Heronia is now claiming that Bertia bullies her. My first thought is you need evidence! You can’t just say whatever you want willy-nilly! You need evidence to back up your allegations! Then it zoomed in, so I saw that stupid bird. It’s probably using its dumb charm magic or whatever to sway people to her side. Sure enough, we’ll later find out that this is the case… sorta. So far, Heronia’s charm seems to only work on the boys at the academy. Bertia has gone ahead and even protected the capture targets, so Heronia doesn’t even have the important boys on her side.
Meanwhile, Courtgain asks Cecil if Bertia could call him “my dear brother Cour,” which the latter promptly rejects. Oh my, is someone feeling jealous? Yup, he’s really jealous. Unfortunately, he’s still trying to piece together exactly what he’s feeling. Bertia has given all of the boys earrings designed to combat Heronia’s charm magic, but nothing for her own fiancé. I know she’s doing this all for his sake — she’s trying to avoid some bad end that will entail if he doesn’t end up with Heronia — but the optics, girl, the optics! At the end of the day, Cecil is still just a boy. He and the rest of the cast are still so young that they’re still not even in high school. He might have slightly less feelings than most boys his age, but he can certainly still be heartbroken.
Also, Bertia might need to get her morals straightened out. She doesn’t want to give Cecil an earring to protect him from Heronia’s charm magic, because this will lead to her desired result. She doesn’t care how he ends up with Heronia so long as it happens. So she’s okay with him losing his free will? She’s okay with her beloved otome character becoming a mindless robot? Either Bertia is dumb or just incredibly immature. Even though they’re the primary couple of the story — and destined to end up together — the sad reality is that neither Bertia or Cecil truly deserve each other… yet. At the moment, she still doesn’t really see him as a full fledged person with his own thoughts and feelings. He’s just a character from her otome game. Not once has she asked him what he wants. Likewise, Cecil mostly finds Bertia amusing. Yes, he’s feeling pangs of jealousy, because he’s slowly starting to develop feelings for her. Starting, I must emphasize. Until she stops being a toy to him, he doesn’t truly deserve her either. But hey, it’s only episode five. There is still plenty room for growth for both characters.
Anyway, Cecil once again approaches Bertia in such a roundabout fashion: “I will have this earring protect me, so that I may pursue the woman of my own volition.” He’s probably thinking, Which means you, by the way… hint hint hint. He then has Zeno cast a spell to keep Bertia’s earring from ever falling out. C’mon, man, that’s not gonna work. You gotta spell (no pun intended) it out to Bertia. You need to hammer it home! She thinks she’s saving you! Nothing less than a clear and direct message will deter her from thinking she’s literally saving you. Even right now, she’s complaining about how this might send the “wrong” message to Heronia.
While Cecil is away, it sounds like there’s about to be an all-out civil war back at the academy. Bertia, however, paints a pretty picture about how Heronia is just oh so popular~! I In actuality, she’s being bullied, but that’s a good thing in her eyes! After all, she’s the villainess! Oh my god, girl, this is no longer a game. This is real life! You can actually get hurt. It stopped being a game when Cecil helped save your mother! I know he’ll never do it, but this is why I’ve been advocating for the direct approach.
When Cecil finally returns to the academy, he’s about halfway there. Due to their relationship, he should be protecting her. But Cecil can’t quite tell her that her actions are hurting his feelings, because he himself hasn’t quite processed those emotions yet. He doesn’t yet understand the conflicting feelings within him. And until that happens, Bertia will probably never understand where he’s coming from. She’ll just keep thinking, I’m preventing my favorite character from suffering a bad end, so this will be worth it in the long run. So unsurprisingly, she insists that he allow her to handle the situation. Oh, I’m sure this won’t come back to bite both of them in the ass.
Heronia takes every chance she gets to drag Bertia’s name through the mud. Our self-proclaimed villainess then tries to lean into the persona, but it doesn’t work. Her allies simply interpret her words in the most positive light possible, ’cause why wouldn’t they? Bertia’s actions behind the scenes are probably all positive. She’s never done a mean thing to anyone. I mean, she literally has a fan club. Bertia kinda missed the memo on how you gotta be a bad person to be the bad guy (or girl). For someone who plays so many otome games, she doesn’t have a clue on how to actually be a villainess.
Meanwhile, Heronia can’t believe what she’s seeing. She thought it would be easy to turn the tables on Bertia. You can thus argue that the flip side is true for our “heroine.” She, too, has probably played plenty of otome games, but she doesn’t seem to exhibit any of the qualities befitting of a protagonist. I don’t think heroines are supposed to bully people. Hot take, I know. Heroines are also supposed to be hard-working individuals, and all she’s done is let her stupid bird do the work for her.
In the end, it’s somehow the shota who finally helps Cecil understand why he’s so hurt by Bertia’s rejection. Then immediately after he has this epiphany, he learns that Bertia has fallen down a flight of stairs. What did I say? She was bound to get hurt one day, because this isn’t a game. She was likely pushed, but by whom? Heronia… or that glowering girl from just earlier? Hm.
Stray thoughts & observations:
— As an aside, this is likely a cultural thing, but I would never worry about my significant other referring to someone as a brother. Brother has absolutely no romantic implications for most people around me, and I’m more than happy to keep it that way (Alabama, on the other hand…). Bertia might actually feel similarly: “And you’re… my fiancé. You aren’t my older brother.” But I know in certain cultures, that distinction carries little weight. Hell, even if it’s often used as a term of endearment for an older boyfriend, “oppa” literally means older brother, doesn’t it?
— Cecil’s father sends him abroad under the guise of studying, but the kid is actually here to keep negotiations in check. I know Cecil’s uber talented, but I feel like your kingdom is in dire straits if you have no one else to do the job. A kingdom should have plenty of talented individuals, no? I’d rather have my kid focus on his studies than this nonsense.
–Uh, so who is this? And why does she look so bothered?
