By Mari Morikawa and Bodax. Released in Japan as “Konyaku Haki no Sono Saki ni: Suterare Reijō, Ōji-sama ni Dekiai (Engi) Sareru” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Adam.

It had been a while since the last volume of this series, and so I had forgotten about its vibe, which is “serious”. Most of these villainess or villainess-adjacent books tend to have a tongue at least somewhat in cheek, but this one is absolutely here to tell you that Estelle’s life has not been great, her new life is fine but still features miscommunication and anxiety, and, oh yes, someone is still trying to sabotage Arcrayne. Even the honeymoon, which we get at the end of this book, is called off briefly once they arrive due to an errant dragon attack, and the wedding features worries that she won’t be able to fulfill her role in bearing Arcrayne’s child. That said, everything in this series has been pretty straightforward, and so I’m sure the payoff here will… oh look, there are some genuinely surprising twists and turns. The author definitely wrote this with three books in mind.

After the events of the second book, Estelle is rapidly becoming a heroic story, which she’s not wild about, but that’s what happens when you shoot a dragon with your gun that explodes when you shoot a dragon. Fortunately, her engagement ring is remade and everything seems to be hunky dory. (record scratch) So she’s now locked in a tower prison, where accommodations are good but she’s been arrested for supposedly helping her fiance to try to assassinate the king, who is allegedly at death’s door. Needless to say this is a lie concocted by the Queen and her evil father (more on them later). Fortunately, things are not quite as desperate as they seem, but Estelle very much has to go from “I’m about to be executed because I was forcibly engaged to this guy” to “I’m going to be the next queen” pretty darn quick.

The most interesting part of the book is after the failed coup itself, where we get to see the double reverse Uno that was apparently going on while Estelle and Arcrayne were suffering a bit. I will try not to spoil too much, but it turns out that the Queen, who I had really disliked in previous books, has a backstory that… well, let’s just say they make it BETTER by saying “he hit her”. Daddy Dearest was a real piece of work. As a result, we get to hear about how a lot of everything in Arcrayne’s life was faked in order to appease different factions, and that he knew none of this. I like the twists, but I wish we’d gotten the chance to figure them out before they’re dropped on us. OK, while I said that everything was written to be a perfect three volumes, maybe it was a bit rushed. A few more flashbacks might have done wonders.

Still, overall this series wasn’t bad, and is a good one to recommend to those who want a “disgraced noble” sort of book without any deconstruction or parody.