By Kosuzu Kobato and Fumi Takamura. Released in Japan as “Unmei no Koibito wa Kigen Tsuki” by Maple Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Sarah Moon. Adapted by Max Machiavelli.
There’s not actually any art forgery in this book – all the paintings that Fiona gushes over throughout the book seem to be genuine. This is probably because the mastermind behind everything is behind bars – note that I did not say safely behind bars. A novel needs a climax, after all. This allows the book to delve deeply into the other outstanding plotline, which is Fiona and Giles’ fake relationship. Both really don’t want to break it off, but know they have to. Well, Fiona knows she has to. Giles has an epiphany in this volume, and suddenly is finding that he’s absolutely not in favor of that anymore. Unfortunately, he’s still an earl and she’s still the daughter of a baron, so there are issues. What’s more, her father is unhappy with the idea. And this book sees her uncle returning to town, and Fiona just loves him. (No, not that way.) That said, we may be more familiar with him than we thought…
After the events of the last book, Gordon has been taken into custody, which means that Fiona can finally go home and stop imposing on the Heywards. (She is the only one who thinks it is imposing.) As it happens, she gets home just in time, as her uncle Reginald has returned from abroad, and he’s brought paintings to sell. In fact, they’re paintings from the famous Raymond, which is even bigger news. Reginald, however, does not like Giles at all. He knows Fiona wants to be independent, and having her as the plaything of an earl is the last thing that’s good for her. Unfortunately for Reginald, Fiona is not the only one unaware she’s fallen in love – Giles is as well, or was, until Reginald makes him realize that he is. Things will all come to a head at the grand ball which is supposed to be their final one as a couple…
As noted, 4/5 of this book is a romance. Reginald doesn’t like Giles, but he quickly realizes that Giles is not a manipulative bastard and just settles for glaring at him a lot. There is, though, the last fifth of the book, where you realize that both of the main antagonists of the series aren’t dead, and so of course bad things can still happen to Fiona, who has a kind heart even when facing off against a broken woman calling her a whore. Sadly for Caroline, who has spent her entire life planning to be Giles’ wife, reality is not kind to her. I’m frankly stunned by her fate in this book, which is more than she deserves, as everyone else points out. As for Gordon, well, guess what, they never found the body, so I guess we’ll see him again in Book 4. At least he gave us some good royal backstory and angst.
The webnovel is done, with enough material to finish with Book 4. When the published book will be out in Japan is beyond my predictions. Till then, if you like romance and nobles and art, this is still a very good sampling of all of those.
0 Comments