The first thing Anastasia does is try and sacrifice herself for Marie’s sake. Apparently, she only recently learned of her sister’s betrothal, and she thinks Marie is being forced into marriage against her will. Man, can you guys stop being so dramatic for one second. Take a deep breath, and discuss it over a cup of tea or coffee like normal people. If you don’t know, then ask. “Yo, what’s up, sis! Long time no see! So you’re, uh, you’re shacking up with this guy now? Mind filling me in?” And then act after you’ve gotten all the relevant information. Wow, what a concept! But even after learning that Marie is in no real danger, Anastasia sees Kyros as nothing more than a lecherous man. This is filler. This is an unfunny, pointless conflict to occupy the remainder of this penultimate episode. The real shit, i.e. their parents’ comeuppance, will arrive in next week’s episode. Until then, however, we have to pretend that Anastasia has a bone to pick with Kyros.

With Anastasia back, we get to see a little more of the whole picture, i.e. why the Shaderan family became the way that they are. Essentially, Baron Shaderan is utterly useless because Grandma Sasha had to do her son’s work for him. When she died, all of her responsibilities fell into Marie’s lap. This happened for two reasons: 1) she’s the smarter of the two Shaderan daughters, and 2) the young girl took the blame for her grandmother’s death. We all know the parents suck, so I don’t want to dwell on them more than I need to. Rather, I have a bone to pick with granny. Perhaps Sasha was a great woman in many respects, but she totally enabled that spoiled child of hers. She’s obviously not directly responsible for Marie’s abuse, but you can certainly draw a causal link. That might sound harsh, but I think it’s also fair. Every action has a consequence, and we need to look at the whole picture to fully understand why things are the way that they are. It does us no good to hide certain truths simply because they are unpleasant. Sasha raised a terrible man, and that man went on to abuse her granddaughter.

What follows are more examples of their parents’ abuse from Anastasia’s point of view. I get the picture. I don’t need to watch it reenacted this late into the series. The new perspective doesn’t offer much. Furthermore, it’s just so over-the-top. Not the abuse itself, but the way the parents are acting in general. For example, when Anastasia tries to defend Marie, their mother doesn’t simply double down on their actions. No, she has to pull Anastasia into her arms and bizarrely stroke the girl’s face with a crazy glint in her eyes. Look, I get it. The mom has some weird obsession with Sasha, and Anastasia inherited her grandmother’s features. Even though they didn’t abuse her as much as as they did with Marie, she was still nothing more than a pretty doll in their eyes. Nevertheless, the mother’s behavior here is way too extra, and if anything, it distracts from the actual horror of the scene.

We then get to hear how that fateful night played out. Anastasia escaped her attacker by throwing a heavy rock into the raging river. This tricked him into thinking she had drowned. What a moron. Do you see how hard it’s storming? That sound could’ve come from anything. It could’ve been a heavy tree branch for all he knows. At least wait and see if a body surfaces. But I digress. Anastasia then meets the sexist Norman, but luckily, he’s blind enough to not notice that she’s a woman. Anastasia only then learned of Marie’s betrothal when Norman got the order to set the big, honkin’ diamond in a ring. It’s a bit weird, isn’t it? On the one hand, Anastasia probably felt powerless to save Marie from their domineering parents. But on the other hand, as soon as she hears about Marie entering into a marriage with Kyros, she suddenly finds it within herself to spring into action? Her parents are too much of an obstacle, but she can save Marie from the freaking prince? Bruh.

I suppose you could argue that this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Anastasia always wanted to protect her younger sister, and now that she thinks Marie is being forced into a bad marriage because she ran away, she has no choice but to act. But I dunno, man, I’m still not convinced. I’m still uncomfortable with the fact that she was content to do nothing until she heard about the betrothal. After all, she knows her parents. She knows what they’re capable of. Whereas she doesn’t know Kyros at all. From her vantage point, he’s a wild card. He might be abusive, but then again, he might not. Anastasia doesn’t know him, so she has no clue. But her parents are abusive, no ifs or buts about it. So why was she not compelled to save Marie earlier? And when it came to Kyros, why couldn’t she simply sit and observe in order to verify whether or not her sister is actually suffering? The likely answer is that it’s better to make baseless assumptions, so you can milk the drama.

So what now? Where do we go from here? Well, we already know that Baron Shaderan has been committing fraud all this time. Sweet, let’s turn him in! Report his crimes to the authorities, and let them handle it. But that’s too simple for anime. We have to be extra. As a result, Marie wants to confront her parents directly. Uh, you know they might kill you, right? Fairly or not, just or not, you’re threatening their livelihood, and they may very well respond in kind. Just because you shouldn’t run away from your problems doesn’t mean you should walk directly into the line of fire. This is both stupid and reckless.

But fine, endanger your life for all I care. They also have a super maid on their side, so Mio can just beat everyone up.