By Yuuri Seo and Okaya. Released in Japan as “Taikouhi Kouho dakedo, Kenjitsu ni Ikou to Omoimasu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America digitally by Airship. Translated by Natasha Fujii. Adapted by Vida Cruz-Borja.
Seven Seas has started to do these digital-only light novels, ones that presumably are good enough to be licensed but not good enough to justify a print release. (And by “good enough” I mean potentially making money, not quality of the prose.) Most of them tend to cater towards the guy side of the line, but this one is a shoujo light novel. Possibly it doesn’t get a print release as it’s not an isekai, and magic and monster hunting barely feature in it. Possibly also because it’s a 7-year-old series and only has two volumes. (I do wonder about that second volume, more on that later.) That said, I find it very enjoyable. The lead is practical but also a bit flakey, there’s a girl with princess curls who’s more than she seems (I always love that), and the plot twist actually caught me completely flat-footed. It’s definitely worth a read, even with a few faults.
Decades ago, the Litharth family sacrificed its wealth to save their lands from a famine. They’re still nobility, but have to scrounge and save. So when a message comes that the Crown Prince is looking for a wife… and will pay a pile of money to the candidates even if they don’t win… Therese is delighted. She has no desire to be a princess, but she does want cash for her family and her subjects… and if she manages to get a job as a lady in waiting, that would be amazing! She heads off with her elderly maid, and is helped by a handsome knight and also an intelligent attendant who seems to have a bad case of backstory disease. But there’s lots of catty noble girls, seemingly the minions of the arrogant Claris. And there’s the fact that Therese isn’t quite sure what to do anyway – there’s not a series of competitions. Clearly there’s only one thing to do: create a lot of paper origami boxes and scrubbing brushes.
Therese is a lot of fun, though one of the flaws of the book is that sometimes the author needs to hit her with the airhead mallet to get the book to get the way they want. I like her better when she’s being practical and down to earth. I also liked her friend and attendant Leina, who also helps with the main issue of the book, which is that Therese is clearly the best candidate, being sensible, not full of herself, etc. And yet, also clearly any romance that’s happening here is between Therese and her guard knight, who get a lot more scenes together. Thus we need to give SOMEONE to the crown prince, and fortunately there’s someone with backstory disease. I will also admit, while I was taken flat footed by the antagonist reveal, it did lean a bit too much into “well, time to set the switch on my back to evil”. Most of all, this is, even more than others I read recently, absolutely done with the first volume. And yet…
There is apparently a second. Not sure when we’ll get that. In any case, this was fluffy fun.