Extra 6.2 Discarding Angelica (Part 3)
“Thanks, Jane, just leave it there.”
“Understood.”
After placing the dress in the corner of the room, Jane took her leave.
Angelica hurried changed her attire and fixed her hair.
“Have a safe trip.”
“Yes!”
That day, she had an appointment in the afternoon.
At a café in the royal capital, she was going to meet her best friend, Sharina, and her mentor, Riol.
They were planning on a consolation party after that duel with that former prince, Leonardo. Things had finally settled down.
“Please come to the café near the academy!”
“Understood!”
Even though she planned to separate and discard some of her books on a whim, actually doing so took more time than she thought.
Angelica rushed through the corridor and jumped inside the carriage that was already waiting for her outside.
“I’ll be back in the evening, so please pick me up.”
“Understood. Then, Milady, please enjoy yourself.”
Angelica turned her heels as she alighted off the carriage near the café. Not to forget, she waved towards the carriage driver as he departed.
“Oh no, I’m a little late…”
When she looked threw the large glass store window, she saw familiar strawberry blonde hair and also black hair in one of the seats lined next to the window. It seemed that both of them arrived first.
However, upon noticing something, Angelica halted her steps—
“—how nostalgic, isn’t it, Riol!? Our first date was here, in this café!”
“Rather than date, weren’t we just running from That at that time…”
She couldn’t actually hear them talk, but merely from their expressions alone, Angelica could already grasp the contents of their conversation.
Sharina was leaning towards Riol, her profile was beaming.
Riol himself looked a little stunned.
However, that uptight attitude of his was probably just a cover for his bashfulness. There was a slight tint of vermillion on his cheek.
Even though Angelica was really close to them, and was staring at them from beyond the glass window, neither of two were aware of Angelica’s arrival.
Angelica gave up getting noticed and stepped inside the café.
“Sorry for the wait, Shari, Riol-kun!”
“Oh, Ange! I’ve been waiting for you!”
“Good afternoon, Miss Kirklight.”
As if Angelica had just arrived a second ago, the two turned their faces towards her—
—in fact, I’ve been standing outside since a few minutes ago…
“Ah, I feel like eating a lot of sweets today~”
“Is that so? Then why don’t we order various desserts from this café and compare the tastes? Right, Riol, Riol! Your favorite matcha cake is also available!”
“Then I’ll take that.”
After scanning the menu, Sharina immediately turned towards Riol—her profile was as cheerful as always.
“Aah…”
The scene in the novel that Angelica had just read overlapped with the scene in front of her—
—Raspberryna sat next to Rime, and the way she gazed at him…
…it was as if he was the only person in the world.
“Matcha cake sure is rare. Your handmade matcha cookies are also rare, too, by the way.”
The story of Raspberryna and Rime was just a bonus following the main story, but that bonus had several advantages for the readers.
“The manager here seems to be an acquaintance of Astraea. Astraea was the one who taught him how to make matcha confectionaries. In fact, my matcha cookies were also the result of his teaching.”
“To found such a connection in such an unexpected place…”
“—therefore, this cake should have the same flavor as the cake in my house. So, Riol, if you like, you can come visit my house. Or, we can just get married and I shall learn from Astraea to recreate the same taste for you every day.”
“Now don’t connect this topic to such an unexpected topic.”
There were three advantages for a reader when it came to the rival characters finding love;
One, it would eliminate the fear that the rival character would fall in love with the heroine again. Two, they could play an active role that was the heroine’s friend. Three, a romance with a totally different pattern than the main couple’s could be written.
There was actually a hidden advantage following those three. It was just as Cranbellica had said—
“Well, to me, Prince Lemonado is the best, though!”
Cranbellica’s reaction towards Raspberryna, whom was crazy about Rime, was a nod to Angelica from back then.
The heroine had captured the best man in the novel, while the former love rival had to be satisfied with a much inferior man.
Of course, it wasn’t directly stated in the novel. But in general, the readers’ minds were alike.
As they compared the main couple—which consisted of the heroine and the best man—with the side couple, which consisted of former love rivals, they acquired sense of superiority.
It didn’t mean those readers had bad personalities, after all, in the end, those couples were the products of fiction.
Angelica from back then shared the same feeling of superiority.
The heroine got to be with the prince that every lady in the kingdom yearned for, while her former love rival only got this awkward, not to mention, dull boy.
But, that impression, as of now…
“…You and Rime are the best couple, Raspberryna…”
“Huh? Ange? Did you say something? What happened to the raspberry cake?”
Angelica murmured, her focus wasn’t quite on the menu in front of her.
Sharina’s fluffy, strawberry blonde, hair shook as she turned around and tilted her head in confusion.
***T/N: My 12 yo shoujo reading mentality is being harshly exposed by the author…
“—therefore, this cake should have the same flavor as the cake in my house. So, Riol, if you like, you can come visit my house. Or, we can just get married and I shall learn from Astraea to recreate the same taste for you every day.”
For Sharina, it’s “either you come meet my family or marry me!” with no in-betweens.
I don’t really understand that shoujo reader mentality she was talking about. I enjoy seeing side characters get together or otherwise live out their lives (romance or no) because it shows good world building that doesn’t revolve around the main character. It shows that the author made a living, breathing world with people that don’t just stop existing when they stop interacting with the main character. I don’t understand this “sense of superiority” she was talking about.
Funnily enough, this is how the fandoms of One Punch Man and Overlord operate, just without the romance. There’s a vocal crowd that hates the side characters.
