few who's getting bored with the pace of the novel. It just gets so draggy. I'm curious about the Romance tag though, did anyone MTL or Read ahead? Who's the Romance tag (seriously) indicating the MC with?
From what I can recall, she didn't get with anyone. It just focuses on her school arc with dealing with people and her the battles she has to command. I think there was a person who seem somewhat interested in her (imo) which is that one guy with silver hair's son that he ask if she can give a birthday present to. She didn't realize this whole time he was sitting next to her in class until she accidentally breaks her pencil in half. Don't remember if he liked her romantically though. He kept trying to approach her after they finally had their exchange but it seem more like a friends relationship to me.
Someone tell me whats happening in the latest chapters?! I used google translate. Eliza adopt a child??!!
Well, spoilers for the latest raws: Ergnade has twins. In the Einsbark family, twins are killed at birth because in the past, a pair of twin brothers nearly ruined the family because of succession disputes. Even if Ergnade were to oppose this, they have too few people to protect the two children from eventual assassination attempts by the other members of the extended family. Eliza could not accept this outcome, because to her, 'Ergnade's children are her own brothers.' With this, she decides to adopt one of the children. When she returns to her territory to prepare for the adoption (ordering cradles and such), she suddenly receives a royal summon to come as quickly as possible. She rides Rashiok to the palace and is immediately ushured in, and finds herself in the presence of the King, the Prime Minister, Archduke Dovadain and the heroine. The King tasks her with taking care of the heroine while at the academy, a task that absolutely shocks Eliza because this task was originally handed to the four capture targets. Considering her own reputation, she suspects that perhaps Arxia is doing this to humiliate Rindarl, and even she didn't expect Arxia would treat Rindarl this way. Just then, the obviously anxious heroine introduces herself to Eliza and gave her the most respectful greeting/bow according to Arxian customs. Given the difference in status, this is extremely inappropriate. When Eliza glances at Marquis Rittergau because she's at a loss, he only nods towards her, so she squeezes out an acceptance of the assignment. The raws end there. Assuming the heroine isn't acting, the heroine is basically painted as a poor girl who was assigned under Eliza as a form of humiliation, and is/must be completely subservient to her. Eliza hasn't even done anything yet, and the heroine is already a poor bullied girl. D: I have my own speculations though, so there may have been other reasons for this decision. This could have even been done for the heroine's own protection (no-one would dare mess with Eliza, and even though Eliza is oblivious, I suspect her 'faction' now dominates the school). But it will be interesting to see how this turns out.
Mother Eliza I think it will be a great end if she just continues having only this kid, that, maybe will start immitating his sister/mother/guardian, and not even get a ML. Imagine an elder Eliza peacefully sipping tea and the new head of the Kaldia domain (the kid) joining her. Then they talk about thr future of the domain and how to make the lifes of their ppl better. If only that would be the end paragraph.
The adoption isn't that simple. xD For now, Eliza is keeping it a secret from all but the Einsbarks and a few trusted people from her domain. If the information leaks, assassins could be sent against the child. There is also the matter of how people would take it once she tries to make it official: given how much she stands out at the moment, the higher ups may not be too happy with this promising, unmarried young lady adopting a kid out of nowhere (this last part is just my guess, nothing from the novel). I'm very interested in this development from a psychological point of view though. Those were some pretty intense chapters. Eliza seems very protective of the children and was just as upset as the Einsbarks, even more so because she already killed her family members once and did not want to see a repeat, and basically acknowledged out loud that she viewed the children as her own family. When she thought of adoption, she suggested it without any consideration of how it could be a burden to herself, and when she returned to her territory she immediately ordered baby furniture and a wet nurse, it's obvious there's no hesitation whatsoever. OTOH, you can just imagine how enraged she'd become if anything were to -ever- happen to the child. I expect that while all sorts of things happen at school, Eliza's own priority would be the child, and then we'd see how others react to this.
If only the author continues making her single. This will be my top favorite novel! Or the ML should be someone really deserving of her. I will boil and roast him and the author if he isn't!
