- #26
Adding onto my last post to spoil what’s happening in the raws.
So, the Kanakta delegation is a whole weeks long event seemingly (during the day presumably the ministers are talking with them and in the evenings there are balls and other social events).
As I said, Sasha gets pretty close to lady guard captain. She winds up talking with the Sultan a lot when she goes to chat with the guard captain, though I’m not sure is she knows he’s the Sultan (he and the guard captain seem to have a close casual relationship). Cute moment when Sasha starts interacting with the sultan’s leopard like a cute kitty and the sultan’s expression is pretty much ‘WTF, why you being cute and not killing her?’ Seems the leopard knows better than to act up with a dragon in the room.
Cut moment between Lilith and Payne in the lead up to a lot of stuff going down, they’re going out and about being cute and Lilith pulls that blindfold off and kisses him. The framing is really cute and we see all this introspection later showing that his eyes are a big trigger and his mother’s death was really traumatic for him.
Big event is the king full on collapses in front of everyone during a ball. They suspect poison, and of course suspicion falls on the delegation. Johannes is obviously useless and just goes off with the king. Things look like they’re about to go down before Payne busts in like a boss and takes control of the situation. The palace guards try to talk down to him but he shuts that down pretty fast. The main delegate is super happy to see him and kneels down before him. I personally think it’s kinda funny how the delegate is all ‘hurray, person who has routinely kicked our buts, you’re here! You’re an honorable person who will properly investigate what happened’ while the locals are all looking down on him with the excuse that he’s a war maniac.
Small scene with Arth and Johannes by the king’s sick bed. Johannes is falling apart. Arth tries to talk some sense into him. In the end it looks like Johannes is sidelined by being put in charge of comforting the queen, aka they’re spending their time crying and wringing their hands. Doesn’t look like Arth is worried about the king in the sense of not wanting him to die, but he seems more angry with the man for having such bad timing. Like ‘I’m in the middle of a massive scheme to depose Johannes, I need you to keep kicking around for a few more months before you can be removed from the equation’.
So Payne’s basically running things, and there’s some more interactions between him and Arth, seeming the same ‘you should be king’/‘not happening’ convo. Here we see a lot about his backstory and thoughts. It really does seem like he sees his mom’s downfall as wanting too much, and we see him visiting her grave.
Lilith’s mom arrives on the scene. The servants bring her right to Lilith (against orders?), and of course she starts smacking her around. The guards aren’t doing their freaking job, and the maids are outside the door listening in and giggling. Arth and Sasha come across that scene and hear the beat down going on through the door. Sasha (as part of a plan?) runs off to cry to the lady guard captain and Sultan about the mistreatment while Arth pulls crazy mom off her.
And that’s when Payne comes on the scene. Arth is physically restraining crazy, Lilith is on the ground and super bruised up, and the maids and guards are there smirking basically going ‘whatcha going to do about it’.
And that’s where the last chapter ends. Really wish I could translate that last bit cause it looks like Payne has finally reached his tipping point. Following the king’s lead and disrespecting him is one thing, aiding his girlfriend’s abuser and laughing as she gets assaulted is another, so no more nice guy.
This next bit is just speculation. It looks like Arth and Sasha are pushing Payne to actually abandon the country and joining Kanakta. Or at least really making it look like he will. (The two are clearly putting in the work to make the Kanaktans think it’s a real possibility). As much as people follow the king’s lead in mistreating him, we’ve seen that anyone in the know or with the slightest bit of sense realized that they really need him. Counselors and staff know Johannes can’t be trusted with any work, while Payne has protected their country and is currently doing the work the crown prince should be with the king out of commission. And I think the Kanaktans have made it pretty clear that if they can lure Payne away they will immediately follow up with an invasion. If the court really starts thinking Payne may jump ship then the response of a lot of powerful people will be ‘No, we need him! Quick, what can we do to make him want to stay? Sit down and shut up Johannes.’
We’ve already seen that the council has some real political power, Think English parliament in the Georgian era. So with Johannes’s only real backing being on his deathbed they could step in and basically place Payne in charge.