Which I don’t get because neither protagonist are very interesting without the supporting cast fleshing out the world. Saitama in particular is pretty predictable since you know the joke is always that he is underestimated every fight then one-taps the villain of the arc.
Same. Looking back at the shoujou manga I used to read? THE CRINGE ?
Riol, you know how Sharina is, so why is her bringing up Marriage randomly unexpected? Although I guess it’s not?
On a related note I started Fairy Tail recently, is it just me or is Sharina reminiscent of Juvia?
Ahahaha…. Sharina still best girl.
Facts
Phoenixir, you ve mentioned this before, but what is the qualification for ruling exactly?
I have another mc who is as dumb as rock and doesnt have the necessary skill to be future queen, but ppl defended her, saying that she doesnt actually need to rule so its fine for her to be as dumb and as ignorant as rock
Alright, so so the bare minimum qualities that rulers must have are: management of the nobilty( land owners or politicians if it’s not a feudal monarchy), management of the departments under them, intelligence management, proper ability to delegate, awareness of the political situation, awareness of the factions and their conflicts, proper etiquette, and their actions must be taken with the benefits to their nation in mind, and (it’s obvious but considering how many princes I’ve read about that lack this quality especially That) awareness of their position in society and that position’s relation to the positions of others.
All this is necessary to be a Ruler.
Compassion for their people would be nice but it’s not entirely necessary. Being a good judge of character is something you’d think was necessary but that could fall under proper delegation. Good Publicity…is nice but can be abandoned for the long term benefits to the nation. And if it’s a polygamous royal family, Harem/wife management goes right along with that.
It’s a lot of hard work to get to that point and you need more than a little talent to be to handle it. It’s why I don’t like it when idiot princes abandon their fianceé for being mean without any consideration for their Queen training.
Now as for that dumb as rock MC… that’s naïve thinking. I suppose it would be fine if she were a concubine, Queen in name only, in charge of Public relations, or if she was a Puppet Queen(which is more likely to happen). But a Queen/Queen Consort have responsibilities that require intelligence. High empathy and livability can only get you through so much before you have to face your faults(I’m assuming that Those are her features since that’s the only thing I can think of that would lead to people saying such things). This was long winded but nice to get out.
Thanks phoenixir!!!
Right!?!?!?
I ranted the same too, “fuck this dumb bitch, her mindset is that of a concubine instead of a queen!!!!! All she has is her face!!!! ” + all her thought shows on her face, she is a bad judge of character, and she couldnt grasp others’ thought at all, her conceitedness and pompousness is taller than eiffel tower–I FUCKING HATE THAT BITCH.
But immediately ppl defended her.
“Queen needs to be pretty!!!! Thats all that matter!!!! U need to be pretty to be chosen to be the queen after all!!! It isnt necessary for her to learn how to ruuule, she is a future queen, sure, but that isnt her obligatiooon, so its fine for her to be dumb.”
Rly? Aint being a crown prince fiancee decided from birth?
What the hell were those people talking about? Brains and talent are obviously more important than beauty. They can probably only say something like that because they think the position of Queen is only a title and not a job. It’s both therefore even if the country is a patriarchal monarchy where women have little power, she does, in fact, have ruling obligations. It would be different if the head concubine could cover for her lacking qualities but I’m guessing it’s a monagamous monarchy or the Crown Prince is “So in love with the FL he can’t think of embracing anyone else and is blinded by lustrous beauty.” It’s sweet but impractical. Kingdoms can’t run on romance. What is the novel anyways. I’m morbidly curious now.
The one i am translating? ‘I dont want to break off my engagement’? Where the king is free as fuck he can cosplay as adventurer all day long?
Ah yes, wasn’t that the one where the fianceé misunderstood everything? I haven’t actually read it in a while.
It isnt even an exaggeration to say that i want to punch her to death.
Ah… admittedly I did stop reading it because I could tell the flow of the story direction. I don’t like stories rife with unfunny misunderstandings
If the story is that predictable i wouldn’t be this mad. The author is trying to turn it into an adventurer story. Although badly. Very badly.
That sounds absurdly stupid.
…. right down to having water powers. Wow.
I’m surprised that Angelica didn’t bring that book to show them the strangely similar situation of the both of them in the story. If it was me, I’d be getting chills from knowing about there’s a book that is like a future prophecy about my life.
Thanks.
I just realized a brilliant strategy for their country to beat enemies.
Just let Riol and Sharina go honeymooning at other countries!
Let their enemies suffer from diabetes and then attack.
Repeat and rinse for world domination.
There are shoujo manga I read now and hope for second male lead to win. Peach Girl actually had the second male lead win, but then it got a sequel Peach Girl 2 and I haven’t read it yet because the first was an emotional rollercoaster that wrecked me multiple times and I don’t think i’m ready for that again.
In another manga that I can’t remember the mane of ML is in college while FML is working at a retail store trying to become a branch manager. The SML is her boss and interested in pursuing marriage. There’s even a TML who is a co-worker but his job makes him appear less in the story. The SML is my favorite.
Man, I think I’ve come around to enjoying Angelica’s development the most in this story.
I admire Angelica’s mental strength. To be able to sit down together with this couple and be able to eat sweets without the fear of having sugar overdose or fear of becoming a third wheel. If I were in Angelica’s situation I would probably just finish my business with them immediately and leave so I won’t feel guilty for intruding between them or I would just not enter the cafe and just have someone send them a message that I would be unavailable along with some complimentary gift certificate for someplace they could enjoy together.