What do you mean by someone really deserving of her? This isn't a CN period drama, it's not like she'll end up with some overbearing jerk with some mood disorder. So far there hasn't even been any male character her age that would be able to physically treat her badly anyway. xD So far Eliza has no plans of ever having children, so she might not be considering marriage at all... the one guy she started to get fond of is dead. Zephyr may try to court her, and he'll make a perfectly kind and gentle wife *cough* at least, so it's okay if they end up together. Eliza has zero romantic interest in the four capture targets so far... the only person to really watch out for so far is the first prince: we don't know what he's capable of, but he seems like a decent guy at least (helped Eliza's servant).
The son of the merchant who was executed due to Eliza poisoning her family and the one who gave her the nickname Charlie, Kamil.
*cought* *cough* I might have read a little too much Chinese novels. Anyway, I was talking about giving that snob boy to her, the one that she managed to make him go to the front lines or whatever it was called. If Zephyr was that son of the Marquis(or was it Margrave, it has been such a long time) the boy that she didn't find in school until later cause he had small presence, then he might be okay.
Don't forget that her body double is her half brother/cousin! (judging from his eyes and hair) I will roast the author if he makes Eliza go for incest. (Which is doubtful, but it isn't as if some authors didn't ruin their novels with some random decisions at the end) But on the other side, if you meant "if her body double will get a love interest" I wouldn't mind for him to have one.
I wouldn't worry about Eric if I were you. He's obviously a small fry. Since his story got done first, he's likely among the least important of the bunch. *cough* The ones most likely to give headaches to Eliza in the future are the two princes, and any new males that could show up in the future. Like, Rindarl may decide to send a few more students over, or Arxia may send Eliza on some unfortunate diplomatic missions. Though I do enjoy how Eliza doesn't give a damn about romance. xD
So what are everybody's theories on why Eliza was made to babysit the heroine? Eliza thinks that she was made to guard over the heroine to humiliate Rindarl, but that's not the only possible explanation. It could have been to protect the heroine. Although Eliza thinks she is feared at school, it didn't prevent a faction from forming around her, even bullying Eric's 'faction' into a corner. The heroine though, is in the worse position of being the representative from Eliza's 'enemy country'. But if Eliza were tasked with keeping an eye on her, everybody else would think twice before picking on the heroine. Also, Eliza has always shown herself to be obedient, so she should obey the order faithfully. Having Eliza look after the heroine, then having the four capture targets keeping an eye on Eliza's actions, could be a better method to keep things in check. A third possibility is that Archduke Dovadain and Marquis Rolentsor recommended Eliza because they have confidence in her babysitting skills *cough*. After all, Eliza gets along with Marquis Rolentsor's grandson, and she helped out with Eric. She's also the highest-ranking female at school, as well as the student with the highest grade in her year, so that's plenty of excuse to single her out. Archduke Dovadain Could also be sort of picking on Eliza for half-blackmailing him with the Eric matter at first. This also gives the Crown Prince an excuse to approach Eliza, *cough* since he should mind the heroine as she is officially an envoy from Rindarl. In fact, it isn't certain whether Eliza has to handle this task alone, perhaps the four capture targets also have this task. Finally, they could be testing Eliza. Since they abandoned their non-interventionist policy, they might need someone to control Rindarl, and they could be training Eliza for the task. I'm looking forward to all sorts of new elements in the next year: apart from the heroine, Zephyr's younger brother and Eric/Grayz's younger brother will be attending the school as well. Since Zephyr's younger brother is a big fan of Eliza, her entourage should get lively from that. Eliza also has a baby to protect. And who here thinks Rashiok will have puppies soon?
So you're saying they were training Eliza to be a representative of Arxia like an envoy or something? It could be funny to watch other country tremble before Eliza...
