The sweet, faux-medieval setting and Tomomi Yamashita’s open, simple art style belie the complicated emotions and intrigues that lie in the heart of this book.

I was really enjoying this volume until the last couple of chapters, when Primula drifted back to her “woe is me, bring a princess sucks” attitude. Her character is so inconsistent. She’s determined to become more worthy of her position and to try to help her people, accepting good times and bad, but as soon as the going gets tough, she wimps out again. This time, she couldn’t even get out of bed, so intense was her self pity party. I want her to be strong and I want her to be tough, but barring that, I at least expect her so show a little more resolve. She’s going to be the queen one day, for cripes sake! She was tougher when she was a little girl, trying to protect her only companion, Argent.

When I get to loving a series as much as I do this one, I can be easily disappointed by things that do or do not happen. I mean, I’m not really all that depressed, just bummed in a fangirl way. This volume is a good example. There’s a serious lack of Argent/Primula. Seeing as how one of the things I like best are the bare scraps of Argent/Primula that get occasionally thrown our way, this made me a little cranky. Plus, a perfect opportunity for a teary (or at least very sentimental) goodbye was squandered.

Chapter 3 1. Argent and the king of Beazol travel to a nearby dukedom to treat the Duke’s sick son. Argent diagnoses him with asthma. Given the fact that the son has daily symptoms and has been that way for years, he most likely has severe persistent asthma, the most severe form of asthma. His predominant symptom seems to be cough, so he could have cough variant asthma, a rare form of asthma that presents predominantly with a chronic cough.