A Maid Was More of a Calling Than a Princess Chapter 43 Discussion

In some ways, this hits all the regular benchmarks of this type of shoujo-esque novel. A "plain" but cute protagonist captivating those around her with her skills and kindness, a slightly crazy ML (but never crazy enough to push any boundaries), rehabilitating lonely children and thawing the hearts of previously cold characters. Sometimes the progress is so fast that the story feels like a Speedrun of these familiar tropes. The author has put above-average effort into fleshing out the maid's work hierarchy, so these parts of the story don't feel dull.

However, there's a unique flavor to this story that I haven't seen in many of the others. A bittersweet edge to our FL's achievements, and surprising glimpses of cruelty, not just from side characters but from the FL herself.

The FL is good to the people who are good to her, but she has a bit of a manipulative and harsh edge that you normally see from Face-Slapping Revenge novels rather than Healing Comedies. This isn't to say that it's bad. With the way Siana was raised it would perhaps be more unrealistic if she was a completely forgiving and carefree person, but the glimpses of her more brutal nature may be jarring for those who enter this novel expecting a very Pure and Naive FL.

Spoiler

Especially how unaffected she is by the death (this happens in the first chapter, it's not really a spoiler) of her younger siblings and conquest of her country. She says many times that they were awful to her and the country was rotten so I don't expect her to be sad about their death, but usually someone would be at least a little traumatized seeing children getting their heads cut off. Not even considering how the common people of her former country must be faring. BUT that's a Me Problem, White-Washed Imperialism is a pretty common trope in these types of novels and you're clearly not meant to focus on it. Readers who are not as nit-picky as me will likely have no issues in regards to the political atmosphere of an overall fluffy novel.

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The ML is.... fine. So far he's a pretty standard archetype. He thinks Siana is cute and is entranced by her tea-pouring skills. He later grows to appreciate the different aspects of her personality as well, including her slyness, which is nice to see. They're a good match for each other in that they both seem gentle but are much more morally gray characters than they might initially seem based only off of appearances. The ML favors Siana right off the bat, which felt a little fast for me, but it also spares the audience the sometimes exhausting "Overcoming Misunderstandings" phase that is common in Rofans. Siana also does not bear any grudges against him and treats him as normally as her status allows. Her lack of fear for him is somewhat refreshing. They both see each other very clearly from the start, without pretense. However, at the moment, he is not fleshed out enough for me to rate him any higher than average.