It’s a bit much to drag Anastasia’s alleged killer before Marie, isn’t it? If someone murdered one of my family members, I wouldn’t want to confront them face-to-face. Sure, I would want to know what happened, but a sympathetic cop can deliver the bad news. I don’t want to see the killer’s face, hear their voice, or hear their potentially nasty words. I mean, this guy basically called Anastasia a cheater in the making! What’s a word that old people like to use? Besmirched! He has besmirched the sister’s name! In any case, it turns out the carriage driver is dumb enough to think he’ll be rewarded for taking out the older sister, so he ends up confessing to everything. Remember, never speak without a lawyer present. You might be the biggest scum on earth, but you still have rights. I’m just half kidding. I know he probably doesn’t have rights in this particular setting, but hey, the advice still applies to most of us! Maybe. Hopefully.
Here’s what really happened that night: the carriage driver tried to rape Anastasia, but she fell into the flooding river in an attempt to escape. He then faked an accident to cover up his crime, and sold bits of her shredded dress and hair to her mother. This whole scenario is baffling, though. Anastasia was supposedly on her way to meet her future fiance, but her parents skimped on the carriage? Not only that, she didn’t even get an escort or anything. They just entrusted her to some random carriage driver. Even if he had been a decent person, what if the carriage had been attacked? I don’t understand why she was left so defenseless. Why is her mother currently devastated when she didn’t try to protect her? We find out later that the sisters’ father is such a miser, he won’t even give Anastasia a gravestone. She might have been her mother’s golden child, but it clear that her father doesn’t give a shit about any of his children beyond what they can do for him. But that’s the thing, isn’t it? Even a selfish man like him is likely to view his daughters as pawns that he can marry off for political gain or money. As such, it still doesn’t make sense to leave one of your assets so blatantly unprotected. Oh well, maybe he’s just incompetent.
It’s also odd that the story revealed its hand so early by with the blond kid. It’s not that he can’t show up, but they made it very obvious that he was important, i.e. pregnant pauses and all that. Right off the bat, we’re clued in. He has to be someone important. But why? Well, we never found Anastasia’s body! It doesn’t take a genius to connect the dots. Fast forward to this week’s episode where we see Marie bawling into Kyros’ arms, because she thinks she’s just confirmed her sister’s death. And from her perspective, that’s totally understandable. The worst part is that she feels guilty all over again. She had just finally worked up the courage to accept Kyros’s love, but now she thinks it should’ve been her who died. This could’ve been — and should’ve been — a heartbreaking moment. Unfortunately, we know too much. We have extra knowledge due to our privilege as the audience, and this extra knowledge makes it all the more difficult to put ourselves in Marie’s position. No matter how devastated she feels, we have that gnawing thought inside our head: “Yo, she’s not dead! Your sister’s alive! She planned her escape from the start!” The couple even dress in black in order to mourn Anastasia’s death, but the scene is robbed of its poignancy because the twist has already been spoiled.
Well, maybe it was never meant to be powerful, because we’re quickly told that everything went back to normal after a week. Welp, they sure got over that pretty quick. Sheesh. Since everything is so “normal” now, we get some fluffy slice-of-life scenes. For example, Mio the hardass has a difficult time accepting gifts from Marie. Meanwhile, our couple is bold enough to be lovey-dovey in front of others. Granted, it’s her future mother-in-law, but still, those in love can be so corny. When Marie puts a ribbon in his hair, Kyros praises her fingers for moving “in such a charming manner.” Uh, right. This actually reminds me of a clip I just saw recently where two voice actors were reading out lines from a romance manga. The male lead was practically dying on the inside, because his lines were so embarrassing to read out loud.
Eventually, however, Marie’s grandmother becomes the subject of the conversation. Apparently, she was a real big shot. Unfortunately, being a hero doesn’t preclude you from being a bad parent. Then again, people can still turn out rotten even if their parents tried their very best. I guess I just lean more towards nurture rather than nature. If it means anything, Marie’s father can’t even read or write the language of nobility. Mind you, he’s not some poor street urchin with no access to education. He’s a part of upper class society. Basically, the baron is just a dumbass, so he’s probably 100% to blame for his own terrible nature. Plus, why are we still talking about this guy? Who cares if he’s related to Marie by blood. Just cut him out.
Anyway, the episode ends on a potentially sour note. The guy who cut the uber expensive pink diamond for Marie’s ring had to come out of retirement. Why? Because he took on an apprentice who just happened to show up three months ago. Dun dun dun!!!!! Next week’s episode is titled “Please call off the betrothal.” I’m going to be real annoyed if Marie suddenly reverses course and argues for Anastasia to take her place by Kyros’s side. I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen, but if it does, I might call it quits. It’s a bit late in the season to start pruning my schedule, but if I had to cut one, it would have to be this show.
Stray thoughts & observations:
- In fact, I think Kyros shares a bit of the blame for what happened. If I can’t pick my girlfriend up myself, the next best thing is to arrange a ride for her. Everyone involved here was so negligent.
- Hell, Kyros even confesses that he was initially happy to hear that she died, because he thought Anastasia had also abused Marie. His maid shared the same unfounded suspicions. Couldn’t you have waited a little longer before revealing this? Hell, why reveal it at all? Your fiancee is literally sobbing in your arms. Read the room.
- I noticed it before, but never said anything about it: why did they give Marie’s hair such a weird toxic green sheen? It makes her look radioactive.
- Chef Toppo has been working super hard in preparation for the future betrothal ceremony, so he lost a ton (not literally) of weight. It has only been a few months since we first met him! Yo, make sure this man doesn’t have an eating disorder. He has a kid, so he can’t be fucking around with his health!
