The Fated Magical Princess: Who Made Me a Princess

Episode 10

Uh-oh, Athy. It looks like you've found yourself smack in the middle of an unexpected romance plot! Well, unexpended for you, maybe; I suspect all of us viewers saw it coming. (Especially my fellow manhwa readers.) But it's not really your fault, Athanasia, because the anime took out the part where you were reincarnated into a book you'd read in your past life. How could you be expected to see it coming?

It certainly doesn't help that Lucas is remarkably bad at actually expressing his feelings, although there's probably an argument to be made that he's also terrible at recognizing his feelings, too. As far as he's expressed awareness, he's fascinated by Athy because she's merrily rewriting a future that he believed was set in stone. That's the total of why he aged himself down and installed himself in the palace: to figure out how the hell she's messing with fate. But the longer he's there, the more that seems to be changing. Oh, he's still trying to sort out how she's managing to upend predetermined events, but now it seems to be Athy as a person he's become invested in. And while he's enjoyed teasing her by sending her over to the Alpheus estate, he's also not entirely comfortable with the relationship she and Ezekiel seem to be striking up.

He's also, I daresay, less than pleased that Athy will be dancing her first dance with her father. If you recall, he “jokingly” said that she'd get to dance with him, and Athy seems to have taken that to mean that he'd be her practice partner. But I think he actually meant that he assumed he'd be her escort to her debutante ball, and he's not happy that instead she'll be escorted by her father, to the tune of refusing to practice with her anymore. He says that's because she stepped on his feet before (and if you ask any ballroom dancer, they'll tell you that being stepped on in heels hurts), but his mopey attitude tells another story. The same goes for when he unceremoniously whisks her back from her visit with Ezekiel. Although he doesn't say as much, it seems clear that he was monitoring the situation, and he didn't like the decidedly romantic direction things were going in. Ezekiel, in his mind, is his primary rival for Athy's heart, although I wouldn't put money on that idea being fully formed for Lucas just yet. It's impressive how long he's lived without ever growing up.

What all of this means for Athy is the much more alarming realization that the dreams she's been having are about to coincide with reality, timing-wise. (It really would have helped had the isekai component been left in, particularly when it comes to making sense.) The ball is when Duke Alpheus presents Jennette to Claude and the courtiers as a princess, which has disastrous results for Athy in her dreams. Alpheus is plainly still planning this, based on the preview for episode eleven, but he seems unaware of Ezekiel's relationship with Athy and the fact that Lucas is an incredibly powerful wizard. He does know that Claude dotes on Athanasia, but since that hasn't stalled his plans, it's possible that his thinking is that if he loves one daughter, he'll love two – and then Alpheus can direct things from there. If there's one thing we know about the duke at this point, it's that he never stops scheming, always searching for a way to bring his plans to fruition.

The one person no one seems to be thinking about is Jennette. Alpheus, Ezekiel, Athy, and Lucas are all aware she's there, but no one's thinking about her as a person. Ezekiel all but runs away from her to spend more time with Athy, and we know how attached to him she is from a previous episode. The excitement she seems to express in the preview suggests that Alpheus has been feeding her a line about being Claude's daughter for most of her life, and she's built her dreams of family upon it. It's not clear how her introduction at the ball will go, but from what we've seen so far, I hope that Athy can find a way to save Jennette as well as herself. I get the feeling that no one has ever really cared about her actual well-being.

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The Fated Magical Princess: Who Made Me a Princess is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.