Not really. Recall that the archduke of Rindarl was set up as a puppet government by the four dukedoms. So to control the Rindarl Union, Arxia may want to control this puppet government in turn. Keeping a hostage all the way in Arxia keeps them too far from the decision-making however. -If- the heroine is actually the archduke's only child and heir (not sure about this though, if she isn't she can still serve as a long-term hostage), then Arxia could very well have planned to eventually send her back with her 'good friend Eliza', who'd control things from the shadows while obeying Arxia's directives. The school period would be a test period where they could judge whether Eliza is up to the task. The original 'find a husband' game scenario could have served a similar purpose. It's a bit of a stretch, but that would explain why the heroine must show such a degree of respect to Eliza: the decision-makers of Arxia may very well have told her 'she's your boss from now on, listen to everything she says or we'll let her stabby stabby you' before they called Eliza over. If things really do turn out that way though, Eliza would probably be eager to find someone to stabby stabby her instead to free her from the headache. xD
Eliza is a lower ranked noble who is now the guardian for a hated enemy. She has some enemies so it's possible by putting them together they will draw out enemies. The monarchy can knock down jealous nobles that interfere with Eliza's duty, or the isolationist nobles, draw out the northern nobles who want to destabilize by assassinating the princess and also force upon Eliz responsibility that ties her closer to the central administration.
There've been two more chapters! Eliza meets up with Claudia in the hallway and informs her that she was assigned to guard Emilia. Eliza speculates that at school, a lot of negative sentiments are likely directed against Emilia due to her coming from a defeated country who was first to declare war. Eliza is hated too, but she is also feared, so her presence is probably meant to deter hostile students. Obviously, the whole thing is giving Eliza a headache. At that moment the Crown Prince comes to find her. After he rushed over however, his complexion becomes terrible and he becomes unsteady. Eliza wonders if he caught a cold, so she apologizes in advance and picks him up in a princess carry (she doesn't want Claudia to do it and get bad rumors because she's a newlywed). She grows cold when she realizes how slender the Crown Prince is, and it reminds her of Elise (the sick girl). She asks the Crown Prince where to go. He protests against being carried at first but relents and tells her to take him to the greenhouse. Eliza describes him as having 'dead-fish eyes' as she takes him. (incidentally, Claudia laughs so Eliza decides to deprive her of desert that evening) Eliza recalls that the greenhouse was built for the prince when he was born. The Crown Prince seems to get better and she sets him down at the greenhouse. He declines her offer to go find a doctor, and explains that he has a chronic illness like a seizure, and the scent of the plants there help ease his symptoms. There's something like a fully-furnished room there in something like a birdcage. He explains he goes there when he wants to be alone, and nobody else goes there unless called. Eliza speculates that as a Prince of a country, he can't have any private time as someone always needs to be on standby, so he can only have time alone by being somewhere where people can see him from the outside (yikes). He then mentions that she's the first person he brought there, even Grayz has never been there. He prepares tea for her and reveals that he called her to transmit his father's directive, and hands her a letter stating that she is to transfer dormitories. Eliza is baffled why there'd be a royal order for something like that. At that point the Crown Prince tells her again that she doesn't need to be so formal when there's only them and Eliza's servant (Claudia) there. Eliza asks if it's alright and he apologizes. She suddenly wonders why the Crown Prince of a country is apologizing all the time. Likes yikes, to me it feels like these were the chapters where Eliza found out things she'd really rather not know. It turns out that the Crown Prince was sickly since birth, is feeling the pressure of being under constant watch and is frequently apologetic. On the other hand, his brother who was praised for his intelligence and had strong backing, was deposed and sent to the monastery. Also, the first prince was never allowed to see the second prince, and seemed under the impression that the second prince did underhanded things to get the throne (which now seems extremely unlikely, which begs the question, is someone feeding false information to the first prince as part of the power struggles?). To me it seems like for whatever reason, the decision-makers propped up prince Alfred as Crown Prince, but it's in name only, and he's actually treated as a sickly kid under observation. But if that were the case, who is really behind all this? Maybe because there are issues with both princes, the royal family decided to raise someone else as the power behind the scenes (Grayz?) with Alfred as a front (I mean, that explains why Grayz is always with the Crown Prince)? And what the heck is going on for the decision-makers to strip the first prince of the title, even if that meant a fiercer war? I can already here Eliza complaining to please leave her out of all this. Given how strictly she adheres to hierarchy etc, the reality at the top may really upset her.