So, the Kanakta delegation is a whole weeks long event seemingly (during the day presumably the ministers are talking with them and in the evenings there are balls and other social events).
As I said, Sasha gets pretty close to lady guard captain. She winds up talking with the Sultan a lot when she goes to chat with the guard captain, though I’m not sure is she knows he’s the Sultan (he and the guard captain seem to have a close casual relationship). Cute moment when Sasha starts interacting with the sultan’s leopard like a cute kitty and the sultan’s expression is pretty much ‘WTF, why you being cute and not killing her?’ Seems the leopard knows better than to act up with a dragon in the room.
Cut moment between Lilith and Payne in the lead up to a lot of stuff going down, they’re going out and about being cute and Lilith pulls that blindfold off and kisses him. The framing is really cute and we see all this introspection later showing that his eyes are a big trigger and his mother’s death was really traumatic for him.
Big event is the king full on collapses in front of everyone during a ball. They suspect poison, and of course suspicion falls on the delegation. Johannes is obviously useless and just goes off with the king. Things look like they’re about to go down before Payne busts in like a boss and takes control of the situation. The palace guards try to talk down to him but he shuts that down pretty fast. The main delegate is super happy to see him and kneels down before him. I personally think it’s kinda funny how the delegate is all ‘hurray, person who has routinely kicked our buts, you’re here! You’re an honorable person who will properly investigate what happened’ while the locals are all looking down on him with the excuse that he’s a war maniac.
Small scene with Arth and Johannes by the king’s sick bed. Johannes is falling apart. Arth tries to talk some sense into him. In the end it looks like Johannes is sidelined by being put in charge of comforting the queen, aka they’re spending their time crying and wringing their hands. Doesn’t look like Arth is worried about the king in the sense of not wanting him to die, but he seems more angry with the man for having such bad timing. Like ‘I’m in the middle of a massive scheme to depose Johannes, I need you to keep kicking around for a few more months before you can be removed from the equation’.
So Payne’s basically running things, and there’s some more interactions between him and Arth, seeming the same ‘you should be king’/‘not happening’ convo. Here we see a lot about his backstory and thoughts. It really does seem like he sees his mom’s downfall as wanting too much, and we see him visiting her grave.
Lilith’s mom arrives on the scene. The servants bring her right to Lilith (against orders?), and of course she starts smacking her around. The guards aren’t doing their freaking job, and the maids are outside the door listening in and giggling. Arth and Sasha come across that scene and hear the beat down going on through the door. Sasha (as part of a plan?) runs off to cry to the lady guard captain and Sultan about the mistreatment while Arth pulls crazy mom off her.
And that’s when Payne comes on the scene. Arth is physically restraining crazy, Lilith is on the ground and super bruised up, and the maids and guards are there smirking basically going ‘whatcha going to do about it’.
And that’s where the last chapter ends. Really wish I could translate that last bit cause it looks like Payne has finally reached his tipping point. Following the king’s lead and disrespecting him is one thing, aiding his girlfriend’s abuser and laughing as she gets assaulted is another, so no more nice guy.
This next bit is just speculation. It looks like Arth and Sasha are pushing Payne to actually abandon the country and joining Kanakta. Or at least really making it look like he will. (The two are clearly putting in the work to make the Kanaktans think it’s a real possibility). As much as people follow the king’s lead in mistreating him, we’ve seen that anyone in the know or with the slightest bit of sense realized that they really need him. Counselors and staff know Johannes can’t be trusted with any work, while Payne has protected their country and is currently doing the work the crown prince should be with the king out of commission. And I think the Kanaktans have made it pretty clear that if they can lure Payne away they will immediately follow up with an invasion. If the court really starts thinking Payne may jump ship then the response of a lot of powerful people will be ‘No, we need him! Quick, what can we do to make him want to stay? Sit down and shut up Johannes.’
We’ve already seen that the council has some real political power, Think English parliament in the Georgian era. So with Johannes’s only real backing being on his deathbed they could step in and basically place Payne in charge.
