The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold To Another Kingdom

Episode 5

We already knew that Philia's family was behind most of the trauma she underwent, but it still feels important to understand that it was her aunt who trained her. It's just one more sin to lay at the feet of the Adenauer family, and it says a lot about how Philia was, to them, only good for the prestige she could bring in. And if a child had to be tortured to get there? Perfectly fine by them.

Or at least, that's how it looks right now. While it in no way excuses what Aunt Hildegarde did to Philia, her remembered words about how Philia's mistreatment is because she looks like her aunt are interesting. Hildegarde didn't get along with her brother to the point where Philia even looking like his sister made her persona non grata. One possibility here is that Hildegarde was mean to him, leading him to associate her face with his own upsetting childhood. That would mean that Hildegarde deliberately was cruel to her niece, because that's who she is. But the other, more intriguing, possibility is that it was the brother who was cruel to Hildegarde for no reason other than that he could be. If that was the case, a traumatized Hildegarde may have been earnestly trying to protect her niece by subjecting her to harsh training in the hopes that she'd be strong enough to survive her father.

We'll likely find out which it is – or if it's some third option – later on, but right now, the major takeaway is that Philia is beginning to recognize that she's never really known love and care. This goes beyond not understanding the romance novels Lena lent her, because let's face it, romance characters often act in bizarre ways. It's a much more grounded realization for Philia, one that she comes to by inches. When Grace, the young saint from another kingdom, tells her that it was Philia's texts that helped her to learn her craft, Philia thinks back to how her mother ripped the books up and the prince had them burned and taken out of circulation. When she watches Reichardt mourn at the grave of Parnacorta's previous saint, his fiancée, she thinks about how her betrothed never showed her that love. Even if she can't quite catch the hints Osvalt is sending her way, she's struck by what a kind and loving person he is, working to help his brother and better their kingdom. The only thing in her life that came close to any of that was her relationship with Mia, and even then, she never thought of it that way.

For Philia, being a saint has always been a job. It's not a calling, it's just something she's expected to be able to do well. And even when she's gone above and beyond, she's never been rewarded for it, at least not until she left Girtonia. It was like the spiritual equivalent of washing dishes: it had to be done, and people expected it to be done well, but no one cared about the dishwasher. Meeting Grace helps her see beyond that in a way that no one in Parnacorta has been able to help her with. Grace is the fourth saint in a family riddled with them, but that doesn't change the fact that she wants to be the best saint she can be. In her eyes, Philia is the pinnacle of sainthood, and she wants to emulate her. It's a form of affection and hero worship that Philia has never experienced before, and it's really that which is starting to open her eyes. Osvalt's gentle crush and Lena's firm friendship help Philia in other ways, but it's Grace who makes her realize that maybe she really is special.

If it didn't, the fact that Girtonia inexplicably wants her back (well, not so inexplicably) after selling her off may be a clue. Mia is more intractable than they were expecting, and I'm looking forward to seeing how she's been playing the game when the focus shifts to her again next week.

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The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold To Another Kingdom is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays.