Before I get to the discussion on love, I gotta address the elephant in the room. We can finally confirm that Harij is procuring the love potion for someone else. She is not only the princess, she is a sister of a childhood friend. Okay, well, I acknowledged this possibility back in week one, and I also don’t think this confirmation really changes anything. Helping someone else acquire a love potion is still a bad thing to do. Imagine trying to defend murder the same way. I’m not murdering him for my own reasons! The princess asked me to, so I can’t be held responsible! Nah, man. That wouldn’t fly in court. Harij can’t feign ignorance either: “A love potion is something that distorts one’s mind. Altering the paths of others is–….” And then the princess cuts him off. We still don’t know what her reasons are, because this is classic narrative bread-crumbing. But again, would this change anything? Are we going to propose some extreme scenario the kingdom hangs in the balance unless a certain someone falls in love with another certain someone? C’mon…

Anyway, Harij plans on dropping by Rose’s hut every single day from now on. He wants to literally fatten her up, but he only ever brings bread. Isn’t that crazy? He’s clearly concerned about her well-being, fair enough. But she needs more than bread. We all need more than bread. Granted, bread is at the bottom of the food pyramid, but it should really be vegetables. And granted, lettuce is technically a vegetable, but this girl needs some root veggies in her, man. Even if you gotta go with a leafy vegetable, lettuce might as well be the lamest one. Spinach, kale, mustard greens, brussels sprouts, etc. are all vastly superior in taste and nutrition. Harij even acknowledges that lettuce makes for a woeful meal, so bring her something more substantial than bread! But no, the next thing the royal knight brings is a tarte tartin. Sure, the apples are healthy on their own, but in a tarte tartin, they’re basically stewed in sugar. It’s all just empty calories in the end.

I know this might seem like a silly nitpick when the anime just wants us to soak in the atmosphere of two people enjoying their time together, but you have to back your love up with actions. And right now, the actions are questionable, and they remain consistently questionable. For instance, their conversation topic eventually drifts back to the lettuce Rose used to only eat before Harij showed up. Why did she grow and eat lettuce? Was it because she’s personally fond of the vegetable? No, not particularly. Back when her grandmother was still alive, she made sure Rose learned how to maintain the garden, which contained medicinal herbs and, well, lettuce. This became a habit for the girl. The medicinal herbs obviously went into her many brews and remedies, but she didn’t have any particular use for the lettuce. But instead of wasting it, she might as well eat it. Hearing this, Harij suggests that this was her grandmother’s way of looking out for her. She knew that Rose would become a girlfailure, so she made sure her granddaughter would at least have something to eat after she passed away.

This is supposed to make you go “awwww” because Rose never realized how much her grandmother loved her! But I’m sorry, but I can only laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole scenario. If you’re going to nag her about something, why can’t you nag her to clean her home properly? Why can’t you nag her into maintaining a proper diet? Why didn’t you prepare her better for living on her own? Like c’mon, are we being for real right now? Even if training Rose to grow her own food was the only option, why lettuce? Why not something significantly more filling and nutritious like the humble spud? Potatoes even make more sense because you can store them for much longer than lettuce! I mean, what exactly does Rose do when it gets really cold or hot? This is exactly what I’m talking about.

I don’t doubt that Rose’s grandmother loved her. I’m sure she adored her very much. But she demonstrated that love by teaching the girl how to grow lettuce? And that’s it? She neglected to teach the girl to do anything else? Rose has terrible habits; she can’t even clean the dishes on a regular basis! It doesn’t make sense. My mother obviously loved me, so she taught me how to cook, how to clean, how to do the laundry, etc. That’s what love is. Love shouldn’t always be some big surprise that only occurs to you upon deep reflection! Love is continuous! Love is obvious! But I get it, I get it. This sort of bullshit plays better in drama. Everyone loves the “A-ha!” moments.

Stray thoughts & observations:

— I’m sure it’s very idyllic here, but I’m a city guy through and through. I’m technically an introvert in that I won’t strike up a conversation with people, but I still prefer to be among all the energy of a big city as opposed to the peaceful countryside.

— Rose has no concept of weekdays and weekends. Are you telling me her grandmother couldn’t teach her about the days of the week either?!

— Rose tells Harij that she would just hide in the basement whenever danger rolls around, but even that sounds pretty sketchy to me.

— Naturally, our girlfailure’s cupboards are stuffed to the brim with junk, and they threaten to fall on top of you as soon as you slide open the door.

— Do people really apply the jam directly onto the crust? Even better, Rose nibbles on the side of the bread roll like a rabbit. I’m sure this makes her very dainty and demure, but it looks ridiculous to ignore all that jam.

— Not content with just one “A-ha” moment, Harij also helps Rose realize that the song she likes to sing came from her mother. Up until now, she thought her mother had died when she was too young to recall anything about the woman. Our girlfailure even has a faulty memory!